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Cutting Through a Wi-Fi Traffic Jam?
eric3xxx asks: "A week or so after Christmas, I tried to connect to my home wireless network and while I could see my access point I could not connect. After scanning the network, it turned out that there were at least twenty new access points in my apartment building (and in the surrounding buildings). Most of them had names such as 'linksys' and were all set on their respective vendors default channel (apparently a lot of people received 802.11b/g WAPs as presents). I tried changing the channel on my access point, starting at 1 and continuing through all of the channels, and none of them worked (probably since the channels overlap). In any case, I have no clear solution to this problem. I suppose I could boost the signal, however, that also increases noise. Perhaps I could convince my neighbors to put together a shared wireless network. I may just switch to 802.11a since it isn't as widely used." Has anyone else had success in configuring their APs to work in an areas of heavy wireless traffic?
The answer is staring you in the face. You simply find one of your neighbor's Linksys routers that's wide open, and save yourself $40/month on your Comcast bill. Duh!
John
How about some Wi-Fi Proof Paint? Or just freeload on your neighbor's network...
My first thought? FREE INTERNET!
WASTE - The Secure P2P
Okay, here's the procedure: (1) Call your DSL or Cable provider and cancel your internet, (2) sell your wireless router on eBay, (3) choose an unsecured connection and go nuts. Simple, no? Plus it has the advantage that when the MPAA or RIAA come knocking, it won't be on your door...
Or you could install a Faraday cage in your apartment. Much more expensive, but much more cool IMO.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
All kidding aside, I can't imagine the utter fustration of your less technically inclinded neighors, who are finding their own channels blocked.
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
If your router supports it, grab an open source firmware, and step outside the normal 1-11 channels. Channels 12 - 14 are almost guaranteed to be empty.
Get some older orionco gear RG1000 ap 500, ap 1000 firmware hack it, then use euro channel 14 - Flameaway,
have you tried changing the SSID?
This kind of goes along with the previous post about common SSID's...
Set half of your neighbors to the lowest supported frequency, and the other half to the highest...
Put yours in the middle.
Voila. You have a working connection.
It's only an insult if it's not true.
I find that my neighbors are shouting near me when I want my child to shout the news to me . I cannot hear my child over the neighbor children and I have already tried having my child scream at very high and very low pitches (along with everything between).
Should I convince my neighbors to hire a single child to shout the street news for all of us?
Should I make my house soundproof?
Should I train my child to shout louder or in a different language?
Should I move?
This isn't a technical problem at all!
When you can tune in to some one elses.
with that many new points there must be one so poorly configured that it will give you free internet access.
-or-
Use one of their wireless links instead?
Gotta love Netstumbler!
Having this problem here as well. My new Netgear 802.11g works just fine on channel 11 - but this is one of their new products which has the ability to do 108Mbps. The problem is that the 108Mbps feature is only available on channel 6 - the router will not let you select another channel if you have 108Mbps enabled - and I have *TWO* neighbors with WAPs on channel six.
.
At this point I'm seriously considering returning my Xmas present and just getting the next model up, which does 108Mbps over 802.11a 5.8GHz, thus bypassing 2.4Ghz entirely . .
--Ryv
1 Watt amp. End of Story.
The non-overlapping channels are 1, 6, & 11. Don't use anything else as this just overlaps with the other two default channels. You can also discourage your neighbors from using the 2.4GHz frequency by buying a 2.4GHz phone and leaving it off the hook for a while. Also, make sure you microwave lots of water. That'll piss em off real good.
WiFi? Huh?!?? ;-P
Two words: Faraday Cage.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
It's called cat5. Look it up.
Back in Law School, there were a number of students in my class living in the same apartment complex. When one of my classmates got himself cable internet and a wireless router for him and his room-mate, we offered to "buy" access from him. (Most of us had newer laptops with WiFi cards) When the dust settled, each of 5 students paid about $30 for cable internet at home for the entire semester. It pays to get to know your neighbors.
Trying to use sarcasm in text-based forums does not work.
My ethernet cable laughs at your meaningless WiFi interferance!!! muhahahaha!
I'd probably opt to cooperate rather than isolate, specifically:
:-D
1) Contact the neighbors (door to door, flyers, etc) and inform them of the problem, offer to secure their WAP's and put them on a Wi-Fi co-op that would give the entire complex a single Wi-Fi connection
2) Contact an ISP that's willing (I know Speakeasy, Slashdot's sponsor is doing this) and get a big pipe from them (High power DSL or T-1)
3) Set up one WAP as the main station and configure everyone else as a repeater
Advantages:
1) Big fat Wi-Fi pipe
2) Wide range (entire complex and then some)
3) Everyone has tighter security if you know how to set up Wi-Fi properly
4) Joint budgets make this more affordable
Disadvantages:
1) Bandwidth hogs (though it can be mitigated)
2) Bickering neighbors or those who refuse for whatever reasons (good diplomacy skills here)
3) Large initial expense (those T-1's aren't cheap if you go that route, good equipment and setup charge investments involved)
So far it hasn't been a problem in my area, I personally appreciate being the one secure well guarded WAP with 3 other Default SSID's around me
Unfortunately if this isn't plausible for you, I fear you might be stuck going 802.11a or how about just plugging in the ol' cat 5/6 again?
...in bed
If you can't get it to work right beside each other, something is broke. Either your configuration or your hardware is broken.
--fatboy
and a bunch of connectors and CAT5e wire. You can get 5-port ethernet hubs for FREE from some online catalog places. You won't be able to send e-mails from your balcony but then all those neighbors won't be able to listen in either.M\
worx4me
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
If the routers are using the default SSID of linksys, and they're also on the default channel, chances are WEP isn't enabled.
Just connect to one of these networks, open up your browser to 192.168.1.1 (password should be 'admin'), select the tab called 'Wireless,' and uncheck 'Enable Wireless Connections.'
Rinse and repeat.
when you boost signal? Net-net, it';s the same amount of noise.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
For instance, on my network, there are a few iTunes databases feeding to the TiVo, the TiVo has to see the music to play it, all of which has to be on the same subnet. And that's just my roommate. I use several automated ssh scripts to play time shifted radio in various rooms (office, bedroom), have a NFS server with loads of video that I'd like to keep private... or the college kids in the neighborhood will suck my bandwidth like an Earnest movie.
In short, all is well and good... if *all* you want is bandwidth to one machine and never wish to reliably connect to another machine you own... and don't care about the privacy of your network.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
802.11a
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Explain the situation to the neighbors. Ask them if they have trouble connecting, too, and be sure to sell Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt about hackers. Let them know it is a crime to use someone else's connection without permission - and then tell them that's probably what they're already doing. Then offer to fix their wireless. Tune down the signals, beef up security and make some strategic channel changes. Instant profit, and everyone's happy.
Get yourself a couple 802.11 cards, and have a good time using multiple neighbors connections at the same time, possibly even bonding your interfaces?
