Can't connect to this strong Wifi Signal.?

Question

I live somewhat close to a few wifi hotspots. I have a directional yagi wifi antenna and am able to connect to a couple of them, however signal is just barely strong enough, resulting in a very poor connection. I use netstumbler to find the signal strength and usually they are about -85 DB, but at least I'm able to connect.

Now there is another one that has a very strong and steady signal much stronger, about -70 DB. However no matter how many times I can connect, it never works.

I'm using windows XP, and the wifi manager leaves alot to be desired, however I have not been able to find any sort of replacement software for it. I'm wondering if its windows wifi manager that's the problem?

The reason I wonder, is because, netstumbler shows 4 AP's with the same name as the strong one I'm referring to, the other 3 are weak. Its named "CROWN". However windows wifi manager only ever shows one "CROWN", so I'm wondering if when I try to use the wifi manager to connect to it, if perhaps windows it trying to connect to one of the weaker "CROWN"s and not the strong one? They are all non-encrypted.

Any help as to what the problem is connecting, and how to get around it?

Answer 1

1. Windows will always show the strongest one, not the weaker ones. -70 DB is not that strong, and you probably wont be able to connect to it.

2. Don't steal other peoples internet.

Answer 2

this reminds me of  a story i read of a wi fi user who had nothing but trouble with his own wi fi connection from an internet cafe across the street

seems he set up several routers all with the same ssid and channel

but with the beacon broadcast in an off mode

The internet cafe got so fed up with a signal that its users kept bothering them that they could not connect to that they shut down their service

Answer 3

why dont you just buy your own router instead of using someones personal one?