Super Cantenna

[Cream Soda]

So, I haven't had internet for over a year, lol (My uncle cut it off as well as the cable and phone, and won't allow it in the house until his wife gets a job). I was wondering how effective a cantenna is. I currently use the connection of one of my neighbors, and I only get 1 bar of signal and occasionally d/c. I was looking around at ways to boost my signal and I stumbled across a Super Cantenna. It runs for about 40 bucks, so it doesn't seem too bad of an investment for me.

Can anyone who has experience with these tell me how effective a cantenna can be and would it help enough to warrant paying 40 bucks for it.

Details from their site.

Spoiler: show

How to use your Super Cantenna.
Does your current wireless setup leave dead spots in your house, garage, garden, or office?
http://www.cantenna.com/cantenna_images/house02.gif

A Super Cantenna attached to your wireless device will boost your signal and reach those areas.
http://www.cantenna.com/cantenna_images/house03.gif

Create a broadband wireless community and connect to other public networks in your neighborhood.

Extend your range even further by using a Super Cantenna at each location.
http://www.cantenna.com/cantenna_images/houses01.gif

Setup is easy: connect, point and shoot!
http://www.cantenna.com/cantenna_images/laptop.gif
Simply attach the Super Cantenna to your wireless router, access, point, bridge, repeater, or media adapter, and then fine-tune by pointing to an incoming signal.

How the Super Cantenna performs compared to other antennas:
Omni-directional whip antennahttp://www.cantenna.com/cantenna_images/graph01.gif

Flat panel semi-directional antennahttp://www.cantenna.com/cantenna_images/graph02.gif

Super Cantenna directional antennahttp://www.cantenna.com/cantenna_images/graph03.gif

http://www.cantenna.com

[Spekkio]

Antenna on the Cheap (er, Chip)
build one for 6 bucks if you're feeling adventurous. while i can't say i've tried it, the range increase on them is remarkable from what i remember.

[Omniyoji]

YES! The pringles antenna is generally accepted as "it works". I haven't used one myself either but I've seen countless tests and nice results from back then when they were invented.

I've also seen some other lol techniques but not sure if they work....

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_0015.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_0016.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...0PCs/wifi1.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...0PCs/wifi2.jpg

[Mafai]

Am i correct assuming you are using ur neighbors connection with permission, or you plan on sneaking into his house and rigging his router (this would make you my hero)?

[Avanarius]

At my work, every year, we use something called a canopy to send a wireless signal from a router 400 meters across a field to provide wireless internet to our local music festival. It's moderately difficult to set up but provides a really consistent signal assuming you're within line of sight (which is very important). I was getting a dl rate of 100kbs and managed to play FF perfectly fine.

I don't really know how much they cost but they're from around 1999 so they can't be too much.

*edit* apparently they're still freakishly expensive.

[Norellicus]

Antenna mods that just slide over the plastic nubs make me chuckle...those do NOTHING for your reception lol (or if they do, it's pretty insignificant)...if just putting metal plates in proximity to your standard signal broadcast worked, then skyscrapers would actually get better reception than usual, rather than being black holes of wireless signal.

You need to be able to actually make conductive connection between your booster and the antenna stem itself.

[Kohan]

Antenna on the Cheap (er, Chip)
build one for 6 bucks if you're feeling adventurous. while i can't say i've tried it, the range increase on them is remarkable from what i remember.

This is what I was going to suggest. I mentioned this to someone a couple months ago on BG, and it's the cheapest antenna you'll get, for obvious reasons.

[fantasticdan]

Necrobumping this rather than making a new thread.

My router can function as a repeater/access point, and apparently you can attach a cantenna to a wireless router antenna. Could I put 2 and 2 together, and turn stolen internet into wireless internet for my house in one step, or is there some reason this will not work?

[Cephius]

Necrobumping this rather than making a new thread.

My router can function as a repeater/access point, and apparently you can attach a cantenna to a wireless router antenna. Could I put 2 and 2 together, and turn stolen internet into wireless internet for my house in one step, or is there some reason this will not work?

In theory it'll work, but if you care about your privacy and personal data, you won't do this. Just pay for your own internet :<

On top of this, routers that function as repeaters are usually pretty inefficient at it. Assuming your router has 2 antennas, it needs to use one to receive and one to transmit, so your bandwidth will be pretty limited. Better than having no internet at all I suppose.