Internet - Where to get it?

[marty]

Preliminary shopping list:
2.4GHz 24dBi Grid Parabolic Antenna TL-ANT2424B
http://www.tp-link.us/products/details/?categoryid=2474&model=TL-ANT2424B

LMR400 N-Type Male to N-Type Female Cable 6 meters (19.6 ft.)
http://www.trendnet.com/products/proddetail.asp?prod=165_TEW-L406

RP-SMA Male to N-Male Wi-Fi Adapter 42220
http://www.cablestogo.com/product/42220

Wireless N Range Extender DAP-1360
http://www.dlink.com/us/en/home-solutions/connect/access-points-range-extenders-and-bridges/dap-1360--wireless-n-open-source-access-point-router

Also need a Ethernet cable to go from the router to the computer. Will get that after I figure out how long it should be.

Any suggestions? I should go walking around with a iPod and look for a unsecured wireless network.

Do these wifi hacking programs work?
https://www.google.com/#q=wifi+hacking+programs

 

[LockH]

Watt!!! NO solar concentrator yet??? OK, EVerybuddy on the Spheroid Planet, start saving yer silver-lined chip bags for the poor guy. (Now, if I could only figure out watt to do w/all these metal pop tabs and beer bottle lids.)

 

[nechaus]

cantenna

 

[marty]

Went to the Goodwill to look for a BigMoose style brass Chinese Frying hand strainer. Did not see any.

I was planing on walking around with a laptop and USB WiFi dongle to find wireless internet connections. I am reluctant to spend any money on something that might not work or only to find secure connections from paranoid people who won't share their password.

Back in January Verizon claimed that they have no wire. Called them again from the shop so I could tell them that there really are phone wires in this building. Big wire and box with 12 lines on the back of the building. Called a few weeks ago and talked to a guy who said he would call me back. He no call back. Called again and talked to a girl who said she would get back with me on Tuesday this week. She gave me a phone number to call and leave a message. Left a message on Thursday and Friday. No call back. Called again yesterday and spoke with a girl who sent me a email. She said she should have my address data in her system by Monday next week. Every time I call Verizon they put me on hold while they talk to "engineering" to try and find the phone wire that I am looking at. Remember back before cell phones when telephones were connected to telephone poles with wires?

Yesterday the Verizon girl said DSL will cost me $41 a month. I am not seeing internet only on the Verizon web site? Will try and negotiate for lower price if they ever find the phone wire.

DSL = Digital Subscriber Line. Copper telephone wire.

 

[LockH]

cantenna

Ohhh. Me likie that:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Cantenna

 

[Dauntless]

This may just shape up to be the most useful post I've ever encountered at ES ... many thanks, gestalt!

Finally found the post you're willing to go to jail for, eh? Had the obsolete satellite equipment ready to get started, then I figured out this is illegal.

Direct TV does have satellite internet for business. But are you ready to pay? http://www.exede.com/business

There's cheaper systems, but they're slower. http://www.starband.com/services/index.html

My sister used to like her WildBlue, I don't think she still has it but that could be because the hill country phone company might have finally gotten DSL. http://www.wildblue.com/options/comparison-chart

 

[mark5]

They just want to use the satellite dish as a wifi antenna, not for satellite signal. USB wifi would be used instead of the satellite feedhorn.

 

[Dauntless]

They just want to use the satellite dish as a wifi antenna, not for satellite signal. USB wifi would be used instead of the satellite feedhorn.

To hack into the WiFi of OTHERS, who don't have security to keep you out.

 

[CroArcher]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zAh0yQdLXDc

 

[EMF]

Less than 20 dollars atm

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN...nas,+WPS+Button,+Support+Windows+XP/Vista/7/8

 

[marty]

Give up on Verizon. Long story short. They don't know where their wires are :|
Looked up some close by businesses to see where they get there phone service. See Windstream, call them. No can do DSL. T1 is $100s a month. Forget that.

Wander into a close by business with my iPod in my hand. Show them the little lock symbol. Gave me the password

The password is top secret and I promised to tell no one. This business is 300 feet away from my shop.

I am about to buy everything I listed earlier:

Preliminary shopping list:
2.4GHz 24dBi Grid Parabolic Antenna TL-ANT2424B
http://www.tp-link.us/products/details/?categoryid=2474&model=TL-ANT2424B

LMR400 N-Type Male to N-Type Female Cable 6 meters (19.6 ft.)
http://www.trendnet.com/products/proddetail.asp?prod=165_TEW-L406

RP-SMA Male to N-Male Wi-Fi Adapter 42220
http://www.cablestogo.com/product/42220

Wireless N Range Extender DAP-1360
http://www.dlink.com/us/en/home-solutions/connect/access-points-range-extenders-and-bridges/dap-1360--wireless-n-open-source-access-point-router

Also need a Ethernet cable to go from the router to the computer. Will get that after I figure out how long it should be.

