Need internet access in your garden? Or maybe your garage across the street? You could always set up a pair of cantennas, but heres another approach using parts which you may already have, ingredients are as follows….
- 2.4ghz Antenna
- 2 Wireless Access Points
- 10" PVC Pipe
- Double-sided foam tape
Now mash those parts together using the instructions at Danny’s excellent Mavromatic.com and you should be able to extend the distance of your wifi signal by quite some distance.
Getting power to the unit would be tricky under normal circumstances, but using Power Over Ethernet the unit can be powered by an easily weatherproofed network cable, solar power would also be another option.
Although this units operation is hampered slightly by its low position, if this is an issue for you then it could always be mounted higher, in a tree or on a pole. If you were thinking about mounting it higher then looking into solar power might be in order. It elevated position would be perfect for catching those rays.
This device seems to be legal to operate as you are only repeating the signal, not amplifying it. As long as it’s on your property then I can’t imagine you would have any problems…
Check out these links for more information on DIY WiFi repeaters…
- Step by Step solar powered WiFi repeater tutorial from Popular Science Part One - Part Two
- A commercial Solar Powered WiFi repeater from Meraki
And also worth a mention is this great and extensive guide on converting a WRT router into a WiFi repeater by flashing it with a custom firmware
The Slurpr is a 6 channel WIFI router which automatically connects to the 6 strongest WiFi networks in the vicinity. It then combines these connection into one super-fast connection.
‘A big, fat access point with a large antenna and a bunch of Wi-Fi cards that automatically connect to the strongest signals it can pick up. Then it would combine all these signals into one FreeLoading Broadband Canal for me to use’
The unit is handmade and based on the RouterBOARD 532 from www.routerboard.com - They then added 6 mini PCI Atheros WiFi cards and a 4Gb Compact Flash card.
The rear of the unit contans standard WiFi antenna connections which currently have compact aerials attatched, but external antennas could easily be connected.
The Slurpr runs on Debian Linux and although the creators admit that some fine tuning is needed, the unit does operate.
They are also discussing the possibility of including some automatic WEP cracking tools onboard allowing the unit to automatically seek out and crack WEP encrypted WiFi access points.
This modification would undoubtedly make this unit highly illegal to operate or possibly own. Even in this inmodified state, the Slurpr seems to be an extremely useful device to have around, especially if you do a lot of travelling and need fast connections wherever you go.
If you want to find out more information about the Slurpr and see some more photos with construction details then check out the creators page at http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/781/slurpr-the-mother-of-all-wardrive-boxes
Another video demonstrating just how insecure Wireless Networking can be
2 128-bit encrypted WEP networks being cracked in just over a minute!
This is a great how-to from tm36usa on www.instructables.com 
Check out how he converted a kitchen steamer into a wi-fi antenna! From reports on the site, the range of the USB Wi-Fi adapter was greatly increased by using the antenna Although the bulder says a tripod is usually the best thing to use in conjunction with this antenna as it’s hard to hold a signal without one You can visit the site for full instructions using this link So get building, and increase your wi-fi range today!
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