...should be a driver license for WLAN, how many percent of the WLAN users have actually even opened the config page? I'm not sure what I would do, either steal bandwidth from your neightbour or try changing to a channel 'out of range'.
Just put your AP on the floor beside the TV and just work from the couch.
I was thinking of something more evil. (eviler?) Just login, turn off their wireless all together, and change the default password. No more noise. Truthfully, I would just go with hacked firmware that allows the use of other channels.
as it is the phones. A friend of mine recently got one of those new fancy 2.6ghz cordless phones, and was calling me and complaining that his wireless kept going out. I just said "phone...". He then put 2 and 2 together and realized that every time his phone rang, he lost his signal.
Gotta love the FCC's bandplan. Stacking wifi and cordless phones onto the same spectrum.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
This works fine, until just one of them discovers Napster.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
admin
password
would be to somehow use all the wireless routers to increase bandwidth. There's gotta be a way to set up all the wireless routers including your own to be freely accessible to all and then take advantage of all the bandwidth at once when you need it, and let your neighbors do the same. I posted this idea in an ask /. , but I never got a response I don't think, or posted for that matter.
If there isn't a way to do this, we should have it be this way in the next generation infrastructure, no? Maybe have it run automatigically too!
Imagine getting your 300k/sec plus your 10 neighbors 300k/sed on some nice little torrent.....
Or... If you had a beowulf cluster of wifi routers... PROFIT!!!
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
You GNU hippies should buy an FCC license, reserve some frequencies, develop hardware and communication protocols for data transmission, and then use it for wireless networking.
Stop ripping off IEEE's hard work.
FCC regulations for unlicensed spectrum mean that it's basically a free for all, you have to accept interference. You can't complain (technically anyways), and you can't intentionally screw with or overpower thier signal.
However, being a good neighboor can solve the problem with a bit of leg work.
My neighboorhood was the same way, AP's on different channels all over the place causing no ned of problems. I did a little direction finding, knocked on the doors and explained the problem. Ended up orginizing the entire block so that everyone was using non-overlaping channels and no-one was interfering with each other. Solved alot of thier problems as well in doing so.
Perhaps you might speak to your neighboors and see if you can bring a little orginization to the chaos. I'm betting your not the only one who's having problems, I'm sure your neighboors would love the help.
Where are we going, and why are we in this hand cart?
How does it change the router? What new features are added?
Even if you download it, it *still* doesn't tell you anything about the project.
feh. stuff.
1) Get an old microwave 2.4ghz microwave
2) Break off all the shielding*
3) Put aluminum foil 'reflectos' out the front of it and aim at the walls where nothing is in the way*
4) Unground the unit*
5) Put it on a timer to turn on when you are away from home.*
Eventually you'll either burn the place down or put out so much interferance your neighbors will take their WAPs back.
*please note doing this is idiotic and you'd be a real moron to do it....
That's nice of you to take the liberty to speak on the behalf of the Slashdot staff!
But considering this is on the main page it doesn't madder what you "think"... because its here and we're talking about it. You're a brain stem, get a life.
This is one case (pun intended) where mini micro Mac mini: 6.5" x 6.5" x 2" = 85.5 cubic inches Micro ATX: 3.7" x 12.3" x 16.9 = 769.1 cubic inches
Take your router and laptop away from the building. (ie. your parents' or your girlfriends or work.) See if you can establish communications there. If you can't, then something's broken. Most of this stuff works right out of the box and the configuration is usually hard to mess up. My guess is that the router is at fault since you can see the neighbors' routers with your laptop.
Take the router back to the store while you still can.
1) You have neighbors with APs all around you. Many are clueless. Mooch.
2) DOS the hell out of the neighbors by scattering around 2.4ghz devices like cordless phones, cordless video distrobution boxen, etc. When the others get frustrated and kill the APs, you win. Or, re-configure those insecure APs on channels that overlap you to be hopelessly unusable, leaving the clueless neighbor to give up and shut off the wireless.
3) You actually give a crap about your clueless neighbors. Volunteer to set up a reasonably configured shared wireless system. Maybe you even go full co-op and get everyone better speeds and a well configured semi-secure net.
4) Build a faraday cage inside your house/apartment.
5) Move.
6) EMP baby. (while your stuff is protected, of course).
The 802.11b/g spectrum is being loved to death in your building. If you've got twenty devices trying to share only three non overlapping channels (1,6,11) its a mess if anyone wants to go fast.
Setting the channel is the first step but you'll still get adjacent channel interference. Setting SSID *DOES* *NOT* *HELP*, nor does WEP/WPA. SSIDs define a group of nodes that are going to associate but the media layer (OSI layer 2) is *shared* for 802.11. That means two properly secured networks on different channels are still sharing the same stream of NAV (network allocation vectors) and they'll be stepping all over each other.
I could go on about this but I've got the flu and you've got internet access - get Matthew S. Gast's fine O'Reilly book on 802.11 and learn all the gory details for youself.
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
also, what are you using to timeshift radio?
We had an article recently about someone ?Belkin? releasing wi-max equipment. Since you are a geek, you should naturally go to the cutting edge to get away from the rabble of interference.
Failing that, stealing someone's connection, changing all of their channels to something else, setting up a co-op and centralizing the wireless, running wires, or building a faraday cage are all options of increasing annoyance.
I personally favor the wi-max route since it lets you play with something new and 802.11a just isn't that thrilling, although it would be perfectly viable if you just want it to work.
Tell your router & network cards you're in Japan and use channel 14! That way no law-abiding FCC-respecting citizens will dare to use your network.
I am not responsible when the strange men with suits and sunglasses respond...
Configure your router via the wired ethernet first to allow only your wireless card's MAC address, change the default admin password, use WEP (stops the simpletons), and choose a unique SSID with SSID broadcasting turned off.
Think about it: If 20 other people got their connections working why can't the 21st?
The Answer: RTFM!
This is one case (pun intended) where mini < micro
Mac mini: 6.5" x 6.5" x 2" = 85.5 cubic inches
Micro ATX: 3.7" x 12.3" x 16.9 = 769.1 cubic inches
I never purchased a wireless bridge, because I was waiting for decent Linux support for 802.11a. A roommate's equipment negated the need after that.
Part of the reason why I was going to go "a" was because there weren't really any wardrivers checking out the network, and the other major part was that my cordless phone, microwave, and other equipment didn't use the frequency. I know that security through obscurity isn't a good idea as one's only line of defense, but using 802.11a, in addition to proper trusted/untrusted zone firewalling with WEP and software or protocol based encrypted tunnelling should have left me fairly secure for being over the airwaves.
I don't know the status of 802.11a in Linux right now, but if it's good then I'd recommend going to that. It may cost more, but it's faster, it's seperate from a, and relatively unused even by people with systems that would fully support it otherwise.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
You went about this wrong. You need to reconfigure all of THEIR APs to be on the same channel and clear on up for you. Or set yours on illegal channels.
I do security
ok, you have a high density of Access points, but you said it didn't work, not that it performed poorly.