Any suggestions? I should go walking around with a iPod and look for a unsecured wireless network.

Do these wifi hacking programs work?
https://www.google.com/#q=wifi+hacking+programs

Thinking that a shorter cable might work better?
Low Loss Reverse SMA to N-Type Cable
TEW-L202 (Version V2.0R) 2 meters (6.5 ft.)
http://www.trendnet.com/products/proddetail.asp?prod=190_TEW-L202

RP-SMA Male to N-Male Wi-Fi Adapter Not needed.

Hope this works? Any suggestions on how to pull a wireless signal out of the air from a building 300 feet away? Buy different equipment? Not trying to save money. Just want it to work.

 

[CroArcher]

http://routerboard.com/RBGroove52HPn

 

[marty]

CroArcher - Thanks for the suggestion.
Groove 52HPn
http://routerboard.com/RBGroove52HPn

and
2.4GHz 24dBi Grid Parabolic Antenna TL-ANT2424B
http://www.tp-link.us/products/details/?categoryid=2474&model=TL-ANT2424B

Also need a Ethernet cable to go from the [CroArcher Groove 52HPn thing] to the computer. Will get that after I figure out how long it should be.

Will try the antenna in different places to see how it works. Hoping it will work indoors. If not I will try it outside. From my experience with TV antennas, predict that it will last 10 or 20 years outside exposed to the weather. Inside it will last much longer.

Just about to hit the buy button. Please STOP me if anyone has any better suggestions to suck a wi-fi signal out of the air from 300 feet away.

 

[CroArcher]

You are welcome.

 

[methods]

When I was bouncing WiFi all over the valley over here my experience was that a simple omni-directional antenna or two (like the one found on a Linksys router)

Does the job just fine. I fooled around with Yagi's.... but it was not until a guy came up to me and said "Hey... put that antenna up on a 20' pole and it will be bueno". So... I grabbed a 20' length of PVC and an extension cord (since I had no way on hand of extending the antenna - no coaxial adapters... so I just ran the router at the top of a pole with an extension cord).. anyway - I zip-tied the router to the end of a 20' pole and zip tied that to a fence. Wrapped 3 or 4 plastic bags around the router (UV Resistant for the win) and I was in business

Got the routers from a scrapper in Livermore - super cool guy who I have had the pleasure of knowing for some time http://www.ecycle.info/

Hacked my routers with some SICK SICK SICK firmware from these guys http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index
(Went with repeater - 3 of them)

Then bounced a DSL signal from inside a house - to a Yagi on the chimney - to an omni out in a field - to a Yagi up on a mountain - then into the Faraday cage I live in.
Worked tits for a year or two

The Yagi I was using was... meh... ghettoriffic.
Similar to this:

Turned out the only way I could get good performance out of the one up on the mountain was to aim it right down into the dirt.

If I had it to do over... I would drop the Yagi's and just go omni. Only use for a direction antenna is to "hog" your signal all to yourself. :wink:

I... Might... also set up a splash screen so that people COULD use my internet but first they had to click some sort of button... like at Starbucks... so I would have the opportunity to warn them - and drop some knowledge.

As far as man in the middle...
If I find him - he gets stomped out down by the river.

As far as things I learned along the way:

1) Microwaves etc will interfere with weak signals - so careful channel selection is how you win.
2) More is not necessarily better when adjusting the power
3) Troubleshooting starts with a reset at root... then station 2, 3, 4 and finally your PC (you can access all nodes from your PC once you have their IP)
4) People can log in at any node and the only real hit is a few miliseconds as you step out at each node (I dont game... so I dont care)
5) Rain... in my case... improved signal integrity. DDWRT has some cool apps for monitoring your SN ratio
6) IF I had it to do over... I would take the time to extend the antennas and keep the routers out of the weather
7) I might consider password protecting... but... eh.. when I am down town and there are 15 WIFI points and every one is locked and I need the damn internet... well... it just pisses me off.
8) If one out of 10 people shared internet... pffttt.. change the game phoolz.

