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802.11 for Vehicles?
mantid asks: "I am about to do a long trip (1 year) in a VW Vanagon, and would like to set up wireless net access from within the vehicle. What is the most effective system for hassle-free, permanent, long-term installation? Note, this is not just for wardriving, many truckstops, netcafes, and coffee shops are now offering legit net access. I just don't want to have to bring laptop inside to do it. Please suggest tried and true antenna types as well as tips/concerns/issues."
(This is a little off topic, but hopefully not too far.)
I've used FlyingJ hotspots on the road, and you don't really need a special antenna -- in general, the reception is fine from inside the car with a normal pcmcia wifi card.
The parking lots are pretty big, and there are places where the reception isn't great, but it's usually pretty easy to drive to another part of the lot to improve your signal. I worked under the theory that the networks were designed to provide the best signals to the truckers, so I tended to park closer to the truck section.
Most of the problems I had seemed to be caused by mistakes on the FlyingJ side of things. I think they had a fairly bloody roll out. In order to user their system, you have to create an account and login.
You do that by pulling up a browser, and letting it detect the proxy server settings automatically. If you haven't logged in, the proxy server redirects you to a page where you can submit your cc or login if you already have an account.
I found that at a lot of locations, things weren't working. My computer couldn't find the proxy server, or whatever. At a couple of locations the system was just open -- there was no login, and it worked fine.
In general, though, it's pretty cool. The FlyingJ's were spaced out so that I could check my email and surf the web a couple of times a day. It's not expensive, and when it works, it works pretty well. I could use ssh and vnc to pull up my home desktop, and it was useable.
I bought the cheapest accounts, 15 minutes at a time. That turned out to be a good plan, mostly because some truck stops didn't have working networks.
It's tempting to look at your route and tell yourself, "I'll be able to hit these two other truck stops in the next 24 hours -- so I'll save money and buy a 24 hour account." The problem is that sometimes the next truck stop didn't work when I got there. It would have sucked to have paid more, expecting to be able to use a wireless net that was down.
I took two road trips, one maybe 8 months ago, and another about 6 months ago, and the FlyingJ system was substantially more reliable the second time around. So I'd expect them to have something reasonably solid now, But I wouldn't pay for a long term account until I *knew* it was solid.
The best way to get 802.11b/g coverage from your vehicle is to use a real external antenna. This leaves you with two options - buy something that's magnetic mount (easily available on the Net) or punch a hole in the roof and put a real antenna and mount in.
For my 2.4 solution, I installed an "NMO" antenna mount on the roof of my Expedition (drilling holes doesn't bother me - there's a total of 15 antennas mounted on the roof using NMO mounts, each of which requires a 3/4"-diameter hole).
First, find you an 802.11 card with an external antenna connector. The Orinoco 802.11b-only Gold works very nicely. Buy a pigtail to convert from the little push-on connector on the edge of the card (MCX?) to something more standard, like an N.
Next, buy the appropriate mount and antenna. The mount coax will be somewhat inflexible and will have a solid center conductor, so you'll need to be careful not to crush/damage it.
Maxrad mounts
And an antenna:
Maxrad antennas
I use the BMAXC24503 model. The 5db gain is nicer, but longer.
Drill a hole in the roof, install the mount, run the coax down through one of the pillars, connect to your pigtail, and connect to the card. You'll be amazed at the difference over your internal "antenna" (more like a dummy load.)
Installing antennas (drilling holes in the roof) is not for the faint of heart. Check with your local 2-way radio installers, and they might be able to put the antenna in for you for not too much money.