If you do a search on the Internet you'll find several documents refering to a 4 channel configuration with minimal overlap (4%). The actual amount of interference caused by that layout is minimal due to the actual nature of the signal. (As opposed to the simplified version people have in there heads of why channels 1, 6 and 11 are the only ones to use).
Within an apartment you should be able to get a strong enough signal as long as all your immediate neighbors aren't on the same channel as you, and assuming your walls are not paper-thin.
If your trying to receive your signal across the street you will have issues.
On the other hand I only have 2 or 3 neighbors with access points and atleast one of them isn't clueless (WEP enabled) (even if it does suck)).
until just one of them discovers Napster.
Roxio Napster is a streaming music service. The streams streams are 128 kbps a piece; ten simultaneous streams would easily fit into a typical 1500 kbps downstream cable Internet connection.
Or by "Napster" do you mean something that a law student wouldn't dare touch for fear of getting a copyright infringement conviction on his permanent record?
Am I the only one who finds this situation ridiculous? We have 10-20 families in and around your apartment building, each with their own wireless access point. An entire building could probably be adequately served by two or three, depending on the size and construction of the building. Yet everyone greedily has to have their own, and because of this, performance suffers for everyone. I find it delightfully ironic. Linksys and their ilk must also be rubbing their hands together with glee.
Here's a novel idea: Why not get together with your neighbors and set up a wireless system for the entire building, with everyone who wants to use it chipping in for the AP's? Probably simple to implement, and with a smaller environmental impact (only 3 or so cheap plastic boxes eventually go into a landfill rather than 20). You can cut down on fees to your ISP(s) too since you don't need that many.
Boost your signal strength--the noise is not increased, in fact this is how one usually deals with noise or interference. Perhaps you meant to say boosting your signal strength will cause interference, which it most certainly will, but not for you. ;] This could lead to a wireless pissing contest, in which each AP owner increases their signal strength, in order to drown each others out.
Alternatively, you could purchase an antenna for your access point, and optionally your NIC. This, in effect, boosts your signal strength. Buy a decent antenna, not one of those kits from an AP vendor. This will require some research, but you will find higher gain antennae, with a better radiation pattern.
Have you thought about the "a" spec instead of "b" and or "g"?
I think it is the same speed but it is definitely a different frequency. Range might be different also.
It might cost you more but odds are that you won't find all the channels hogged.
My buddy once told me the one big advantage of the tightly packed small New York apartment buildings was never having to pay for the net.
Sounds like you have the same problem. My neight bor wants to buy access from me right now... now thasts a cheap way to pay for my own cable. Or an expensive way to elarn he knows how to torrent.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
This is a simple thing to do, and indeed, /. put out a story a day or two ago about how the government will be using some "aluminum paint" or was it "copper paint" with "real metal flecks" in it to ground and prevent "spillage" of wireless signal.
so simply set your apartment up like a Faraday Cage, and your signal is protected, and the wifi will work IN your apartment, and you won't see any signal from OUTSIDE your apartment...
--E--
--E--
this may seem all to simple... but 99.9% of wireless routers have ports on them for a wired connection.... connect via the hard link, change your settings to a clearer channel, disconnect the hard line... a viola
In Windows XP SP2... 1. Open 'Network Connections' control panel 2. Right-click on your wireless network connection icon 3. Click on the 'Wireless Networks' tab 4. If your access point is not in the 'Preferred networks:' list, add it. 5. Also in the 'Wireless Networks' tab, click on the 'Advanced' button 6. Uncheck 'Automatically connect to non-preferred networks' g
You should check to make sure your Access Point isn't near any other equipment. It may be a combination of local appliance/computer and apartment complex noise that is making your network suffer.
Most users put their access points near their computers or entertainment centers -- don't do this. Put your cable modem and access point in part of your house with few appliances, and you should have better results.
-- Ken Kinder ken@_nospam_kenkinder.com http://kenkinder.com/
Every Wi-Fi router I've seen comes with a built-in hub.
My suggestion: Explain the situation to the landlord and ask for permission to wire the apartment with CAT5e cable. Report any landlord whose reply amounts to "tough shit" to a watchdog organization such as the BBB.
The "Turbo 108Mbps" products are only adding to the problem. The reason it is only available on chan. 6 is that it spreads itself across TWICE the bandwidth of "normal" 802.11g products (normal being IEEE/WiFi compliant hardware). There are limited channels defined for 802.11@2.4GHz, using these socalled "enhanced" products just further pollutes the spectrum and further exacerbates the problem of airspace congestion. Your neighbors (and ultimately yourself also) will suffer more than anyone benefits.
I liken it to laying down across a couple of seats on a crowded bus, or getting a huge SUV and parking it diagonal across two spaces at the supermarket - it's just rude.
Contact a neighbour or two (or three, or four) about setting up a WDS (mesh) wireless network. In this mode multiple routers communicate with eachother as part of the same network.
The security risks involved with sharing the same network with multiple other people (who would each have their own router, their own default gateway) can be easily solved with a firewall blocking access to your net connection (or other machines) by all but the authorized IPs.
Any linksys WRT54G wireless router should be able to do this with something like the Sveasoft firmware.
1. Use netstumbler / kismet, find out what channel has the most noise. If it's on every channel, it's probably a shitty cordless phone that is interfering. Try the channel 14 trick others have suggested (if you can)
;) You could be "passing" through a dozen feet of wall or more. Obviously that won't work.
;)
2. Channels 1, 6, 11 don't overlap. If there are unsecured AP's, perhaps *cough* "convincing your neighbors to change to a different channel" *cough* might be appropriate.
3. WTF is going on with your router, there seems to be something seriously wrong with signal strength - most routers aren't that strong, and shouldn't be interfering unless you're in a college single room dorm type situation.
Check your antenna - if it is removable, check to make sure you didn't squash the pin inside and make sure the connection is (not too, but finger) tight. You might be able to upgrade the antenna for pretty cheap too. An slightly bigger omni should break through the interference, but it will also piss off your neighbors and make you a nice person to leech off of.
Antenna polarity and positioning are also important - most stock antennas put out a "doughnut" shaped signal, you'll generally get better range horizontally than vertically. If you have 2 antennas, try playing with the antenna modes if you can (left only, right only, diversity, etc). Create an "L" with the antennas, and aim the L at the target point (i.e. if you were looking at the router you would see the L (or backwards L, whatever)
Try a wifi reflector maybe? I say maybe because if you can't get a signal 30 feet away, then something else is wrong - there is one exception to this - A signal can go through a sheetrock wall quite easily, but if you are on a funny angle it has to pass through a lot of
Think of a 2 foot thick wall with a wifi card and router on each side. The most the signal has to penetrate is 2 feet - now place a router on the floor and go up one story and have the wireless card right beside the wall. Do a quick sketch or remember trig
If all else fails, pick up a vagi antenna with an 8 degree or so beam, aim it at offenders and blast 50 watts of 2.4 Ghz Radio death at their equipment
1q2w3e4r5t6y7u8i9o0pqawsedrftgthyjukilo;p'azsxdcf
I generally log into other people's unsecured AP's and turn off the wireless portion...the average user has no idea of such things. it's worked wonders in my apartment building....YMMV
*tap tap tap* this thing on?
yeah you are right, Linux is shit.
