Wireless Adapter help needed

[onelivinlarge]

First yes i have spent hours reading and trying to find what ive been looking for before asking.

Here is what i need help with im looking for a new wireless adapter to use for my my girlfriends apartment. the adapter im looking at is this http://www.simplewifi.com/alfa.html

now the reason for this one is because im trying to pick up the signal from our college campus 500 feet away across the street(yes we both are students there, so i think its fair to use it). That way she can have access to the internet when it's -10 out and not feeling like waking to the computer lab

would this adapter do what im hoping for. Im here asking because when i google and dig through other forums is all hacking stuff, and she is never gonna use it to hack she is gonna use it to surf the web and to watch netflix, maybe xbox live. any help is appreciated

 

[postmortemIA]

probably not - it depends on power output of signal from the school router. most likely it cannot be recognized from such distance. when i was at school, they had bucnh of low power routers that don't work outside of building at all

 

[JackMDS]

In most cases WIFI gizmos like Directional High Gain Antenna, or Devices with High Output help when there is long distance with clear line of site, in such environment they help to push the Signal further.

Indoor where there is actual obstructions of signal and many electrical interferences they provide very little (if at all) value.

You can Bridge two Buildings that are 500' apart if there is clear line of site between Bridged Access Points that are placed outdoor (or in opposing Windows) on each building.


😎

 

[onelivinlarge]

thanks for the help. i was just hoping to get out "cheap" since i can faintly pick it up on my laptop with its built in wireless card

 

[John Connor]

If you can get the signal a little and have a desktop this might help. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106136

For a laptop your gonna need to make a directional antenna and connect it to the USB adapter.

http://www.cantenna.com/

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...A0.Xcantenna&_nkw=cantenna&_sacat=0&_from=R40

 

[jolancer]

I'm not a good judge of described distance, but for your own reference no matter which type of hardware you attempt...

I have the Alfa AWUSO36H, default 5dbi antenna. however I'm using winXP and or a Linux distro with a compatible kernel. If its for a newer system like win7 or 8, dunno if it'l work well.(my guess would be NO especially win8 LoL)

my oem netbook wireless adapter works well on par or better than other laptops iv seen.. The Alfa tho detects a Lot more networks, the software readings for the Alfa are kinda false tho, signal strength is reported good however connectivity is limited to signal quality, so i believe it detects them with high burst signal strength but link quality is still low. even tho That said, it can still maintain a usable connection on some networks that were previously unreachable with my default adapter. dunno how it would do if i gota better antenna for it, i needa do that someday.

if needed for your purpose tho the EnGenius EUB9603H maybe a better choice than the alfa especially since it has dual usb hookups for power.

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=314

 

[JackMDS]

In Wireless reception Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is actualy more important than just raw Signal Strength.

Consumers' grade Wirelss cards do not have the inner circuitry that can measure SNR.

Depending on the environment, many of the medium to low signals showed by the computer's Wireless Manger as received by the Wireless card are too noisy for stable countable connection.

This is also the reason to why using a High Gain card (like one with 1000 mw radio) does not help much, the card amplifies the signal and the noise. The result is signal that reads High but it all saturated with noise.


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[s44]

Don't mess around with USB. Get a multi-antenna router/bridge if you're going to try this.

 

[hextet]

I don't think it would work right out of the box. I got an Alfa NIC awhile ago that claimed to give me 1km range, but that doesn't happen. There are a lot of conditions that affect the signal you can get, such as distance, objects in between you and the access point, etc..

However I know you can get some range extenders that might help with what you are looking to do.