Among other things I am curious about is my iMac has a built in airport card but if I built or bought something like this to tap into local hot zones that are just out of reach...

Would something like this go into my USB on the computer or would I have to get an airport to hook it up to?

Screw the cable company... I don't want to subscribe to anything I wanna grab a free connection and run with it.

[edit on 17-5-2008 by grover]

Originally posted by grover
but I am poor so if I can rig it I will.

wow, Grover and I actually have something in common!
(I have nothing to contribute, just making an observation )

Yes, this works. The pringles can antenna has been around for a couple of years in the wifi mod/hack circles. Google it and you will find much information.

The rub hhowever, is that you have to have a wireless card that has some way of attaching an external antenna. Most all internal pci cards have this, but not many notebook cards do. On many note book cards the anterra is integral to the usb dongle or the pcmcia card.

If you are hoping to use an existing notebook wireless, i'm not aware of any way to hook up the antenna. However, I will say that Hawking Technologies makes a reasonably inexpensive usb adaptor for mac that has a screw off antenna that you could then attach your pringles antenna too. I own one of these hawking cards and view them very favorably, they have great range out of the box and when used with an antenna upgrade, they rock!

Originally posted by grover
Has anyone tried anything like this? If so I am interested in your experiences.

Haven't done as described but when I needed to boost the signal between a router and computer I made a tin foil reflector to direct the signal from the router's antenna (upright, external) and wrapped a funnel in tin-foil and threaded the other computer's wi-fi dongle through its base to make a receiver (looked like a very homemade satellite dish). Went from an extremely slow (sometimes non existent) connection to a full-strength connection.

If your wondering, the wi-fi router is in one building with its antenna facing the other computer's dongle in the other building. Approx. 50 ft gap, 1 double glazed window, and one brick wall between router and receiver.

[edit on 17/5/08 by Rapacity]

Never tried to get a signal boost - always just moved my vehicle until it worked.

I would just buy a secondary wi-fi card that has the external antenna connection. You can get one second hand on Ebay for under $20 Or you can just open up your puter and attach an antenna jack.

I was reading in OS X Tiger, the Missing Manual (David Pogue) that if you have an airport card in your mac then you don't need a router.

What I am interested in is how I would use this. A friend of mine told me that broadcast cable are often the cheapest the cable company can buy and that he personally laid his unconnected tv cable next to his neighbors connected on and was able to tap into his signal.

The whole idea appeals to the rogue in me

So I am thinking that whether I buy a WIFI USB antenna or make one, for safety sake I would want to attach it to something other than my computer, hense the idea of using another router.

the airlink 101 plug's in thru your rs-32 network plug on the computer . not only will this give you a router and an access point it will also act as a physical firewall. the firmware will need to be upgraded to do all of this but the WRT firmware upgrade is free you'll just have to find it on the net. the WRT firmware is a linksys upgrade but will work with the airlink 101 perfectly.
suddenly you'll be opened to another world with endless possibilities.