Free Internet

[Liv]

So for about the last eight years I've been a customer of Time Warner and Earthlink. A combined cost of about $65 a month for internet, television, and phone. Now I know that isn't much, I know there's some of you that spend $150+ a month on services, so I was already living fairly smart. Of course since we're both in college, we rarely watch TV. In addition, I was ready for a change. I'm thinking about moving every day, and cutting an entire company (luggage) out of my life is an exciting temptation. I'll admit I was a bit scared, but the moment I walked out of Time Warner void of equipment, or commitment, I felt amazing and free!!! Then there's the satisfaction that since then they've been calling me, begging me to come back. But why would I?

The main concern was the internet. I needed internet to do my homework. Luckily I had a free access point within a fairly close distance. The problem was being able to connect to it. All I really needed was a bigger antenna.

First I picked up the Engenius Outdoor High Gain 8dBi Omni Antenna. Mounted that puppy to the apex of my roof.

Next, 8 meters of TRENDnet Low Loss Reverse SMA Female to N-Type Male Weatherproof Connector Cable

Finally a simple adapter (REVERSE TNC MALE to RP SMA FEMALE CONNECTOR) to connect it my router. Total cost, about one month of high-speed internet: $50-$60.

The most important part was having a router, my old Linksys WRT54-G, and re-programming the firmware with DD-WRT (an aftermarket software) to turn it into a repeater bridge. I should point out that there's a guy on Ebay who sells these reprogrammed with bigger antenna for $99.

A short trip to the roof and attic, and I'm in business. I test the new antenna on my USB wifi adapter and realize the usual 5 hot-spots I can see have turned into about 30. I'm literally pulling in every wifi hotspot in the neighborhood. It boggles my mind. I tried a Chinese Yagi antenna prior to this antenna and got worse reception, but this Engenius antenna is amazing. It works flawlessly and is built like a tank.

Bottom line? I plug my Ooma broadband phone into the router, and now have internet and phone for free. I really couldn't care about the tv, but I can always view shows online, or buy a digital antenna. Either way, I'm $700 richer a year for letting go of crap I never needed in the first place. I highly recommend this set-up.

[Liv]

FYI, found a great app to improve my transmission rates, etc, by finding out the channel that all my neighbor's are on and moving my set-up to the most open channel. It's called inssider, and it's available for Android and Windows. Great little tool.