It was Thursday night, and things were pretty normal. I was on the couch with the laptop doing this or that, and I was going to termserv into one of the boxes in my office. DNS error. Hmmm.. But I was just on that box a few minutes ago, and I'm on the internet on the laptop, so what gives. Oh hey, I'm on "linksys", not my wireless.

I'm guessing one of my neighbors just got a shiny new linksys, and as far as I can tell it's closer to my couch then my office is, since I can't even see my network anymore. No biggie. I knew my Netgear wireless was a bit weak, and I have a fresh new WRT54G waiting to be configured. I'll do that this weekend. Until then, thanks for the cable speeds.

Saturday, and it's time to get back my network. I break out the linksys, install the Sveasoft beta, and things are looking good. I boost up the signal a little bit and go find the laptop to connect to my new superpower wifi. Hmm.. Where's my network? NetStumbler tells me it's there, but still much weaker then my neighbors linksys. Maybe I need to move it around a bit. I bet if I balance it on this stack of boxes and books, right by the door, and don't walk by too fast I'll get a good connection. Yeah that's what I'm talking about, 10 minutes of good solid connection. Score one for me.

After using my neighbors linksys, and netstumbler, I was able to try a number of settings and placements. It's odd that I'm using their router, hoping to bring it to it's knees with my v83r1337 tech skills and super hackable router. Alas, my efforts fail. Their signal is just too powerful for me to keep a connection. Maybe one of these cool homemade antennas could help. With my superior craftsmanship (1), and quality supplies (2), I yield a an apparatus only fit for NASA. Although my slightly crumpled foil was only partially ripped, I still only saw a decline in my signal. Maybe I should purchase something.

Sunday, and it's time to get back my network. After browsing the Sunday ad's on said linksys network, I realize Compusa has a hawking technology antenna on sale for 5$ (after rebate), and they open early. Sweet. By 10:00 I was back with an iced coffee and my new network savior. By 10:30 I had seen a significant jump in signal strength, and was connected to my network again. By 11:00 I was ready to throw my coffee at my stack of routers, again connected to linksys. Maybe if I balance the antenna on some empty bottles and that shoe I could get a better signal. Yeah, its better, just not better enough. But wait, every time I move the antenna, my signal is fantastic. Maybe I could commission an intern from UConn for a study on wifi signals in the home, and adoption in suburban America. S/He could hold my antenna.

Now, and it's time to get back on my network. Oh who the hell am I kidding. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do yet, short of setting up a VPN, and hoping my neighbor never hears about wep. I am getting used to the cable speeds, though. Maybe I should use their router for outbound traffic, and my dsl for in.. Guess I should talk to them before doing that ;)

I guess it's on to the technical details. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. My old router was on channel 10 and I always had good luck. They moved in on channel 6 and took over. Now when I try any of my routers on any channel but 6, I get a horribly low signal, or really high noise. When I am on 6, I can connect for about 20 minutes to an hour, then my card loses connection and moves over to the linksys network, where of course its rock solid. My signal to noise ratio is ranges from about 40-45, where linksys ranges between 55-60. I use an orinoco minipci card, which never really gave me any problems. I also use win2k3 to manage the connection, but tried to install some custom orinioco (now proxim) utils, but they didn't find my card.

Sit tight network, I'll be back soon.

(1) Craftsman? Heh. (2) An old box from a cordless phone, some aluminum foil, and scotch tape.