With 20+ of them, they can't all be secured. Just take your's back to the store and start using theirs. :)
At one time I used 802.11a, happily living on a 5GHz mountain all by myself.
Then my neighbor brought home a frequency-hopping 5GHz wireless phone.
And then paradise went away, and I found myself unable to connect to my "A" network any more.
Since the condo I live in has a very small yard with a lot of other suburban professionals nearby, I found, like the Topic Author, that I didn't have much of a choice in using "G", either.
Eventually I talked on of my father's employees (an engineer and a Ham enthusiast) into building a smallish 5GHz signal amplifier out of a few hundred dollars worth of his spare parts. The way he was talking I'm not even completely sure my neighbor's phone can even work any more, and I get reception on my (secure) "A" WLAN a full city block from my house.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Read the FCC notice for your WAP lately?
There's a reason folks that're "serious" about RF tech shy away from Part 15 gear.
I quote:
"This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.(emphasis mine)
Part 15 devices have no protection, no guarantee of function.
Seems quite the platform to base your IT world on, don't it.
Title 47 CFR:
http://www.fcc.gov/oet/info/rules/
Senior NCO in the fight against entropy. I've seen things, man. Things no one should have to see.....
This assumes your neighbors actually use the connection. (If they do not, should not most APs stay quite silent?)
Anyway....
1. Run airpwn
2. Watch your scared neighbors turn off APs in horror.
3. Wifi!!!
badness 10000
Locate your AP at the outside corner of your flat. Attach a pair of reflectors to the antennas, such that radiation will be concentrated only on your flat.
e x.html
By directing the power over 90 deg instead of 360, what do you think you have just done? Not only have you increased the transmit power, you've also vastly increased the receive gain.
Reflector templates can be found here:
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/ind
I was in a situation where I needed broadband in an apartment w/out a connection, and used a DWL AP2000+ in client mode with one of these antennas (styrafoam, a kitchen knife, aluminum foil, and cellotape) to pull a symmetric 3.5mbps from an AP 600 meters down the street.
Make sure to put the reflectors on both antennas and point them both in the same direction. In almost all cases with such APs, only one antenna is transmit, while both receive.
Try this morse code translator.
Well, the best solution, as others have said, can be summed up as "why in the hell did you buy your own router?"
Other than that, you can do what I did. Now, I live in a house, but there are three access points visible here. One of them was on my channel (9- only one that works well in my house) so I did the obvious. I changed his channel. He gave up after the second time and 9 is all mine.
Do you have ESP?
I use these at home:
h p
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/XE102.p
Much better range and throughput than Wi-fi (in my experience) and no interference issues.
If you had, or could even find, a setup that ran FHSS (frequency-hopping spread spectrum) you would be golden!
It uses small packets on a narrowband carrier signal. Essentially it would be like a knife cutting through all of the DSSS connections.
Also, they would have to re-transmit quite large packets while you only had to re-transmit a very small one on every collision.
You get two benefits, your network works, and you get to slow everyone else down!
Technology can be so much fun!
You could wire the whole place, everyone could have their own connection. screw the wireless, it isn't working for them, one person pays for the ISP with a broadband connection. use DHCP, and pay for just one ISP between all 20 of them.
Wireless seems like a good idea, getting rid of all of those cables, but it just doesn't always work as this topic indicates.
I had this problem renting in a high-rise beach apartment in Fort Lauderdale almost 2 years ago. (16 access points was the record for me, since the buildings directly north and south of me offered their residents WiFi. ) I could initially connect to my AP, but couldn't stay connected from all the interfearance. Here's what I found....
I would let Windows initially connect to my access point, then IMMEDIATELY disable the auto-connecting feature of WindowsXP. It's a 1-minute annoyance you have to do every time you restart, or have a power failure, but I always left my PC on, and it always stayed connected as long as there was no power outages. Windows built in WiFI-support's biggest flaw is that it assumes you're moving, and want to connect with neighboring APs, and manual connection is fruitless. Hence, I found the above procedure to work nicely.
Why not scan your building, plot out all the open WAPs, then systematically configure them. I know it sounds like a lot of work but it's really not all that bad - they get a more secure environment and you get a clear channel to use for your own AP.
;-p
I have actually done this at a friends house and had great results. I know it's a little grayhat-ish (modifying their routers without permission) but you have good intentions, so eh
Interesting. I was not aware of this. I have no real desire to be 'socially irresponsible' with available channels, but for me part of it is that I want to lock the router to 108Mbps-only - in order to further bolster the security of the standard MAC-based ACL. I mean, if 99% of the hardware out there can't even use my WAP, period, that's another security layer on top of WEP, ACL . . .
I had several neighbors with access points polluting my connection. I renamed my SSID to "Network Intruder Alert." I no longer see any other access points, and everything is clear now.
True story.
I've had a situation before where every time someone's 2.4GHz phone rang, the local backbone would go down. It's really amazing how much noise those phones put out. Most wifi equipment is pretty friendly to other devices in the area, but some of the phones are almost as effective as a EMP bomb.
I'm not trying to deal with a similar situation in my neighborhood. Every time my neighbor gets on the phone, my local network becomes unusable, even if I'm 3 feet from the AP. Of course, it wouldn't be so bad if my drivers were decent... madwifi blows if you have any noise in the area.
I'm having a similar problem. One of the rooms in my house is next to a business that installed a WAP on channel 6. (Mine is on 11.) Now, I keep intermittently connecting to their WAP even though we have different SSIDs, I use WEP and they don't. It has really put a crimp in my TFC game. Haven't found any viable fix. But, if you do, please let us know.
Faraday Cage
I work in a building that is riddled with radio traffic. Among it, we've got hundreds of Bluetooth devices, phones, headsets, etc. and nary a problem to speak of. Bluetooth isn't quite WiFi in a lot of important respects, I'll grant you that, but it's clearly designed for densely packed radio chaos.
~Someday, I hope to be an aspiring author.
argh.. s/not trying/trying/
:)
Silly typo.
Put an Aluminum Foil Protective Beanie around your apartment -- or, at least, the walls between you and the other wireless users. Seriously, a Faraday cage, even if it's imperfect and will only reduce the signal a few decebels, will help a lot.
I believe someone makes a conductive paint for just such an occasion.
BTW - Microwaving water is *not* a good idea. Pockets of the liquid can become superheated, and leap into and scald your face without any prior warning.
Don't call me a cowboy, and don't tell me to slow down!
otherwise known as.. an ETHERNET CABLE!
You can help a lot with directional antenna!
They focus your signal on both receive and transmit. I usually recommend to use a corner antenna on the AP and a panel antenna on the client. HawkingTech make somes nice products like this. With a sufficiently directional signal you will probably be able to have 100% signal even at power levels below factory. I recommend this to avoid off-property signal leakage of your possible confidential information.
