Cheapest way to extend WiFi network?

[djwirk]

Hi there, I guess I'll start by explaining the problem. We're renting a house on a multi-family property. The neighbor shares her WiFi (She's the landlord and it's included, no swiped!), however we only get it in one room of the house. Conveniently enough it's the office, but that leaves our other devices left out! (Apple TV, game consoles... No WiFi for iPad!)

I know there are range extenders, I've never used one myself so I really have no idea, aside from setting up a basic home network I'm kind of clueless.

I was wondering though, could I share my MBP's laptop via ethernet to my own router? Or share it via cable to my wife's MacBook then set up an Ad Hoc network from there?

If there's not a way to do it with the hardware we have on hand, what's the cheapest solution?

Thanks!

 

[Hellhammer]

Best solution would be to get a long Ethernet cable and run it from her modem/router to your house and plug in the router to extend the network. Of course this depends on how far is her house and is there any nice way to get the cable from her house to yours.

I think that the idea of yours is possible but I leave that to networking experts It may not be as good as running it via cable though

 

[djwirk]

Of course this depends on how far is her house and is there any nice way to get the cable from her house to yours.

It's about 85 yards of Hawaiian Jungle, we actually only get it in this room because we have a clear line of sight over the tree canopy to her office window where she has her router!

 

[Hellhammer]

It's about 85 yards of Hawaiian Jungle, we actually only get it in this room because we have a clear line of sight over the tree canopy to her office window where she has her router!

There are cables up to 1000 feet and some are made for outdoor but they cost pretty much (~100$). That would bring the best performance. As I said, lets wait for some more posts as this isn't my specialization

 

[xi mezmerize ix]

It's about 85 yards of Hawaiian Jungle

haha sorry but that just sounds so funny to me...im weird

 

[Consultant]

I would use a router to receive, and a router / access point to distribute the internet.

Perhaps build Pringles Can Antenna for the router that receives

 

[mrbash]

WDS relay

I think an Airport Express would be able to work as a Relay for you wireless network.

There is a feature called WDS (Wireless Distribution System) built into Airport devices and the Airport Utility should be able to help set it up. Here is an older article from Apple's website. There is a newer one, but I couldn't find it.

 

[hzamani]

Just make a mini satellite dish out of aluminum foil and attach it to one of the antennas of the router.

That way the signal will all be directed to your location and not going everywhere.

 

[djwirk]

Figured it out this morning, put the dd-wrt hacked firmware on my router and was able to set it up as a repeater. Have a full house of wifi repeated from one little hotspot upstairs. Yay!