how can i reach the wifi network at work?

Hi

somewhere in this forum i asked a question about which wifi card i should get and was told that the intel 6300 or bigfoot killer is the best for range as they have a 3x3 antenna or something along those lines? I cant find how to access my older post here....
Anyway ill get on with it i have a few questions, do the different cards have different antennas included with them or do they all use the same one included with your laptop?
I have a wireless internet connection where i stay at work but its about 500-600m away so my wireless card in my acer at the moment will not even pick it up is this possible with any of these card upgrades?.
Will putting in a intel 6300 allow me to pick it up or will i need an external antenna?
I would love to be able to acess this free internet from my room and save me paying $40 per month for 5gb of 3g data.

Thankyou all

 

The 3x3 antenna on the Intel 6300, or any 3x3 card for that matter, isn't meant for range. It's for higher speeds.

If you're looking for long range look at a high-end Atheros or Killer WiFi card with beamforming. Though even with beamforming I doubt you'll get 500-600ft of usable range out of any internal WiFi card. The max is usually around 300ft.

Also, the cards themselves only have hookups for the antennas that are already inside your notebook. Any card you put in will use the same antennas.

So if you need serious range, I'd say your best bet is a high-powered external directional WiFi adapter/antenna combo.

 

Thanks mate so what exactly does 3x3 etc mean just better speeds? So I will notice no gain in range with the 6300 over a standard Bluetooth combo?

 

That is quite some range to get internet unless you got a wiimax or external wifi antenna attached to your laptop to maybe catch that signal at that distance. And let alone they give you permission....

This is the odd part free internet from your work place? I highly doubt they let anyone including employees get free internet on their network. I am saying that this is their property and unless you have access or permission I doubt they will just give that out for you just to have free internet?? Highly unlikely in any business model. I will say this because something here just doesn't add up here....unless you can state otherwise..... Why because anything you do on their internet or networks they will be responsible and if you use if for anything besides work they will be responsible for your actions and all the legal problems.

 

so basically only chance i will have is with a large external antenna?
Are there any gains in distance with an intel n6300?

No im not doing anything dodgy or illegal..... must be the tattoos eh
I work in a remote mining area and stay in a camp with public wifi that is free and available to all employees, only problem is that the camp has expanded beyond the reach of the wifi network so those who have rooms close to the kitchen and bar have free wifi, but those in the new construction rooms do not, unfortunately they are not upgrading the service to all rooms untill september.

 

Sept is only 4 months away, am going to guess if u want this to work NOW, you are going to spend nearly enough to cover the $40 and the priviledge of the hassle.

 

That basically it unless they have a repeating tower that is to far of a range to go wifi unless they use wiimax....

That's good to hear. But like my reply unless they built or make a repeating tower or antenna near your location to catch back to the main free wifi location you won't be able to use it. And will have to wait til they upgrade your campus to get you on the wifi network unfortunately....

 

even a external antenna probably is not gonna help it for 500-600m if the company signal is just plain normal 2.4ghz.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4590/bigfoots-killern-1102-wireless-networking-vs-the-world/7

the 6300 get like 200feet range .. if a external antenna even do "5x" better that is only 1000 feet which is like 300m.

typical external external is like 1.5 to 3x of laptops one iirc.

 

500m is really, really far for a wifi signal. 100m would be serious effort and would require either very expensive components or a custom built directional antenna.

500m+ isn't a practical wifi range unless you have open space and a very large custom directional antenna on both ends. By "very large" I mean satellite shaped antennas on both ends that are at least 6 feet off of the ground, with about a 2 ft radius, facing each other on either end.

 

I don't really see how you can do this without some sort of dish . This might work.

 

See, I read that as FEET. Not METERS. LOL.

If it's 500-600 meters, forget it. It's pointless. You'd need industrial grade, long-range, high-power directional antennas. 1800ft is a long way.

EDIT: You also said you're in a mining camp, that's also in a remote location... you have to factor in environmental variables when calculating range. Geography plays hell on wireless signals.

 

5 page of BS and 0numbers telling what it does ~~

If this works, $50 is nothing ~~

 

The only reason I remembered it ... the only review I ever read on it?
Super Cantenna Review -- Extend Your Wi-Fi Network Range (pics)

That being said I'd still give it a healthy dose of skepticism and buy it from somewhere that allows returns.

 

You could always try an Engenius AP...

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

 

update:
I just stepped it out the other day and it is actually closer to 150 meters , so going by what others have said about its range being 300ft then it still would not be possible without an external antenna setup.
still id love to know.... (nothing to do with this experiment), if a intel 6300 will give any improvement on range over a standard wifi combo, or are the only benefits the speed?

 

For just range improvements you'll want a new Atheros card. They have higher Tx power ratings, and it shows.

I can go much further on my AR9380 than I could on my Intel 6205. The Intel 6300 won't fare much better than the 6205 in range... just throughput within the same range.

But I doubt even the AR9380 would go over 300 ft.

 

It might or might not work as I myself had tried that by putting my AR9380 into my hp dv4,dv5 and it bulked saying not recognized network card on bootup so I went with the intel 5100. So there is some limitations as to what network wifi you can place in laptops because of chipsets and laptop manufacture as I found out.

 

There are actually specific versions of the AR9380 that are just for HP machines.

But yes, you need to know what WILL work vs what WON'T work with your particular brand of laptop. If it's a Dell, any card that will fit in the slot will work. HP, Lenovo and Toshiba all whitelist WiFi cards in their BIOS, and if it's not a very specific card... the laptop won't even boot at all. Like, no BIOS or anything. No POST.