In fact boosting power levels has many side-effects that are undesirable. For one thing, you only increase the transmit power, not receive sensitivity. It's like having a bullhorn but without the dish microphone to go with it. It is pointless and rude to increase one's shouting volume if you cannot hear the other party as well, this is a 2-way medium.
For another it oftens gives a "dirty" signal that creates more problems at the receiver. I recommend against power increases as any kind of solution at all.
Proper antenna selection is a much better answer.
I had the exact same problem in my neighborhood, WAPs all over the place and all seeming to be on the same channels. I put some high gain antennas on my WAP and all my connection and stability problems went away.
Makes perfect sense from a security aspect. And looking at spec's, why wouldn't I want 108 rather than 54?
.11a all at once.
I think that the companies that produce the products are not thinking ahead (and are perhaps irresponsible). They'd be fine if I was the only WiFi user in the area, starts to be a problem when there are many AP's, but what happens when they have sold these to everyone in a neighborhood - and now their product doesn't work better, it just doesn't work.
I think perhaps the frustration I am feeling at my place is showing through. I've got approx. 20 AP's that show up, spread across the spectrum. Several of my neighbors have upgraded to the multichannel stuff, adding to the congestion. My connection just cuts out periodically - I've done everything I can, just have to wait until I can replace all of the gear with
In WinXP, if you are NOT broadcasting your SSID (to hide your network) and are in range of an access point that IS broadcasting, you will not be able to connect to your AP. Log into your router and enable the broadcast option. Be sure to enable WEP, or MAC filtering, or both to keep others from connecting to you.
Conviction? For a breach of civil law?
Civil law my foot.
But besides, even without 17 USC 506, doesn't the point remain valid after s/conviction/finding of liability/? Let's try that again:
Or by "Napster", did Nom du Keyboard mean something that a law student wouldn't dare touch for fear of getting a finding of liability for copyright infringement on his permanent record?
I would just switch to 802.11a which runs somewhere in the 5Ghz band. It's faster than 802.11b and works great; just a bit shorter range is the main drawback. Granted this costs money but it should eliminate the problem since almost no one uses 802.11a. You can get routers that will do both A and G.
I don't know if this is available outside the mac world, but my powerbook lets me use what it calls Interference Robustness which, according to apple, may slow your connection but will improve the ability to connect.
I presently have 16 wireless networks available to me in my apartment's living room. When my routers ssid is the same as the other 4 netgear routers in my building i - for obvious reasons - cannot connect to mine or any of them (same ssid being broadcasted by several routers with a good signal makes it impossible to connect via the ssid). so, you've trield just simply changing the ssid, right?
Hack into their unsecured routers and disable the WiFi.
-Erwos
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
Antennas get their gain by boosting the signal in one direction at the expense of signal in other directions. Your typical 8 dBi "omnidirectional" antenna sends very little of its signal up or down, while greatly increasing the signal it sends in the horizontal plane. Result: less interference for your upstairs & downstairs neighbors, and a much stronger signal on your level.
Or get a 14 dBi panel antenna (which focuses its signal in about a 60 degree arc IIRC) and stick it in a corner of your apartment.
The solution isn't adding more power or screwing with the neighbors' access points - it's
using external antennas to send the signal where you want it to go
figuring out which neighbor's AP is interfering with your signal the most and nicely asking him to choose another channel
Well, not quite. Have a friend dress up in a suit and go door to door posing as an FCC field inspector. Um, you do have at least one friend who owns a suit, right? A little visit from the 'FCC' is a great way to strike fear into the hearts of your average neighbor. No no, don't ~you~ do it - impersonating a federal official is a ~crime~. Or maybe just stuff a letter from the RIAA or MPAA in their mailbox advising them that someone is using their wireless network to distribute copyrighted works - and Porn.
Flood all channels with 802.11 leave messages for a period of 2 or 3 weeks. When no one can make theirs work, they will toss them in the closet and forget about them. That's when you fire up yours on channel 11, and continue to flood on channels 1-10. Chances are those people will come on at channel 6, find that it still doesn't work, and give up rather than change the channel to 11.
Either that, or you could connect to them one by one, start a firmware upgrade, then disconnect halfway through the transfer to hose the firmware and kill the unit.
put it back on the friggin wire and be happy with it.
E M P :)
$0.02 (CDN)
If a user sets up a wireless network and fails to secure it due to ignorance, is it ethincal to use the network in good faith?
Note: I posted this message using a neighbor's unsecured network.
Well if you're interested in security and have no desire to be socially irresponsible, then why don't you actually do those things and give your self some real security by using a VPN tunnel or IPSec over your wireless. MAC address restrictions and even WEP are breakable by anyone who really wants to. 108 is even easier to break than those things and pollutes the spectrum as well.
I have attempted to use aluminum foil wrapped around the antenna's to make them more directional. This blocks out some of the interference. Use a large curved piece of foil placed under and several inches behind the antenna on the side facing the neighbors. You do not want the foil to actually touch the antenna.
You're in an apartment and you have wirless?
How many square feet are we talking here?
Why not just plug the wire back in, and enjoy the speed boost as well?
This should be the last resort because it is not a nice thing to do. So try all the other suggestions first.
A ham is allowed to use far more power on the 2.4Ghz band. Now there are limits to what you can do with this (which more or less exclude putting your AP on it). However as a licensed radio operators they must make sure their routers do not interfere with you when you are using your ham equipment!
A combination of cranking your power up, when they most want to use the net (shuts them off), and turning it way down othertimes until you cannot receive a signal because of their interference, and you can have the FCC shut them down.
Of course as a ham you need to check the laws closely. Make sure you are on the right side of everything.
I lived in an apt complex in Sunnyvale, CA, and had at any time about 12-18 AP's visible from my apt. I never ordered Internet, I just used theirs. I even went and connected to theirs and adjusted channels to optimize the spread of the channels and got better reception for myself and probably them. My biggest issue as I now realize is wireless phones, and they can disrupt wifi pretty bad. I got a LOT better reception though using a directional USB antennea, until the roaches climbed into it (it was warm, which they apparently like) and shorted it out.
Now, I've moved to NYC, in Harlem, and I **ONLY** get about 3-6 AP's in range, and they are typically more secure in their config then when I lived in Silicon Valley. Go figure. I also have more disruption from across the room using an AP I bought, using an ISP that I'm paying for then I did in CA. Go figure.
they should count themselves lucky they don't live near me, I would have changed the admin password, then turned them off.
I'm sure the landlord will raise the rent anyway and advertise about their new hi-tech apartments
cuz about a week or so after christmas, i began being able to access wifi. for free. funny how that works out, huh?
Get one of these toy sentry guns, and hook it up to a super soaker.o ntent&pa=showpage&pid=4
http://www.chifist.com/ca/html/modules.php?name=C
You could also view maps of which neighbors are interfering with your access point, and negotiate in personover a beer while comparing the gadgets attached to your belts. Y'know, build some community with your locals, and become part of the oldest P2P system.
