Boosting incoming signal

19 Mar 2005 3:34 AM

davper

My company just issued me a laptop with built in wifi. When I took it home and booted up, I received notification of a wireless signal and if I wanted to connect. I did and got a very weak signal, around 6 to 10%. I am assuming this is a public hotspot because the ssid is brodcasted and no encryption is used. The SSID is linksys(common sense says it is a linksys router, right?) and was wondering if I purchased a linksys repeater, would this work in increasing my signal strength? -- davper brought to you by http://www.wifi-forum.com/

19 Mar 2005 3:58 AM

Rôgêr

davper wrote:

> My company just issued me a laptop with built in wifi. When I took it
> home and booted up, I received notification of a wireless signal and if
> I wanted to connect.
>
> I did and got a very weak signal, around 6 to 10%.
>
> I am assuming this is a public hotspot because the ssid is brodcasted
> and no encryption is used.

Big assumption. I don't know where you live, but I'd be willing to bet
it's a neighbor that didn't know how to secure their network, not
exactly the same thing.

> The SSID is linksys(common sense says it is a linksys router, right?)
> and was wondering if I purchased a linksys repeater, would this work in
> increasing my signal strength?

Not likely to help enough. A directional antenna would probably help if
there's some way of connecting one to your laptop. But with built in
wireless, I guess that won't fly. Ed Williams has a product that he
sells on eBay that might be of interest to you, I think he calls it the
Signal Seeker. It wouldn't hurt to ask whoever owns the router how they
feel about you tapping into their network.

21 Mar 2005 9:59 AM

The Chairman

davper <davper.1m4gca@WiFi-Forum_dot_com> wrote in
news:davper.1m4gca@WiFi-Forum_dot_com:

Show quoteHide quote

>
> My company just issued me a laptop with built in wifi. When I took it
> home and booted up, I received notification of a wireless signal and
> if I wanted to connect.
>
> I did and got a very weak signal, around 6 to 10%.
>
> I am assuming this is a public hotspot because the ssid is brodcasted
> and no encryption is used.
>
> The SSID is linksys(common sense says it is a linksys router, right?)
> and was wondering if I purchased a linksys repeater, would this work
> in increasing my signal strength?
>
>

First off, I wouldn't assume that it is a public hotspot. I would
estimate that 75% of the average home wireless network users don't set
up any kind of security.

Second, assuming that you have no ethical problems with "stealing" his
bandwith, or you get permission, I suspect that the signal is too weak
for the off-the-shelf Linsys repeater to work. However, if you can
return it, which you can at most places, I would get one and try it out.
Couldn't hurt!

The Chairman