Extending Wifi

Sunstrand

I posted about this in H/A but I figured I might get more help here and more advice.

So I'm in Iraq working with a Drilling rig and our wifi is the shits. We are allowed to use the rigs wifi which is about a kilometer away, we have little usb wifi devices that have extended range but you have to be in the exact right spot to have internet.

So what we would like to do is extend our internet with a laptop then rebroadcast so we had wifi in our little shack. I'm not sure if its possible but that would be awesome if we could do that.

Failing that I'd like to setup a router that lets me take their wifi, then we could hopefully rebroadcast our own network with our own passcode. What do I need to do this? I imagine a router, with a portable antenna that we could place in the roof while running the router inside. Anytihhng else and what would be the best way to do this. I'm in country for another 19 days, then out for a month, then back in again so if I have to order anything it wont be an issue.

Thanks.

Abracadaniel

what OS are you running?

if you've got win7 pro

http://connectify.me/ might be up your alley

Antithesis

If you have a laptop with a cantenna or anything that allows you reliably connect to the rig's wifi so long as it remains in one spot (even if it's a really inconvenient spot), you can bridge connections in Windows' network options so that what the laptop picks up on wireless is fed through to a network cable. You could then just plug the network cable into a router as your internet connection and give the router whatever security/password settings you'd desire. (I'll gladly explain this in a more step-by-step manner if it's what you think you want to go for.) If your adapters plug in via USB, you might even be able to use the bridging functionality to get the USB adapter to broadcast. (Or it might only work in the reverse- these things are always evil. You could connect via the USB, get the laptop to bridge that with a wireless network it's created, and connect to the laptop's stable network with ipods, etc...)

Main problem with this is that you might need to put it somewhere with dangerous amounts of sun/sand/chance of damage, depends on how creative you can get with the placement.

Alternatively, if you have a router that you can flash with DD-WRT custom firmware, the recent versions have a Repeater Bridge mode. It can be a bit annoying to set up at first, but will basically set your flashed router to pick up on the rig's wifi and boost the signal. You'd be able to connect to your router, and it'd be just like connecting to the wifi at the rig.

Slightly less difficult to set up with a DD-WRT router (and the immortal wiki writers actually suggest you do it before the above option to get the hang of things) is a Client Bridge, which serves the same basic function, only doesn't re-broadcast the network wirelessly. You'd have to plug into the router via network cables, but you also wouldn't have to dedicate someone's computer to picking up the rig's signal like in the first option.

I've probably forgotten some things, but yell if any of these seem appealing and/or possible with what you have / can get / can use.

Antithesis

Smart Hero, I'm compelled to tell you that I hear your sig spoken aloud in the proper voice each time I see it.

Abracadaniel

it's a fitting sig for a punster such as myself

SeñorAmor

If I'm understanding correctly:

1) You don't care about buying your own equipment, and
2) You can mount said equipment to rebroadcast your own signal

Buy one of these.

They have an effective range of 30km (granted, that's with perfect line of sight), but I've used them through trees across distances of well over 1 mile with stupid college kids downloading all sorts of crap they likely shouldn't be without so much as a hiccup.

These are rated for outdoor usage, are PoE (you'll have to run cat-5 to the device), and come with the PoE adapter, all for $85. If your little USB device is as powerful as your say it is, I highly doubt you'll need another one on the receiving (your) end, but even if you do, it's only another $85 for reliable, speedy internet.

Just a thought.

Sunstrand

Senor Amor, if I'm getting the jist of that extender you posted I would have to mount that at the rig correct, then it just blasts out a super strong signal?

If we were the only ones using the wifi this wouldn't be an issue, however all the egyptions, kurds, and other people youtube like noones business so any bandwidth we would have would be sucked up like spilt water in the desert.

I'm thinking that getting a router and placing it in the right spot seems the most likley solution, then i can password protect the wifi so when we actually need wifi to do our jobs, we'll have it.

Also the laptop we would dedicate rebroadcasting from is an old pos xp based dell.

Thanks again everyone, does anyone want to link me a router that I could set up with DD-WRT, that I could ship to Canada on days off. I'm on the roof right now and the suns starting to get hot or I'd google this stuff myself.

Thanks again

Antithesis

This will do juuuust fine.

http://www.cantenna.com/ is a fairly durable, low-tech antenna if you need one. Otherwise there are more powerful boosters like the one listed above.

SeñorAmor

Sunstrand wrote: »

Senor Amor, if I'm getting the jist of that extender you posted I would have to mount that at the rig correct, then it just blasts out a super strong signal?

If we were the only ones using the wifi this wouldn't be an issue, however all the egyptions, kurds, and other people youtube like noones business so any bandwidth we would have would be sucked up like spilt water in the desert.

I'm thinking that getting a router and placing it in the right spot seems the most likley solution, then i can password protect the wifi so when we actually need wifi to do our jobs, we'll have it.

Also the laptop we would dedicate rebroadcasting from is an old pos xp based dell.

Thanks again everyone, does anyone want to link me a router that I could set up with DD-WRT, that I could ship to Canada on days off. I'm on the roof right now and the suns starting to get hot or I'd google this stuff myself.

Thanks again

You can encrypt it so only you can access it. It's a wireless access point just like what everyone else is posting. Just a super strong wireless access point. A super cheap, super reliable, super strong wireless access point.