wireless signal

Question

Just received my new dell laptop. Got everything hooked up with router (Linksys G). It works well if I'm in the same room. Tried several things...won't list, but finally realized it's the internal wireless card. Came to that solution when a friend brought his laptop to my house and it worked great. He happened to have an extra Linksys G card and plugged it in my computer and that boosted my signal a lot. I'm happy with the performance now except I need a boost to help me get signal in my bedroom. Just around 20 more feet would help. (I have a long house and router and modem happen to be in one end, and my bedroom on the other end. I'm not wanting to relocate the router and modem because of my home office).  Does anyone have any suggestions? A computer store in town recommended an 'access point', another recommended a 'repeater' or a 'bridge'. I'm a novice  and don't know which route to go. I do know I need a solution that won't require any cables being ran. Is there some type of device that will boost my signal requiring only an electrical outlet? Would appreciate any help!

NemesisDB · Answer

this is cheap and very low risk if you feel like trying it http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html

CUBoulder · Answer

BRR-

Are you saying that the Linksys G wireless card, had better performance than the internal card?

I have the same wireless router as you do, and i just bought a brand new inspiron 5150, and am thinking of buying an internal wireless PCI card for it. but after hearing your story im getting the idea that the Linksys G wireless card might be a better way to go. If you couldjust give me some feedback on it since you have both and tried both, it would help me decide which way to go.

BRR · Answer

I was on the phone with Dell today for 1 hour and 45 minutes. They walked me through lots of steps checking things out. Even had me to download new drivers, but it appears that either my internal card or the internal antenna is bad. New hardware has been ordered and a tech will come replace both. Dell was very kind and said just to be sure they would replace both the card and antenna since I had dealt with so much trying to solve my dilehma. So now it's a 'waiting game'. Dell did tell me to try to place my Linksys router as high as possible. I'm hoping the new card and antenna will give me more strength, but if it's not as strong as the Linksys external card I'll stick with the external card.

LighthouseJ · Answer

Hope it's okay to hijack the topic since it seems to be resolved...

I have an i8600 with the Mini-PCI Dell TrueMobile 1400 802.11a/b/g which works fine. However, there are two access points in other peoples houses I want to reach. The signals are weak enough not to sustain a signal. Can I do anything to boost the signal from my end to reach the distant AP's?

NemesisDB · Answer

it depends ... you could definitely buy some sort of USB wireless device and attach a larger antenna to it... but that would not use the mPCI card.

alternatively, you could ask the people in the other houses the amplify (better antenna) the source, or perhaps reposition it

LighthouseJ · Answer

Well, these people with the AP's aren't neccessarily people that I know... *grin*

NemesisDB · Answer

then it's really a shame they aren't smart enough to put on encryption (or, alternatively, they may have mac filters enabled and you just don't know it).

buy your own service ;-)

Message Edited by NemesisDB on 09-10-2004 11:37 PM

LighthouseJ · Answer

I have my own service (using it now). One is unencrypted but one is WEP encrypted, but I may have guessed the WEP key. It's just something about connecting to another AP and use it that makes it exciting.

CUBoulder · Answer

and illegal....

NemesisDB · Answer

breaking into the WEP is definitely illegal ...  not sure about the unencyrpted would -- it would probably varry by state

LighthouseJ · Answer

says who, I'm not using it, I have my own service. Besides, the AP's are too weak to provide a stable connection anyway. But the fact that it's there and I found it, it provides the same type of excitement as those that go warchalking. Even if the signal was excellent, I'd still get better speed with my connection anyway.

LighthouseJ · Answer

Now I didn't brute force crack WEP, I guessed at a key 13 characters long based on the SSID and a quick google search. I haven't verified it actually works because I'm too far to keep the signal but I know the AP is out there. This is definitely far from being illegal, I've only discovered these two sites and guessed at the WEP key. I didn't capture packets and brute-force cracked it to get the key or anything like that.

NemesisDB · Answer

it doesn't really matter that you guessed the password ... if you enter the system most (if not all) states will still consider it to be illegal

LighthouseJ · Answer

Like I said before, I haven't entered the system, it's too far away, but I might as well go somewhere else because everyone posting so far has me already marked down as some dangerous criminal.

Midnight Star · Answer

What's seems to be up with the word 'hijack' these days? ... :)

I'm still looking for the person who 'hijacked' my last Sierra Mist ... I CAN'T SAY THIS STRONGLY ENOUGH ... please give it back, pretty please.

Mike.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

wireless signal

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