I've met a bunch of people in my neighborhood at the local hotspot coffee shop. Of course, I'm a dork like that. Start a MeetUp.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
....I'd have a harder time getting work done. How many support calls have you taken by pulling off the freeway into the nearest middle class neighborhood and popping open the laptop with netstumbler? Does it ever take more than 5 minutes?
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
The crimp tool is only necessary if you want to make your own patch cables. For in-wall cabling (or any cabling terminated by jacks instead of plugs), the cable is terminated to the jack by use of a punchdown-like tool included with the package of jacks.
Of course if you just have a cord sticking out of your wall, then I guess you'd have to terminate it with a plug.
Cheers,
Jeremy
someone caught his neighbors hopping on his unsecured AP. He uploaded horse porn.
http://www.bash.org/?202477
I bought a DI-624 to use at home since I already connect my laptop to a DI-624 at work using a Belkin 802.11b card. Originally, I was using a Belkin router but I tested the DI-624 and found it far superior to the Belkin product in terms of range and speed.
To make a long story short, the DI-624 I bought for home was a different hardware revision than at work, with completely different firmware. Out of the box the DI-624 will not support 802.11b as it is configured to 802.11g turbo mode, so the Belkin card would not connect. I changed the wireless settings to disable the Turbo G mode and it still would not connect.
Finally, in frustration I brought the DI-624 from work (with two antennas as opposed to the newer version I had with one) along with a 802.11g D-Link PC card. Of all the combinations, Belkin 802.11b PC card, the "b" and "c" revisions of the DI-624, and a D-Link 802.11g PC card the Belkin wireless card and the "b" revision D-Link router had the best range and speed followed closely by the D-Link 802.11g card.
In the end, I simply swapped the "b" and "c" D-Link routers around and used the "b" version at home and the "c" version at work with the D-Link 802.11g card. It seems the 802.11 "b" and "g" standards leave a lot of room for interpretation, given that myself and others I have spoken to have had many problems getting products from one company to connect to another.
You can get about 14Mbps over the power lines in your home. As long as you have an outlet in every room (you aren't in a log cabin, are you?) then this should solve your problem.
Just search for HomePlug on amazon.com or whatever - most places have them.
First of all, Have you considered that the issue could already be the walls themselves? You have not described your apartment, but many apartments have foil backed insulation or even chickenwire backed adobe or plaster in the walls.
Second, you're probably getting as much overlap from portable phones as you are from AP's in the building.
My advice differs from so many others. I say, centrally locate your AP in the apartment at the same plane as you'll generally be holding your laptop. That usually means about 30 inches for tabletop, about 20" if its actually on your lap keeping your genetals warm (and isn't that really why we all want Pentium 4 HT processors?).
If you're still not connecting on any channel, you probably have a config issue. Start with the basics. Reset the unit to factory config and change only the password. let it broadcast its SSID. Connect, then starting tightening it down. Don't sweat the hackers until you have something of value. Clearly, they don't need your bandwidth.
Also, learn about what blocks this frequency. In a nutshell, water. Anything with water. PEOPLE, for example, are excellent at blocking wifi. Your walls may have plaster that was water based. Chip off a piece and put it in the microwave for a few seconds. If it heats up, it will block wifi. The same goes for PVC plastics. Most won't, some will. A chip in the microwave for a few seconds will tell you.
I can't tell you how many times I see people in a coffee shop with wifi connection problems, when they've set the 900 ounce mochofrappafuckamacallit right next to their wifi card. DOH! If the signal is iffy, that's more than enough to kill it off.
Finally -- make sure you hit the basics. Get the latest (actually, sometimes teh second to latest) drives for teh wifi card and the AP, as well as any firmware upgrades. Don't laugh, sometimes it's really not plugged in.
You're in an apartment. Run some damn wires. Snake them under the carpet or hang the from the ceiling. Put lights on them and make them festive. Let your geek flag fly.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
Why dont you just set your stuff to be accessible publicly, but restricted to those with the proper password?
fdhdfghfh
Heres what I did:
Access all the Un Protected routers, change their default password and then turn off their wireless features.
Been workin like a charm for the past 6 months and going..
Why bother with a T-1? Most folks don't upload and DSL/Cable download speeds are _higher_ than 1.4Mbps (at least in Canada). The extra cost for reliability and upstream bandwith are irrelevant for most home use.
Get your neighbors to reduce their signal strength, and you too. Obviously full power is not needed, so less power should make everyone happy.
:-)
:-)
And while you are at it, you could help the default SSID no security neighbors secure their networks.
Of course you could have my neighbor that got upset when I tried to tell them their new WiFi was wide open and I accidentally connected to it
Good luck, and maybe WiFi vendors will start to do self discovery interferrence avoidance/power reduction automatically. Or not
Tinfoil hat
Yaggie antenna
This makes me wonder why DSS (Digital Spread Spectrum) technology hasn't been incorporated into most home wireless devices (like those wireless X10 cameras) ...it provides privacy and the signal is unjammable AND it's been around since WWII.
If they're all set up as default, just log into each of them, spread them out onto non-overlapping channels as much as possible, and let it ride.
After that, whether you decide to use your own AP or one of the neighbors', it will at least be a bit faster.
(Oh. And the WRT54G with Sveasoft firmware permits you to set up the box as an 802.11b/g client device, while offering a number of different firewall and VLAN possibilities in order to keep the neighbors away from your network even though you're using theirs. If you don't already have one, pick one up at Walmart for $60.)
Kid-proof tablet..
I had the same exact problem in my condo. The solution is to switch the router to only use the "b" protocol, excllusively. Its much stronger and should cut through the noise.
Have everyone use the same SSID on different channels, the overlapping ones will double the speed and you'll have access in many areas. If you ask me about the "no security" issue, then I'll answer: Turn off your AP.
0011 1111 0111 1010
I've read many articles that you can actually get pretty good attenuation between channels when using channels 1,4,8, and 11. I routinely play traffic cop for the routers in my apartment complex. As we all know, most people leave the default ssid, channel, and no-security settings that routers come with. You can just move access points to a 4 channel schema as much as possible and it will help all parties involved.
On heavily congested networks with many hidden nodes, rts/cts is your friend.
The most common router supported by that router (Linksys WRT54G) is a POS with horrible thermal management.
I was just at a small LAN party at a friends' house. For simplicity, we decided to try and go wireless.
Big mistake. Router overheated and crashed every 10-15 minutes when the WLAN transceiver was being used heavily, and every 2-3 hours when only wired connections were being used.
Needless to say, he returned it the next day.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Depending on your technical skill your options range from something simple as paying one of your neighbours for use of his network, to making the AP's all into one network, connected to the internet at one or more points (with intelligent and dynamic "fair" routing), and using vpn software to create overlay networks to keep things seperate from the other users.
X: why not plug an ethernet cable into your laptop? Y: because the whole point of being wireless is to get rid of the wire. X: well, if too many people around are going wireless, then why not be practical and just use the cable. be a cool retro-geek.
