SearchingBearCu

To begin with, let me apologize in advance for a lengthy post. I'm trying to explain my situation in detail so that I can get a good solution to my problem.


Ok, I'm in a situation regarding WiFi connectivity on my laptop and need some expert recommendations.

I live in San Francisco. If anyone is familiar with the housing situation here, most of the hotels have been converted into SROs (Single Room Occupancys) to provide "affordable" housing. The catch is that most of these SRO units are in buildings that were built directly following the 1906 earthquake, and as such, they have all sorts of problems that go along with the 'charm' of living in an old building.

1) Shoddy electrical wiring. (I'm using a UPS to mitigate that somewhat.)
2) Shoddy telephone wiring. (MetroPCS is a godsend..)
3) No cable TV wiring.

Since I must have internet connectivity at home, I made the decision to go wireless. When I moved in, I scanned the area with NetStumbler, and it didn't look promising. But then, I was also using a no-name 802.11g PC Card adapter. I borrowed a friends adapter, a Hawking HWC54D with a built in 6 dbi directional antenna.

I'll admit that I am no radio engineer - I don't pretend to know the intricacies of how radio waves work. I only know that directional antennas provide a boost in reception in a straight line, and that a lower number is better in the signal column of NetStumbler.

I found a hotspot near my SRO that gets a signal of about -55 dBm, with a noise level of about -70 dBm. (I used the Hawking card's utility to get those figures.)

Unfortunately, while I can see the hotspot quite clearly now, I don't believe that it can see me quite as well. According to the statistics tab of the utility, 99% of the received data is coming through nicely, but only about 40% of the sent data is getting out to the hotspot, usually with multiple retries. This results in web pages randomly failing to load, and is VERY annoying.

Is there anything I can do, any other hardware that I can purchase, any hacks, any configuration tweaks that I can make to improve my situation?

Thanks!

Barry

Pretty easy, walk to where the hotspot is.

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Never do anything you don't want to explain to the paramedics.

SearchingBearCu

That'd be great, except I can't. I have a physical disability that makes walking very painful, and can spend 2 or 3 days at a time basically trapped in my room when it flares up, using a walker to get to and from the bathroom. Cerebral Palsy can be a bitc.. Well, you know...

And even on my good days, it isn't really an option unless I find a hotspot indoors near an available electrical outlet, as the battery on my laptop is completely shot.

G8tK33per

And so can theft if you don't have permission to access the 'hotspot'.

A Hermes based card is the only one that will accurately report signal/noise with Netstumbler.

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"My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention."

Sons of Confederate Veterans

itsnotme

Yeah, I think getting assfucked by bubba in jail will make any ceberal palsy worse don't you think?

G8tK33per

Just a smidge.

__________________
"My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention."

Sons of Confederate Veterans

itsnotme

Well, you have a phone line, which means you can get DSL. And not to impugn your disability, but have you considered getting one of those mobile wheelchairs or something like that? It's better than going to jail.

If the batteries on your laptop are shot, why don't you just get new batteries with the money you were going to buy your new wireless theft equipment with?

Thorn

http://www.netstumbler.org/showthread.php?t=9896

There will not be a second warning.

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Thorn
"Read Altas Shrugged. Compare it to today. Repeat as necessary"