My dad does not have a high speed internet connection, but his friend, two houses over, does and is willing to share it via his linksys router. I purchased a linksys 802b/g pci wireless card and installed it fine on my dad’s computer, but the computer cannot detect any network in the area. My dad’s neighbor took his laptop out into his yard to find that the wireless transfer was barely reaching out side the walls of his home.
What can I do? Can I just purchase any old antenna and plug it into the back to boost the reception, or does it have to be one of those antennas made just for pci wireless cards?
If I have to purchase one of those special antennas what is generally considered the best one? Would the indoor ones be good enough or do I need to spend $100 for one of those outdoor ones?
Thanks

I saw on the Screen Savers Yoshi built a Wi-Fi antenae booster out of a paper plate and tin-foil that got a 20db gain. The total cost was under $10. They also sell boosters.

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And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

The best thing to do and most honest and ethical, not to mention legal(potentially), is to have your Dad pony up and pay for a broadband connection. What your suggesting is at best unethical and at worst illegal. Have your Dad and neighbor reconsider this.

It would not be illegal if the cable company allowed multiple computers on the account. My cable account I use allows for up to 3 computers sharing connection. But, using a router, I actually could hook up as many as I wanted, since they see only one connection being used, yet I only use 2, leaving 1 unused.

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And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

I have checked with the laws and from what I understand it is legal to share your connection if you choose too. There is only one company that offers high speed internet in his area and that is his local phone monopoly that charges 100 per month. I would pay for his dsl if I could get it for 40 per month, but I have checked at cnet and other places, it is not offered by the local cable companies, or any other service.

I wanted to add that the only dial up he can get is through the local phone monoply too. He had their dial up paying $25 per month, and I have to say it is the slowest connection I have ever seen. I can use free netzero on my home connection at about twice the speed of his $25 per month dial up. It was so slow it could take 5 minutes for one page to load.

Well, do you have it figured out now? Keep us posted with the results.

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And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

No, not yet, I am going to see him at christmas and I was hoping to be able to fix his connection at that time. I was hoping I could get some fail safe answers so I could buy what I needed to now and then take it down to him at christmas time. He lives 3 hours away, not too far, but I don't want to waste my money on something that won't work.

"I have checked with the laws and from what I understand it is legal to share your connection if you choose too."

Uh, uh huh. Ok, then call his provider and see what they say. Might not get uncle sam or the local authorities involved (what your are saying in that quote is true in some cases, not in others), but very few providers will allow what your asking about. Very few. So take it with a grain of salt. I have pirated software on my machine so I am not necessarily in a position to be judgemental. Just check your facts and what your doing as it pertains to the broadband providers policies. My guess it that it is not ok at all. On another note, it is not possible to tell you exactly what your needs are without doing a survey of the link. Point to Points are not that dificult if you have experience.

I suggest putting one of these on the ap and one on ur comp pointing at eachother: <A HREF="http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html" target="_new">http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html</A>

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

That's awesome! Feel like making one tonight!

"A delayed game will eventually come out, a bad game is bad forever."
-Shigeru Miyamoto