You likely have a WRT54G then if its both B and G.
1. Change you SSID to something other than linksys.You could do a little social engineering and make it something like ohhhhh....SecurityAP or HoneyPot.
2. Turn on 'MAC filtering' and only input your wireless MAC(physical address). This keeps others out and lets you in.
3. Set on WPA. This keep anyone from packet sniffing your transmissions.
You can also check to see who may be using your router via the admin facility(where you do all of the above also).
If you are closer to your own router then your signal should override your neighbors.
Lastly : convince them to button their boxes up also..perhaps by some friendly hacking or whatever.
If all the above fails to work then get line your walls with tinfoil!!
Uhm, it sounds like you WAP is defective. Especially if you have tried every other channel and you have tried an unique SSID.
Update to Windows XP service pack 2 (if you're using Windows, since this is a telltale symptom). Prior to SP2, Wireless Zero Config tends to randomly lose connections (fix temporarily by restarting the wireless zero config service). If you have drivers installed for your card that theoretically has a configuration environment, you can even turn off WZC, it may help. Otherwise, SP2: it seems to be much improved for wireless connectivity.
I recognize people by their sigs. Is that a bad thing?
First, you very well can connect XP to a non-broadcast SSID. Just put the SSID into the dialog manually. It'll work.
Secondly, he's complaining about wireless and channel interference (OSI Layer 1), not SSID (OSI Layer 2). Wholly different stuff.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
just google it
.
i seem to remember reading that there is a vertical polarization and a horizontal polarization to antennas -- an antenna point straight up is vertically polarized. and that is the default for antennas on any standard wireless i've seen.
[suggestion 1] so, why don't you try and change your antennas to horizontal? turn all of them parallel to the floor and see what happens. i do know that your wifi signal goes to crap if one antenna is vertical and one is horizontal.
most wireless equipment comes with omnidirectional antennas. and they usually aren't that great, either.
[suggestion 2] change your antennas to directional and point them at each other. there's tons on the market, but if you Google you'll find lots of antennas you can make yourself (like one out of a parabolic metal chinese stir-fry scoop on a bamboo handle) for next to nothing. if your router has 2 antennas, one could point east and the other south -- or towards the bedroom upstairs and the den downstairs.
i apologize if these have already been suggested, but you know how crazy it is searching through convoluted and cryptic Slashdot comments...
--
jon
All your WiFi channels belong to us!
Those default SSID's usually mean default passwords, so check out the manufacturer's website to find out what they are. I had to do this when I moved into my new building. Happy changing.
Unplug your WAP. Then put it back in it's original box and store it in your closet for when you move to an area that isn't quite so congested. After that, cancel your internet.
Then, connect to someone else's WAP and leech off of their connection. Whenever they slow down too much, just switch to another access point, or if you're running Linux, write a script to have you hop between open APs every few minutes/hours (depends on whether or not you do a lot of large downloads, or just regular web browsing and email stuff).
Save yourself some $$ to spend on new hardware/books/CDs/whatever.
(Of course, this may be illegal depending on where you live, so check your local laws for where you live, I'm taking no responsibility for whatever you do)
Most of your neighbors are, probably, going to return the 'gifts', since they, like you, are going to find out that they're not working well enough. This is the game, where the most patient wins :) You wait long enough (keeping your wireless point up all the time, of course) and eventually your neighbors will get tired of bad performance and shut down their wireless points, and when that happens - your access point will start to work better :)
If the landlord doesn't want to play, he can just ask to see your low-voltage electrical contractors license.
The State of Indiana for example doesn't seem to require such licenses. Yeah, I know I'm being an insensitive clod to those Slashdot users who live in states that do, such as California (I looked up the submitter's address through a whois on his domain), but even in states that keep low-voltage electricians on a tight leash, there are probably networking contractors that do hold the necessary licenses.
When is sveasoft going to put a REAL VPN server in Alchemy? Anyone have any success getting OpenVPN installed on a WRT54G?
What was a little anoying was that two of the owners were obvious bible thumpers. One guy had named his WAP "JesusSaves", and the other one changed Xtian messages every few days (stuff like "He_Saves" and "JesusIsLord"). When friends came over with wi-fi, this was a source of a lot of heckling of me, since I am agnostic.
What did I do? I named my WAP "Fuck_Jesus". After that, the guy switching his WAP every week started putting up stuff like "Jesus_Rulz" and "BurnInHell". At least I got some amusement out of it. To this day, my WAP is named "Fuck_Jesus".
Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein
I hope this URLs can help, but you must agree with yours neighbors about what frecuncy to use... Up to 4 Simultaneous Channels are Okay for 802.11b http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,708876, 00.asp
Frequency planning (avoid more than three access points from mutually overlapping)
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/802dot11/chapter/ch 15.html#38054
Deployment Issues in Enterprise Wireless LANs
http://www.ecsl.cs.sunysb.edu/tr/TR166.pdf
I was SO happy to see the word Solution! in the subject. But, I'm running W2K on my laptop. (Only 800MHz, not ready to take the performance hit from moving up to XP.) But, you've given me an idea. I have an identical laptop running FC3...time to break it out and see what I can see.
I'm beginning to wonder if I live in an RF black hole. My wife had to switch from a GSM cell because she got absolutely no reception in the apartment. (We barely get reception with Verizon, but it's certainly better than nothing). And my new shower radio only works in one location. If I move it slightly, no signal. I can't wait until my lease is up and I can move.
Although this will come out as sounding elitist, you don't deserve to be called a slashdot geek if you can't run your own cable and crimp your own connectors. Heck, the kit from Computer Geeks is so cheap, you can subsidize the cost by crimping patch cables to sell to your friends for cheap. I know you live in an apartment, but there are plenty of ways to consolidate and conceal the cable (local hardware store has lots of goodies). Because of the small diameter of the cable, you can run it along baseboards or under carpet and not have it glaringly obvious. Going through drywall won't be a problem---and if you worry about doing it in an apartment, make the hole as small as possible and patch it up before the final walkthrough inpection when you're ready to move out. You can use surface mount keystone jacks that can be easily removed and holes patched up when you're done with them---they're as damaging to the wall as hanging mirrors and picture frames. At times like this, dealing with supposed "easier" technology like wifi can actually end up costing you more time and headache. Why not just say to heck with it all and go "low-tech" with wires?
Linux at home
and you get faster speeds. You might need more than one AP depending on the size of your apt & content of your walls.
Just change everyone's SSID to whatever and then not only will you find yours when your router boots up, but they will quickly learn the value of a semi secure network.
-Fasstboy
this should be modded insightful, wired typically has a faster throughput rating than wireless.
however;
you neglected to mention the importance of paying extra for plenum grade cabling...
This result can be derived from the van der waals state equation. There is a famous non-microwave case in which a teapot exploded in the kitchen injuring a housewife when her husband slammed the door.
The problem is that with an extremely smooth container (ceramic or glass perhaps) there are no nucleation sites (essencially rough spots) for the phase transition to occur, allowing the liquid to become superheated. The other way to force this to happen would be to disturb the fluid in some way, (such as slamming a door) which would start the process, the bubbles themselves would be sufficient for keeping the process going.
