theres a small football-sized field in my backyard, i'm friends with a couple people that also live around it, some of which let me use there wireless network (they dont care, i mostly just surf anyways) problem is, and i've messed with this for years, my wireless cards seem to lose power, like after a day, sometimes few hours somtimes a few days, i have to restart the computer because it just stops seeing the network/s like its getting weak, restarting usually seems to power it back up and it works good again for a while. sometimes it actually shows the networks and the little "automatic" next to them so its set to use them, but it just doesnt connect. ive tried numerous combos of pci cards and antennas over the last few yrs, even a laptop card in a pci adapter (orinoco card). most recently i bought a new card because mine seemed to be dropping the connection alot, the new card worked great for a week or so and started the same thing. anybody have any insight into this? im currently using a d-link g pci card and a 10dbi (if i remember right, maybe more) directional antenna w/ 25ft of lmr-400.
Maybe get your friends extended range antennas for there routers or access points (whichever they may be).
i've considerd that, but i think theres more to it then just buying larger antennas, because its works great sometimes, about %60 of the time...
Try to get your self a wireless signal booster, u can pick one up at the nearest electronic store, you can plug it where u know you will get the best signal and it will boosted so you can have better connection, you gotta understand that wifi signal gets weeker with distant and if theres a winds also will cause the signal to get week also buildings and so forth so get ur self a signal booster.
