Stealing Wireless....somewhat

[Code-Red]

I need some help guys. I currently live in the wild west (Alberta) of Canada, and not only are service providers in this location rare, but I live in a separated basement suite, and I can't run cable utilities even if I wanted to. So I'm forced to "steal" wireless off of the neighbors. In my opinion, if you aren't going to bother securing it, you're offering it to everyone, so I'm using the term "stealing" loosely here. Anyways, there are about 5 wireless points I receive in my apartment. Two are 40/64bit, one is 128bit, and two are unsecured. The two unsecured only give about a bar a piece, and I have to be sitting in a certain part of my apartment to barely get service. I've looked into hacking WEP, and I'm not particularly interested in it for a few reasons:

a) it's illegal (to my knowledge anyways)
b) it requires a *nix OS on most occurrences, which I'd rather not deal with
c) it seems rather complicated

Does anyone here have any suggested hardware, such as PCMCIA cards, USB wireless plugs, that get excellent range? Or possibly some good range boosting things (like the Pringles can, and the aluminum foil on the antenna)?

I can live without a phone, and cable TV, but the internet is how I keep in touch with people back in Ontario, and I'm going crazy without it.

[DaMadFiddler]

Here's another thought, that's less complicated and prone to potential interruption.

Have you considered talking with the people in the main house above you about going in on a service together? Split the bill, and have a wireless router set up where you know you can pick it up well. That way you can secure our access, you won't have to worry about someone randomly moving away or locking you out some day, and you don't have to worry about being arrested for hacking someone's network.

[MulletMan13]

I ended up in a similar situation. Time Warner couldn't get to my new place for quite some time, and I needed internet for school.

I ended up cracking some WEP passwords with a program called KisMAC (an osx port of Kismet-- a wireless stumbler). It's super easy with that, I just ran the program for awhile to collect packets, ran the cracking utilities and had their key. Takes some time to gather enough packets though...

[Code-Red]

Here's another thought, that's less complicated and prone to potential interruption.

Have you considered talking with the people in the main house above you about going in on a service together? Split the bill, and have a wireless router set up where you know you can pick it up well. That way you can secure our access, you won't have to worry about someone randomly moving away or locking you out some day, and you don't have to worry about being arrested for hacking someone's network.

I tried talking to him DMF. The guy is a major WoWfag. I told him I'd give him $20/month just to use a pittly amount of bandwidth to check my email, chat on MSN a bit, go on Facebook, etc.... and he says "Sorry man, I play a lot of WoW. I get pissed even when my wife uses her email while I'm playing". So that idea is out. I haven't talked to any of the service providers yet in regards to having a separate cable line hooked up, but past experiences lead me to believe they'll charge me up the ass for it.

I ended up cracking some WEP passwords with a program called KisMAC (an osx port of Kismet-- a wireless stumbler). It's super easy with that, I just ran the program for awhile to collect packets, ran the cracking utilities and had their key. Takes some time to gather enough packets though...

Yea, I was looking at AirMac, jc-wepcrack, and a few others. But nothing is really available for XP, and if it is, driver support is pretty limited, meaning I'd have to go out an buy a wireless adapter for the strict purpose of using it to sniff packets, and collect IV's.

I'd like to try getting a really strong wireless receiver first. I'm a pretty capable guy when it comes to jimmying things, so an outdoor antenna isn't out of the question. It's just that I'd rather not go into Best Buy or Future Shop with my dick in my hands, and come out with a crappy, enclosed, antenna-less PCMCIA card. I'd be happy with a couple bars and a somewhat stable connection, even if it's 56k region. Right now I'm posting this message from my bathroom, holding my laptop above my head with one hand and typing with the other .

[DaMadFiddler]

Hmm. They're typically not cheap, but have you looked into cellular options? Most carriers offer 3G data connections, along with either routers that will pick up the signal or cellular modems for the computer itself. Would something like that work in your area? Then you'd also have the added bonus of Internet access anywhere you had cell service.

[Wagh]

http://www.cantenna.com/

[|darc|]

Just break in. Who's going to notice? Don't abuse the service.

Back at my last apartment, the entire complex had the same internet service provided by the landlord, but I didn't feel like buying my own wireless access point or being tethered to an Ethernet cable all the time, so I broke into some of the nearby access points. It wasn't difficult once you got it down, and provided you have good wireless equipment, you can do it under OS X with KisMAC. I didn't have good equipment, so I had to use Linux on my MacBook. I have no clue about Windows.

[Jaded JAaron77]

http://www.cantenna.com/

wow... they actually sell those?
http://www.instructables.com/id/Wireles ... -Cantenna/

I've seen a lot of other instructions on making "Cantennae" with coffee cans and coax cable, instead of the fire extinguisher and usb wifi adapter in that instructable.