If pockets of water became superheated, then there would be no problem, the uneven heating would be enough of a distrubance to trigger the boiling process.
The solution is that you should never heat water (microwave or not) in a smooth container.
Even this might be ok if the water has high mineral content, but it's best to avoid the possiblity altogether.
on a slightly more on topic note however,
I'd rather not like to think of my microwave oven leaking enough RF to interfere with radio communications several apartments over.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Move...
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Get together with the 20 other people, pool your money, and buy a faster network connection (you could probably get more than a T-1 for that price) with few WAP's on different floors or something. That seems a lot easier than configuring your PC to use multiple connections, etc.
If it's not working for you, how is it working for anyone?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
would be to politely contact the owners of the AP's which you are able to find. Once you do this, inform them of the situation in a manner which would make them WANT things to be setup properly. (Like people could steal your internet access or your credit card info. etc.) Then set up their APs for them as a good neighbor. Limit their AP's power, change default security settings, and setup encryption. I'm sure everyone will be thankful. You may even get a nice show of appreciation for it.
And this, my friends is a shining example of why wireless will never completely replace cables. With wireless, you've got a few select bands/channels as approved by the FCC (or equivalent body), and everyone has to share them.
Compare this to a cable, where every cable you run is potentially a completely new dedicated channel. It's a basic limitation of wireless, and unavoidable.
Wireless is a wonderful thing to have available, but it's no panacea.
-Chris
--an unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys--
I live in a town with pretty terrible (hard) water, i.e. it sure isn't pure. However, I can repeat an experiment on demand, which I have performed multiple times for various interested friends: microwave a coffee-cup full of water to just before it starts bubbling; remove it from the microwave; insert metal teaspoon into water (while wearing oven gloves); and BLAMMO, hot water everywhere. So, what's happening here? Methinks the mythbusters missed something.
You might try changing your antenna sideways.. there is such a thing as polarization. Most setups have the antenna vertical (with vertical polarization), you might try the antenna horizontal (easy for most of the wireless routers, not so easy for built in wireless cards). However in a high scattering environment that might not help enough.. but it couldn't hurt either.
Also if you need two channels you might try using the set 4 or 8.. usually 1 and 11 are used (default channels for several of the vendors, mostly 1, but there is one that is 11). 4 and 8 will work, they will have some overlap, (higher noise) from stuff on 1, 6 and 11, but the freq. spreading should keep most of the collisions down.
Or I suppose if you really want to kill the wireless for a bit, get a wireless video. It is low power, but wide band. It will wipe (at close range) most wireless out (about 2/3 of band at a time). Wait a bit for all the people to tire of their toys not working, and then you will be able to use your. (after turning off your video)
Why do you choose to run at less than full power? Are you concerned about the amount of radiation passing through your body?
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
http://www.vonwentzel.net/ABS/Configuration/OSXExt reme/Airport/
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
Even just half the people banding together would probably fix the problem... perhaps there is a common bulletin board you could post a notice on asking if people cannot get wireless networking to work to contact you.
Perhaps something could even be worked out with the apartment management to have a number of sanctioned nodes - if they could see how cheap it could be to support this and advertised as a feature of the apartment complex, they might even make money with higher occupancy (if they are as empty as some apartment complexes around me are). I guess a downside of that could be that your rent would go up though!!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Actually, I posted the question here since it's not specifically a vendor issue and I was wondering if anyone else is in the same situation.
Not too many have this standard, and believe me, you will definately get the signal! :)
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
I know the answer to your question, and was about to post a reply with an explanation, but before doing so I checked your web site so that I could learn more about my audience. I was hit with an attempt to change my browser's homepage (fortunately stopped by SpywareBlaster), as well as at least three (I lost count) pop under/over ads.
I became petulant at that point, and decided not to answer your question, after all--but I wanted you to know the reason why I didn't.
happens to milk. My milk just exploded this morning while i microwave it in a smooth cup :p
I am harvesting funny/good quotes. Please help by putting them in your sigs
I live in Morocco, in a large city, and wanted to share an internet connection with someone in my neighbourhood (I don't have a phone line in my place). Do you think there were any WAPs in the vicinity of my apartment?
No... not one...
You want less WAPs, I want more. Interesting perspective...
You live in an apt.... use wires. Your longest stretch can't be more than 20 ft.
Secure - Check!
Interference - Covered!
Cheaper - YEP!
Faster LAN - You Bet!
Sit on the couch w/ you laptop, watch TV, Surf Porn, drink beer, and get fat - Ok, maybe you should have a wireless
Interesting? really...
So birth defects for you and your neighbors is interesting? I hope you don't think everything you read on the internet is interesting.
Illegal, yes.
Stupid, yes.
Dangerous, yes.
Ignorant, yes.
Interesting, no.
Captain: What was that ? ....
Mechanic: Someone set up us the collision.
Operator: We get no signal !
Captain: What !!
Operator: Properties turn on.
Captain: It's You !!
WAP: How are you gentlemen !!
WAP: All your frequency are belong to us.
WAP: You are on the way to isolation.
Captain: What you say !!
WAP: You have no chance to connect make your time.
WAP: Ha Ha Ha Ha
Use wireless connection from neighbors for internet and throw down a switch with cabling for your LAN. Best of both worlds
If you having knowledge of how to set up your router and neighors don't would check your equipment b/c they obviously are'nt getting interference from your router. But I would prob, still try to sail on someone elses network.
To get better signal without increasing noise you must apply an external antenna. To separate yourself choose the least used channel 1, 6 or 11 (these do not overlapp) and polarise your antenna (mount it the wrong way, generally horisontaly).
this will get you 20 dbi of separation from verticaly polarised antennas.
Cheap antennas have less separation. You need something like 6-9 dbi.
Now it is better to use the SAME channel as the others with the least traffic as the collision avoidance will work as though in the 802.11b standard. if you have channels next to yours (5 and 6 for example) there signal will register as noise on your net and cause packetloss.
Also you can enable medium reservation with a low packet size threshold.
Or go 5.4 as we did (I build broadband networks with PTP radiolinks) and get almost no noice and better speed.
Good luck!
Somebody tell this guy to go get a ham license himself; he obviously hasn't read the rulebook.
If you get the proper equipment you can have a reasonably fast connection for everyone.
Naturally if you have people who have high-bandwidth needs, then a local system wouldn't work.
But if it were people in an appartment building and they had one broadband internet connection, and they all did low bandwidth things, then for the cost of some hubs and some wire they could all share one connection.
You are correct about DSL being too slow for this.
And you are correct that this won't work if everyone is bittorrenting all day long.
But for people who just want to read news and get the occasional email, this will work find and they all don't have to pay for an ISP.
If you live in a two family or a six family appartment building this is a great idea. One ISP connection for everyone.
Also: It really isn't that hard to wire up a neighborhood. The equipment will just come down in price as time goes on.