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View Full Version : Getting WiFi Via Cables?


sophia8
18th January 2008, 11:27 AM
One of my naighbours would like to share my wireless broadband connection. However, the thick granite walls of our houses block any wireless connection.
Is it possible to run some sort of cabling from my router through to her house so that she can have wifi inside her house? (She's disabled and would like to use her laptop in bed/on the sofa/lying down.)

Rob Lister
18th January 2008, 11:44 AM
Dont let your provider know you are doing this!!!

You can run a cable or get a WiFi amplifier.

madurobob
18th January 2008, 12:16 PM
They can be tough to find, but if she has a wireless card thats accepts one, she can get an external antenna for her wireless card and route the antenna wire through the wall to your side. You generally unscrew the antenna from the card and screw on a small coax antenna cable.. then affix the antenna to the other end of the coax cable.

BenBurch
18th January 2008, 12:29 PM
If you change providers to speakeasy.net they actually encourage you to share your WiFi.

(And if you do, use this code and we'll both get something knocked off our bills; http://www.speakeasy.net/refer/27339 )

And, yes, you can easily route RF through the walls with a cable. You just need;

T-connector so you can also have your antenna on at the same time she is connected.

Coax to run through the wall that mates with the T on your side and an antenna on hers.

Likely you will not need an amplifier.

slyjoe
18th January 2008, 12:39 PM
How do you get WiFi if the granite walls block any wireless connection ? :confused:

ETA: Nevermind. I misread your question.

sophia8
19th January 2008, 08:13 AM
Dont let your provider know you are doing this!!!Why not? So long as the bill gets paid all the time, why should they care how many computers are on my network?

Thanks for the suggestions everybody - I hadn't known about wifi amplifiers. I now know what to look for.

Madurobob - she really needs a wireless connection. She has spinal problems that mean she can't sit upright for long, or do a lot of bending over to plug stuff in. A wireless laptop that she can use anywhere she can get comfortable would be ideal.

brodski
19th January 2008, 08:21 AM
Why not? So long as the bill gets paid all the time, why should they care how many computers are on my network? because it loses them a potential customer.
the ToS for most broadband services will state that you should not do this.

krelnik
19th January 2008, 11:11 AM
There's a very simple solution for this that everyone has missed: Ethernet. Nevermind the wireless, just run an old-style "wired" network connection from your house to hers. Chances are your router already has an extra connector on the back just for this purpose.

BenBurch
19th January 2008, 02:28 PM
There's a very simple solution for this that everyone has missed: Ethernet. Nevermind the wireless, just run an old-style "wired" network connection from your house to hers. Chances are your router already has an extra connector on the back just for this purpose.

I thought the goal was to have her be able move her laptop around her house, though. You could indeed run ethernet and then have a WiFi bridge transmitter and achieve that, but a bit more expensively than just routing a coax to an antenna. Not much more expensive, though, as I have seen 802.11b devices in the $30 range.

krelnik
19th January 2008, 04:20 PM
Exactly, run an Ethernet over to the other house, and connect it to a WiFi access point that acts as a bridge. Very simple.