Can I boost wifi signal to my cell phone?

[ziggy]

Hi everyone, forgive me if I use slightly different terms than you guys in the USA, here in UK its a little different but here goes.
I have the HTC Hero and I love it, I work night shifts and have a boring job so I get a great open connection to my Company wifi so I can be online without using my own 3g connection.
At home I cant pick up free wifi unles I go outside onto my patio and I can then pick up an open connection, its obviouslly my neighbours that Im piggy backing.
Question is, is it possible to get that signal from my patio into my house, ie to make it stronger or to direct it so it can be accessed inside my house without me having to approach him?
If this question shouldn`t be asked then it can be deleted by the admins.
Thanks for reading.
Ziggy

[Iceberg]

That isn't so much your phone but more so wireless internet connections/wifi and routers and other computer things.

The router or whatever that provides the wifi over the distance can only go that far.

But since they're clearly nice neighbors you could go buy them a better router or whatever so it would reach your house and you can take advantage of their free wifi since its not protected.

That would be the only way in my somewhat knowledgeable head.

[ziggy]

Thanks Iceberg, I do get on well with all the neigbours but I couldn`t ask them to boost it for me, its not really the right thing to do, lol.
Its amazing, my mate 3 doors down gets a free open wifi from his next door neighbours house, 3 doors up is another open wifi that I can access only from my garden, damn inconsiderate of them all missing me out what, lol.
Can I not fit a satellite dish or ariel on top of my garage and bounce their signal over my garage wall into my bedroom or am I living in cuckoo land?
Dont get me wrong I can get online using the 3G but the wifi is quicker, and free!
Ziggy.

[Rusty]

You need a wifi extender. They cost about $60. My favorite way to do it is get a linksys wrt54gl router. Flash the custom dd-wrt firmware and set up the router as wifi repeater. You can even boost the signal power to 3-4x it's normal strength.

[ziggy]

Thanks Rusty, I could buy my own router, and use my own internet connection but I was just looking at other possibilities.
Now Ive just done an experiment, I went outside onto the patio and connected to the opened wifi signal with the HTC Hero, then I moved the cell phone behind my garage wall so it wasn`t in line with the signal, my phone then lost its signal and disconnected. I then held a 12" chrome plated domed pan lid up in line of the signal and angled it at my phone which is still behind the garage wall, PRESTO, it picked up the wifi connection again straight away. OK so I can bounce the signal around a corner of a solid wall but I dont want a pan lid hanging there, going to look for something bigger like a sat dish, lol.

[AndroidJR]

TRY Makayama

http://www.makayama.com/


It might work for you.

[jaysname]

Thanks Rusty, I could buy my own router, and use my own internet connection but I was just looking at other possibilities.
Now Ive just done an experiment, I went outside onto the patio and connected to the opened wifi signal with the HTC Hero, then I moved the cell phone behind my garage wall so it wasn`t in line with the signal, my phone then lost its signal and disconnected. I then held a 12" chrome plated domed pan lid up in line of the signal and angled it at my phone which is still behind the garage wall, PRESTO, it picked up the wifi connection again straight away. OK so I can bounce the signal around a corner of a solid wall but I dont want a pan lid hanging there, going to look for something bigger like a sat dish, lol.

You didn't realize it Ziggy, but Rusty actually solved your problem the way you intended to.

You see, when Rusty suggested you purchase a router, you assumed he meant to combine with your own ISP. Not the case. He recommended a specific router that can be converted into a repeater that can boost a faint signal into something more than strong enough to penetrate your home.

You were scared off by the mention of investment and assumed he meant the full pay solution. There aren't many solutions to tech problems that don't require some sort of initial investment. In this case it's a one time initial investment of around $60, that would go into equipment you can use to boost wireless signals for the rest of your life.

Excellent tip Rusty. The DDWRT + Linksys router combo is a great solution for Ziggy, even if he didn't realize it at first.

I hope any future readers of this thread give this solution a shot. It's a little techy, but there are easy tutorials at the dd-wrt website to take you step by step through the process of setting up your compatible router with dd-wrt.

Why am I so passionate about this? it's exactly what I'm using myself to do exactly what Ziggy wants to.

Cheers to Rusty, Ziggy and anybody else who read this.
Jay
P.S. Since the ethics of what you want to do and I'm doing are in a grey area, focus on the tech questions and not the intentions behind it. Not all sites are as open as this one. You don't want to get anybody into trouble just because you worded it with poor judgment. Or at least wait a few more years until more cities have free wireless broadband.

[Tim Bernee]

It can resolve signal strength issues in some cases. .... If I use WiFi (which works) then lose the WiFi signal and switch back to ... Even in the Apple I have less signal strength on my new phone then.

[Demian]

One thing that might interest you is finding out where that wifi signal is coming from. For that I recommend Open Signal Maps (http://www.opensignalmaps.com)

It's got a mode for finding cell towers, but also one for finding wifi routers. It doesn't have all wifi routers, but it has a LOT - not just open networks. So maybe it will have your neighbour's.

Then you'll know who to give the new router to :)

http://opensignalmaps.com/images/qr_pro.png

[Digi]

You can try the amplifier from here http://www.myamplifiers.com/. According to people's responses it's not bad.

[kopian]

The only way to do this is if you move your router to a more open location in the building, preferably closer to your handheld device.

Keep the router from being enclosed in well-insulated areas.

[Liatech]

I had a similar problem and before solved it I looked through a bunch of online stores. I stopped on this http://www.myamplifiers.com (http://www.myamplifiers.com/) (thanks Digi!)) as only there I've just received answers to my questions. Prices are very pleasant. And now I'm happy owner of two boosters AT 600 and AT40003G. Everything works fine.
I think you also can find the "right" booster there))