Extended Range for rooftop Wifi

Hi,
I live on the 11th floor of my apartment building. I am wondering if I can bring my lappy up to the rooftop of my building on the 22nd floor and get a wireless signal from a router in my apartment. There would be distance as well as line of site concerns. I have an HP with built in AGN wireless

Is this asking too much of wifi? Any opinons on feasability or equipment needs would be appreciated...

THANKS

 

That is just too much concrete to go through. But you may be able to pickup a shot spot from up there.

The more expensive cards (wifi) that use the cel phone bandwidth will work but very expensive. $70/mo. But then you will connecting to the ISP directly not to your router.

 

What is your router?

 

I currently have a d-link WBR2310 which is fine for the apartment. I would consider upgrading to N. I've seen those range extenders in Best Buy...are those any good?

 

I currently have a d-link WBR2310 which is fine for the apartment. I would consider upgrading to N. I've seen those range extenders in Best Buy...are those any good?

 

You'll never be able to get a direct laptop-to-router connection - it'd have to cross 11 storeys of distance which, assuming 10 feet per floor, is about 110' and that's just line-of-sight, which you most likely couldn't get, so you'd also have 12 floor/ceiling slabs to deal with (most likely a mix of concrete and steel - a very noxious mixture for wireless signals).

Is the roof in question "public" access for the whole building, or just yourself? If you have a measure of control over the roof, you might consider running some exterior grade ethernet cable up the side of the building, and then plugging it into an exterior grade access point at the rooftop end. That'll give you rooftop wireless (although you might want to go with another router instead of just a plain access point, so you don't inadvertently "share" with anyone else on the neighboring rooftops).

 

Or just put an external antenna on the window, some routerss with mimo are promessing 300' I believe.

 

Those things don't exist. They're 3G adapters that use EV-DO/HSDPA, not Wi-Fi.

 

They don't use or use?

 

(+10char)

 

EVDO/HSPA is too slow, not good for laptop internet applications.

 

It sucks for real-time gaming and video chats, but web browsing is fine. The main disadvantage is the expense.

 

Yeah, it's too expensive for the value, web bowsing in a cell phone is a joke, to surf in a screen that is smaller than the makeup miror for girls and small fonts that you can barely see anything, plus you need to have a scroll feature to see all, it's just not even funny.

 

There's ways to browse the web on a normal screen with a cellular data connection: expresscard adapters, USB adapters, even connecting to a smartphone with USB or Bluetooth (it'd be pretty short time though) will allow you to access the web anywhere there's a 3G signal.

 

Yeah, wherever there is a 3G signal, which is not everywhere.

 

In that case, if the OP can get line-of-sight from an external window-ledge in his apt up to the roof for an external antenna, then it might just be easier to drop 120' to 130' of exterior-grade ethernet cable over the roof parapet, pull the lower end in through his window, and then either go wired on the roof or put an exterior-grade router up on the roof. Good ethernet cable will be able to do 120' to 130' easily. I suppose the only "issue" would be securing the cable against the side of the building so it didn't flop around, and then, I suppose, there's the little matter of the landlord, but hey! The OP's in NYC, so all you have to do is read through your lease - if it doesn't say, in so any words, that you cannot hang a length of ethernet cable out the window, then you probably can and the l/l can't say boo about it - particularly if you're rent controlled/stabilized and not market-rate (rent-control in NYC is obscene - you can inherit a rent-controlled lease - the only difference between rent-control and fee simple absolute is no personal liability on the mortgage or on any slip-trip-fall in the common areas).

 

Another crazy idea, all these bulding have a trash fall, get the ethernet cable or even the antenna through that hole all the way to the roof

 

Now that's thinking outside (or is it inside??) the box!

 

Thinking inside the chimney

 

My whole area is blanketed with an excellent signal There's an antenna about half a mile from my home, and an antenna 150m from my school (the police station/town hall/courthouse building across the street sold space on the radio pylon). If it didn't cost about almost $1000 a year for service, i'd get it.

 

Have you tried to install an antenna close by the window and see if you can get some signal on the rooftop?