Starbucks now offers Google WiFi (Thank you!)
It is over 50Mb down... and over 10Mb up
Costs you $1.65 to use it for as long as you like (short coffee)

But... I warn people away from this

DO NOT BECOME COMPLACENT AND ASSUME THAT YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO BANDWIDTH LIKE THIS IN THE FUTURE

I can absolutely frocking guarantee you that the man behind the curtain is getting ready to "make a run" on the unsuspecting fools. Pay by the KB is just around the corner...

1) Keep your critical files local
2) Make sure the food on your table does not come from high bandwidth usage
3) Use it while it is available... in the smartest way you can



-methods

 

[regmeister]

I'm gonna give one of these antennas a try.

http://www.wa5vjb.com/products1.html

 

[ErnestoA]

I leaned a smartphone up against a small empty mason jar one day and noticed that all of the sudden, I was able to connect to wifi that was 500ft away. The router normally only works at less than 50ft. This was also on the opposite side of a thick dirt berm, no line of sight at all. I think that if someone made a properly tuned glass antenna that the phone could dock into, range could be increased exponentially with no additional equipment. The phone needs to lean gently on the glass jar for it to work at all. If you hold it tightly in your hand, it doesn't work. The jar must have harmonically resonated with the wifi signal or something. It's all over my head but it works and I have witnesses.

Is there FEA software that will simulate harmonic resonance? If so, I know a glass blower.


Another idea is solar powered flying drone transceivers that are programmed to keep themselves safe, making an open source, diy, free meshnet that uses cjdns/ipv6 possible. They could transmit to land locations that have WildFi nodes aimed at other towns. Incentive to build and maintain the nodes could be better bandwidth or some kind of cryptocurrency incentive. I even had the idea of building cheap wind/solar powered transceiver nodes that could magnetically attach to buses, cabs, people's cars, etc, effectively distributing signal throughout an area and down highways. That would take a collaborative effort though, which humans seem to have trouble with.

 

[LockH]

Wow Ernesto. Maybe somebuddy here less dumb than I can interpret. Hehe... And first post on ES? Congrats! (Also, someone on ES will maybe chime in the usual form note re adding your writer location, etc on ES.)

Cheers
L

 

[slacker]

try a budweiser bottle and you should get at least 5ooo feet.

 

[marty]

Done! Working perfectly for about a year now. Thanks for all the help. I owe you all. $60 a month till the end of time. Found the internet, its about 300 feet from the shop.

TP-LINK TL-ANT2424B antenna and Groove 52HPn router
50' Ethernet cable from Walmart about $5. Careful with Walmart. Online price was lower then item on shelf in the store. Walked into the store and paid the online price. What a hassle that was.

Router gets power through the Ethernet cable. LED lights light up to show signal strength as you move antenna around. Instructions were confusing. Set up was easy. Not sure if the software was funky or the problem was me. Most likely problem was me. After I got the software figured out, it works perfectly. Turn the computer on and the internet is connected. Internet connection is fast, almost always on, and FREE!

On my list of things to do is mount antenna to the wall. Wire had a rough time when the snow melted. Snow pulled on the wire. That's a cast iron umbrella stand with a pipe that the antenna attaches to.

Suspect that the Groove 52HPn router works so well because of the short coaxial cable. Think there are lots of loses in this type of setup with coaxial cables.

 

[amberwolf]

Online price was lower then item on shelf in the store.

AFAICT that's true most places, and many places I've been can't give the online price in-store. (where I work the stuff doesn't even come from the same warehouses, so one (usually the store) can be out of stock for months, while the other (usually online) still has lots of it).




Glad yours is working out now.


Mine had been...but the neighbor that let me use his wifi is having ISP problems today (and a couple days ago), so even though I can connect ot his wifi I can't get to the internet (neither can he).

I've been using a little DISH antenna I found in the trash at work one day, with a USB wifi taped to the focal point on hte boom. The DISH is hoseclamped to a really big old videocamera tripod's mounting point, and pointed basically at his house. Because of the shape of the antenna it doesn't seem to matter that much where at his house it's pointed, as long as it's close, and it gets within a couple dB of the same amount (usually around -67 to -69dB according ot the program that came with teh ASUS wifi USB thingy).

I also tried a bunch of other stuff where the antenna itself was all that was routed out to various kinds of reflectors and antennas, but none of them really worked very well, if at all, except for a Windjammer (IIRC) reflector from scrap aluminum flashing and coroplast and spraypaint can lid mounted to the same camera tripod, with the USB thing at it's focal point. That one was around the same as this DISH antenna, but was much flimsier in the wind.

I jus tkeep a big plastic bag around the whole thing to keep rain out on those few times it dumps on us.



