Help with boosting wireless signal

[vulcanman]

Hello All - This last weekend I was staying at a hotel in Macon Georgia. My room was on the third floor on the rear of the building. The rooms are accessed from inside the hotel only - a long corridor with rooms on both sides. The window in my room faced a heavily wooded lot. The door faced the inside corridor.

The hotel *DID NOT* offer high-speed internet service. Nevertheless, I had to check my email, so I pulled my laptop out of the bag and turned it on. The laptop is a recent Dell Latitude D800 with built-in wireless adapter.

To make a long story short .. I was shocked to see that the PC I had locked in on a wireless connection at a 2Mbps rate. I was able to go on the internet without any problems. Not sure who the network belonged to. The walls of the hotel are made of concrete. I was sitting at the desk which is not closer to the door than the window which is facing the woods.

My question is - How did I manage to get a connection from my hotel room ?

I need to know because I could use the technology in my business.

Thank you for your time.

MAX

 

[Ionizer86]

They have signal repeaters which you can place at every set distance, there's larger antennas for routers, and you can also manually adjust the antennas to optimize the connection.

 

[Gravity]

Prolly a home connection. That's howI have mine setup. Anyone can access it, sometimes folks do. I have the same habits in hotels without highspeed but, unlike you, I'm seldom finding a connection.

What happened to warchalking?

Gravity

 

[vulcanman]

Originally posted by: Gravity
Prolly a home connection. That's howI have mine setup. Anyone can access it, sometimes folks do. I have the same habits in hotels without highspeed but, unlike you, I'm seldom finding a connection.

What happened to warchalking?

Gravity

The closest building looked like a five storey office that was on the other side of the main road. Remember, I was on the rear side of the building facing the woods ... and the walls were concrete.

Please bear with my curiousity ... I do need to find out more so I can replicate this kind of reliable wireless setup.

Max

 

[merlocka]

Originally posted by: vulcanman

Originally posted by: Gravity
Prolly a home connection. That's howI have mine setup. Anyone can access it, sometimes folks do. I have the same habits in hotels without highspeed but, unlike you, I'm seldom finding a connection.

What happened to warchalking?

Gravity

The closest building looked like a five storey office that was on the other side of the main road. Remember, I was on the rear side of the building facing the woods ... and the walls were concrete.

Please bear with my curiousity ... I do need to find out more so I can replicate this kind of reliable wireless setup.

Max

I'm not sure what "secret" wireless technology you stumbled onto. For all you know, there was an AP in the room next door.

Go download Network Stumbler and walk around any downtown business area and try to count the number of AP's you find. Proabably 1/5 can associated to without doing anything (arguably) illegal.