how far can WiFi signals be recieved?

[Syrinx]

In my continuing quest for broadband, I'm reduced to thoughts of "piggybacking."

I was thinking of borrowing a WiFi card, and seeing if I can lock on to some signals.

Not planning on stealing any bandwidth, I will explain in a second.

But I wonder what the range of WiFi is? (Isn't WiFi what they use at "hot spots?") And I've heard that it is "line of sight." What exactly does that mean?

I'm not planning on stealing any bandwidth. I'm just trying to find someone that already has cable or dsl, that I could make a deal with. I'm thinking of trying that -- to buy a slice of their bandwidth. (That's not illegal, is it?) Who knows, maybe it could benefit the other person, in a small way.

These times.

[LeftyMom]

1. You can't get a line to your house, right?

Sharing somebody else's wifi is an option, depending on how close they are and the amount of interference it may or may not be reliable. At least it'll be cheap to check, you can get a USB wi-fi adapter for maybe $20 on sale, though if this works out for you you'll likely want to invest in a stronger receiver to maximize your signal.

Other options, both kinda spendy but cheaper than paying thousands to get connected:

1. Get a wireless internet card from your cell phone company. Upfront cost should be under $100 and you'll have internet service pretty much anywhere with cell towers. Speeds vary depending on the technology your cell company uses.

2. Satellite service. This is pretty spendy for what you get, which is why you pretty much only see this in very rural areas where there aren't any other options for internet service. http://go.gethughesnet.com/plans.cfm

[Syrinx]

2. I don't think so

I haven't got around to calling Comcast yet. I'm just certain that Charter is still my franchise anyway. Consider how extreme my situation is -- I desperately want Comcast. :)

Thanks for the tips!

[LeftyMom]

3. Do you have a land line?

Can you get DSL on that?

[Syrinx]

8. nope

I'm too far from the phone company's CO. :(

[MajorChode]

4. For most WiFi transcievers, you would need to be pretty close

If you live on a standard city lot, you might be able to share within one or two houses over, but that is about it.

[hobbit709]

5. Standard 802.11 b/g/n about 300 feet

depending on variables such as how many walls, metal siding on the house, etc. Sometimes you can get a usable signal at up to 500 feet under ideal conditions.

[mwooldri]

6. The world record for a Wifi link is 279 kilometres.

Admittedly this was achieved in the Andes, with line of sight and using a highly modified setup utilizing satellite dishes as a means to focus the signal tightly in one given direction.

It totally depends on your location, and whether you can get line of sight between you and your proposed neighbour. If the budget is really tight and you want to see what's out there - if you have a laptop - you could "borrow" from a place like BestBuy or WalMart a USB Wifi adapter with a long-ish USB cable on it. Put the actual adapter on the end of an old satellite dish, get some freeware wifi signal detection software and start playing around. Could try the same with a Pringles can too.

There is professional wifi equipment out there that will get you a 15-20 mile link using 802.11a protocol - the same speed as 802.11b (i.e. max 54 mbps) but operates in the higher 5Ghz band. The 5Ghz band is better because it's less crowded and noisy but 5Ghz is even more line of sight when compared to 2.4 Ghz (802.11b,g).

[pnutbutr]

7. You can buy external roof mountable antennas

Most are line of sight so any trees etc. will kill the link. Long distance ones are very directional also. Some of the antennas I have looked at for the same purpose will go up to 5 miles if you have one on each end pointed at eachother. They run about $200 each. Do some searches to see what you find.

[whistler162]

9. Have you considered a satellite internet provider?

http://www.skywayusa.com/ for a starter.

[ipfilter]

10. Your wifi range can be greatly extended with the use of

directional antennas on both ends. With nothing but an access point and a wireless card the range is very low. If you were to piggy back on someone else they could easily snoop on everything you do on the internet if they know how.