I've got a MUCH bigger dish from some satellite TV provider to try next, once the neighbor's ISP is working again. Found in the trash a few weeks back in my alley, set aside since then waiting for time and reason to try it out. Since i had to take the USB thing off the DISH to bring with me to get wifi out here at BK today, I might as well change the dishes out when I get home, too.

 

[amberwolf]

I swapped out the DISH (oblong in vertical direction) for the DirecTV dish, which is oblong in the horizontal direction (thus more useful) and also nearly 3x the surface area.

However...there is no difference at all reported by the ASUS USB dongle wifi program in the dBm signal strength readings, other than that it now has a "wider" reception area for the same strength. Meaning, it can be pointed a fair bit left or right of a signal's direction and still get the same strength.


I did a lot of playing with the placement and orientation of the USB dongle at the focal point of the antenna, and basically found that the same method as with the DISH works best--just tape it right to the "front" of the horn cover, facing the dish, in the orientation of the long axis of the dish, with the antenna end of the dongle at the center of the horn.


So at the house I get about 65-70dBm level for the neighbor's wifi, behind my house, with the dish at the bedroom window (about 5 feet away from the wall) facing the neighbor's house. I'm limited to that distance by the length of USB cable that will actually work. Even with a powered hub between the dongle and the laptop I only get another couple of feet of cable before it fails to detect the dongle and/or crashes.



Unfortunately his ISP is unreliable at the moment, not connecting to his modem/router most of the time, and only for moments usually when it does. So till that's fixed I have the antenna much further out in the yard, almost to the back fence, and the laptop, external monitor (cuz the laptop's screen is small, cracked and dim from age, can't really read it in sunlight even in the shade), a chair, etc., all setup under the middle of the yard mulberry tree.

This lets me connect to a more distant (unknown exatc location) unsecured wifi, that I can't even detect from the house. I'ts slow due to low signal (~75-80dBm) but it stays connected most of the tiem so far. I have some pics but it times out trying to upload.

It's ok for now, around 10am-ish thru around 3pm ish, but before and after that the screen will be in sunlight and unreadable (and if the breeze dies down, too hot. It's only about >85F in shade, but about 112F in direct sun, at the time I"m posting this, almost 3pm).

 

[ErnestoA]

A friend showed me this and I've found it to be really useful. Combine the Hoo-Too thing with a solar charged backup battery, and put it up 15 feet on a pole and it will grab wifi grom 1/4 mile away and create a hotspot from it. There's also some cool meshnet info for those that are interested in creating a decentralized, free, alternative to the corporate/gov't internet.

This solar thingy will probably work. http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Charger-Resistant-Lightning-USB-charged/dp/B00M10YD8W/

HooToo Tripmate TM-02 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HZWOQZ6/

FOR $20!!! It has some impressive specs, sounds easy enough to solder external antennas to, can be flashed with openwrt!! which would mean it could run batman/olsr.

OpenWRT TM-02 thread: https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=53014

Github for port: https://github.com/wingspinner/HooToo-Tripmate-HT-TM02-OpenWRT

Batman/olsr info: http://www.open-mesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki/

It is currently being used as a wireless repeater here, running purely on solar. Which gives me cotton candy feelings in my soul.

 

[marty]

Done! Working perfectly for about a year now. Thanks for all the help. I owe you all. $60 a month till the end of time. Found the internet, its about 300 feet from the shop.
20150406_crop.jpg
TP-LINK TL-ANT2424B antenna and Groove 52HPn router
50' Ethernet cable from Walmart about $5. Careful with Walmart. Online price was lower then item on shelf in the store. Walked into the store and paid the online price. What a hassle that was.

Router gets power through the Ethernet cable. LED lights light up to show signal strength as you move antenna around. Instructions were confusing. Set up was easy. Not sure if the software was funky or the problem was me. Most likely problem was me. After I got the software figured out, it works perfectly. Turn the computer on and the internet is connected. Internet connection is fast, almost always on, and FREE!

On my list of things to do is mount antenna to the wall. Wire had a rough time when the snow melted. Snow pulled on the wire. That's a cast iron umbrella stand with a pipe that the antenna attaches to.

Suspect that the Groove 52HPn router works so well because of the short coaxial cable. Think there are lots of loses in this type of setup with coaxial cables.

Update - Marty's internet antenna still working great
Picture seems to have disappeared. Not a problem. Got it saved in my computer.

Links also broke. I fix.
https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/antenna-and-accessory/tl-ant2424b/

https://mikrotik.com/product/RBGroove52HPnr2