[cleanup]

Since I'm moving soon, the cable company came by today and took away my modem (they can only cancel my Internet on the last day of each month, and I'm leaving September 5th, so August 31st was the only option). I figured I could just log on to my neighbour's Wi-Fi network, which I know works.

It seems that he has gotten rid of his wireless network.

I'm writing this on my dad's Dell laptop. It can see four wireless networks, one of them being mine (the one that isn't connected to the Internet - it's just sharing a printer). The other three all have no security. The Dell laptop can connect to each of them.

My iMac G5, however, cannot see anyone except my own. It did see one of them for a bit this morning, and I was able to surf the net. Now, all of a sudden, it can't even see the network anymore, much less log on.

The iMac and laptop are right beside each other, but the iMac can't seem to pick up as many signals.

What's the deal? Why did that network suddenly disappear?

Now my iMac is unplugged from the Internet. It is very unhappy.

Any suggestions?

PS: Yes, I know I shouldn't be leeching other people's Wi-Fi, but I haven't a choice at the moment.

[cleanup]

The bump.

[ghporter]

First I'd say that your cable company is full of @#$% in saying "we can only cancel at the end of the month." There's this thing called "pro rating" a service fee... Anyway-I have found that the card in many Dell laptops is particularly good at connecting to even marginal wireless networks. You don't mention the model your dad's laptop is, but I'm betting it's an Inspiron. My Inspiron 8200 is really good at pulling in signals and connecting; it's very useful in finding hotspots, too. A friend uses an 8600 to hunt down illicit access points at the university he works at.

On the other hand, your iMac's AirPort card has a pretty wimpy antenna in comparison to the Dells, so it's not nearly as good at finding signals. And frankly, in the environment the iMac is designed for, that's not a really bad thing. Unfortunately for you it is frustrating because you don't have a connection to surf on, and bumming off other people (particularly without their knowledge) can be really unsatisfying.

[cleanup]

Well, right now the iMac is surfing, albeit relatively slowly.

I used to have an Inspiron 8200, or "Big Black Brick" as I used to call it. It didn't have an internal wireless card - I used a Linksys wireless cardbus card (paired with my Linksys router). It generally worked just fine.

The laptop is actually a Latitude D800. It's a really nice laptop (very small and light), but because of the price, an iBook would be a better deal.

I'm guessing that's the problem. AirPort cards seem to be pretty crappy in comparison to other cards. I'll bet a USB adapter would be better at picking up signals...

So far the connection has only cut a few times today. Yesterday I couldn't really get a signal at all. Strange.

[Cold Warrior]

you may be able to buy a bridge since the network is open. Position it in a place that gets good reception and then let it rebroadcast a strong signal to your mac.

Or perhaps the dell can serve as a bridge--wireless in, ethernet out to your wireless router, and then your wireless router (on a different channel from your neighbour's router) serving your imac.

Complicated but workable.

[cleanup]

Hmm, not worth it. I'm moving in a few days.

The laptop as a receiver would be a good idea, but most laptops don't have ethernet out. I've yet to see one that does...

Unless I'm an idiot and ethernet ports are both input and output... someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[ghporter]

Yes, ethernet is bidirectional. But you'd have to set up the laptop's Internet Connection Sharing, and that's a Royal Pain-particularly since you'll only be using that for a short time. It can be done but while the setup isn't terribly challenging, nor is the process supposed to be time consuming, it may just be more hassle than it's worth to you. In fairness, Windows XP does make it pretty easy to set up connection sharing with a "wizard," so there's not much of a learning curve.

[cleanup]

Well, my connection cut, but I seem to have logged onto another network, that's even more stubborn. The laptop can still connect to the old network.

Oh, and it's actually a Latitude D410. It's my mom that has a D800.

Yes, my house is infected by Dell and Windows.