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A DIYer's Quick Guide To Cheap Wireless Extension

Posted by timothy on from the use-genuine-zip-loc-bags dept.

An anonymous reader writes "This piece is described in one of the comments on it as 'a little piece of genius'... and I have to agree! Although Peter Cochrane seems a bit of a crack pot, the ways that he comes up with to get connected when he's out of range in the sticks are pure genius and he makes them appear really simple! Think old satellite dishes, USB dongles and plastic bags and you'd be on the right tracks to upping wi-fi signal by 4 bars." A perfect excuse to link to one of my favorite sites, if you want more details and photos on similar jury-rigged long-distance connections. However, your meterage may vary — I've found USB Wi-Fi devices to be pretty fickle under Linux, with some distros working way better than others.

3 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Citywide Wireless by billy901 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wouldn't it be nice if this technology was used to make a free citywide wireless internet? We just need a bunch of people with this ambition and it could be done. I once read a book, called When A Strange Comes To Town, in which some people had the same ambition. You can get the book from Project Gutenberg if you look around. It's a newer book that has never been copyrighted.

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  2. Try this.. the strainer WiFi.. cheap too! by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 5, Informative

    I found this great instruction on Instructables (pops new) on how to create a usb wifi out of a 2.00 strainer from WalMart. Works like a champ!

    My friend lives across the Ohio River and we're able to send the signal across the river that way.

  3. How to get long distance WiFi to work with ease by viking80 · · Score: 5, Informative

    10 years ago you might have had to improvise, but today you can get cheap high quality antennas and amplifiers that is a lot better than a USB dongle in an old satellite dish.

    My favorite source is http://www.hyperlinktech.com/
    and you can do your link analysis here:
    http://cgi.gbppr.org/wireless.main.cgi

    If you really need big distances, you can use an old 12' sattelite dish, but otherwise stick to the formula above. It will save you a lot of time and trouble.

    I have reliable links over 10km with 10mW running at 50Mb/s

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