Help me steal the internet.

[Sisyphus]

I haven't paid for the internet since I moved to my current apartment, since at any given time there are several dozen visible wifi networks, of which two or three are generally unprotected. However, recently, the most reliable of these (good old linksys) has disappeared. Maybe its owner moved away, I don't know. Anyway, my home internet is very spotty now, and I often can't get a signal at all. I need ideas, either home remedies or buyable gadgets, to boost my reception. Personal experience is preferable, ridiculous suggestions are acceptable.

[SH3RL0CK]

Hmmm...how about setting up a wireless router in your apartment. Of course, then you would probably need to pay, but it would probably be cheaper than some other options I can think of. How much are you willing to spend?

[DrDNA]

I need ideas, either home remedies or buyable gadgets, to boost my reception. Personal experience is preferable, ridiculous suggestions are acceptable.

 

You said that they disappeared, not that they show up as locked/security enabled; correct?

My wireless router has a stealth mode so it is there, but does not show up so people that I do not want on it can't find it when they are looking for connections.

Probably, they all do this, so it is possible that they are still there but you can't see them.

If one pops up again and you happen to record the name, all the properties information, etc while you are connected, maybe you can get in later?

 

Also, I stumbled across the wifi "bucket amplifier".

http://trinityhome.org/Home/blog_comments.php?front_id=15&blog_id=60

It seems too ridiculous to be real, but you never know.

If this works, tin foil (which also makes a fine hat that will keep the govt from probing your thoughts and programming you with propaganda) may also work.

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2009 by DrDNA

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

First off, I'd be extremely paranoid connecting to the Internet over an open wireless connection. There has already been a recorded case of someone intercepting secure traffic on wireless and trying to catch secure information via presenting fake certificates (which Firefox catches, but users just click past the warning).

 

But if you want to go ahead with it, you can buy an external antenna for your wireless card (if it's a desktop with a wireless antenna on the back that you can take off), get or make a Cantenna, or make some sort of aluminum-foil based reflector thing.

[Phi for All]

Dress up nice (no care bear shirts), put on a subtle cologne and your best smile. Start knocking on neighbor's doors and when they answer, say, "Is your Comcast access down? I can't get the internet for some reason." Hope for a cute girl and when she opens the door, you finagle your way into her wireless network (or whatever you kids are calling it these days).

[Sisyphus]

Well, I live with my girlfriend, and she's surprisingly old-fashioned about either one of us whoring ourselves out for internet access.

 

As for how much money I'm willing to spend, more than you might think. Through a freak of various companies' coverage areas (not applying to the buildings on either side of us), Time Warner pretty much has a monopoly ISP, and they don't offer anything cheaper than ~$100/mo, plus some stupid initial fee that I haven't even bothered to research. I could afford that, but I refuse to pay on principle.

 

Something else I should mention is that we have friends who live down the street, and our respective street-facing windows are maybe 200 feet away. They also piggyback internet and have similar problems. If they (who can get cheaper access) get it and we split the cost, what would be the easiest/cheapest way to acceptably boost the signal from that end?

[Pangloss]

It's funny how fast this has changed. Just a couple of years ago there were NO other WAPs in my area, but now I can count half a dozen close enough to get a connection from.

 

I'm actually surprised that some of them are secured, and even more surprised that some of them aren't named "Linksys". (lol) Not one of them is secured with WPA, though. Go figure.

 

(Well, except mine of course.)

[Sisyphus]

Interesting. Where I am over 95% of them are secured. I guess the density makes the point more obvious, since any unsecured network immediately gets swarmed with leachers like me...

[Klaynos]

You need to have your tin can to be the right length and (more important) the right diameter, there's alot of stuff online about the correct size, in the UK sweetcorn cans seem to be the best (several stuck together) and pringles cans also work. Those are quite narrow recievers/emitters though (in terms of spacial capture area) something better for you might be very very similar to the traditional TV satellite dish... You again can find the sizes that are best suited for this online, these will have a wider capture area, you might even want both, one for finding a signal and one for getting a decent signal...

[ecoli]

i don't think those pringles cans are metal.

 

also, have you considered going for a DSL rather than cable broadband?

[Klaynos]

i don't think those pringles cans are metal.

 

also, have you considered going for a DSL rather than cable broadband?

 

IIRC The are normally metal coated, you don't need a very thick film to be opaque at microwave frequencies (THz frequencies it's around 100microns, I can't off the top of my head recall what it is for microwaves but not much)...

 

But I don't like pringles so have never paid much attention...

[iNow]

But I don't like pringles so have never paid much attention...

 

Oh, the sacrelege.

[Phi for All]

Well, I live with my girlfriend, and she's surprisingly old-fashioned about either one of us whoring ourselves out for internet access.

I don't understand wi she would feel that way.

 

As for how much money I'm willing to spend, more than you might think. Through a freak of various companies' coverage areas (not applying to the buildings on either side of us), Time Warner pretty much has a monopoly ISP, and they don't offer anything cheaper than ~$100/mo, plus some stupid initial fee that I haven't even bothered to research. I could afford that, but I refuse to pay on principle.

That sucks. I feel the same way about cable. My sister in Spokane pays one fourth of what we have to pay in Denver. You think we'd get a better rate due to density.

 

Something else I should mention is that we have friends who live down the street, and our respective street-facing windows are maybe 200 feet away. They also piggyback internet and have similar problems. If they (who can get cheaper access) get it and we split the cost, what would be the easiest/cheapest way to acceptably boost the signal from that end?

How about the four of you go visiting someone right in between your two apartments (in a prudish, non-whoring kind of way) and offer to help pay for one subscription that the three households can all use?

[PrinceOfDragons]

I have timewarner cable and its more like $50 a month. and that is with turbo. It has pretty good speeds. Acutally downloading a file from a good server i can get up to 1 to 1.5 mbps.

[DrDNA]

Try the bucket!

What have you got to lose?

Buckets are cheap.

And even if it does'nt work, everyone can use an extra bucket.

[CaptainPanic]

I love this thread

All the high tech stuff that didn't exist a year ago... and we're being advised to make it work with a bucket. Love it

 

I'm a bit shocked that worldwide there are such massive price differences for the same product. How does the signal reach a house (if you're not leeching)? Over the fixed phone line or cable (that's the two options we got over here, in the Netherlands).

 

The cheapest internet connection is under 20 euro/month. There are lots of companies that provide internet over the phone lines (and almost every house has a line). And you can almost always gte cable internet too, for roughly the same price. It should have something to do with the technology needed to provide internet... (Or those companies in the US are getting filthy rich, which is of course possible).