Hints On USB Wi-Fi?

[securitybreach]

The tool you are thinking about Clutter is ndiswrapper.

[Cluttermagnet]

The tool you are thinking about Clutter is ndiswrapper.

That's the one. Thanks, Josh.

[Cluttermagnet]

Try Linux Mint 9Gnome, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, Fluxbox desktops available.Based on Ubuntu with a lot of tweaks to make complicated tasks, like you are running into, easy.

Yeah, Mint 9. Good suggestion. Thanks!Right now, Mint 9 and maybe PCLos seem like possibilities, plus maybe Ubuntu 10.04.

[onederer]

Yeah, Mint 9. Good suggestion. Thanks!Right now, Mint 9 and maybe PCLos seem like possibilities, plus maybe Ubuntu 10.04.

I didn't have any luck with Mint, but was able to do wireless networking with PCLinuxOS. It took no pain to do it.If you only use desktops, I guess that it makes no difference which OS is used, since they now automatically link up using CAT-5 cabling. It's wireless compatibility that's a royal pain to deal with.

[Cluttermagnet]

Some luck, finally. I did try Mint 9 on this platform* (away from home). For some reason, Mint didn't like it and never could finish loading. So next I tried PCLos and lo and behold, it took me to a wifi screen and displayed one local signal. That's a good start. Although I could not get a connection to that network, I have at least established that I have one set of hardware that boots me into wifi with a monitor window.I fired this box up with both an Ethernet PCI card and a wifi PCI card plugged in. The OS seemed to handle it OK. Then I plugged in the Ethernet cable and walked it through Networking/ Setup and finally it was able to get an Ethernet connection.*This box has a Gigabyte mobo with P4, 1.6GHz, 512M DDR RAM, and a minimal NV17 GeForce4 MX440 nVidia card. It's my present 'home away from home' computer with Concast access.

[Cluttermagnet]

I paid off Concast for the 1 month service owing at 59.95. No late fees have been assessed to date. I did not pay the additional 59.95 'looking forward' that they were billing. I'm all paid up and my service was cut off on the 'anniversary date' at my request. So now, unless I start hearing again from those people at their 'save a customer' contractor, Concast and I are finished for good. Last month, I was offered basically a 6 month teaser rate at about half price, then reverting to the old rate. I told them that would be 'acceptable'. Now lets see if they honor their word. Any attempts to assess late fees or connection fees will be a deal killer. Of course one could grow old and die, waiting for those turkeys to call at a time when one is at home and available. It is utterly insane to have set that up to preclude and 'reverse' calling of that contractor. You simply cannot call them, must sit by the phone and wait.

Edited August 1, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[onederer]

I paid off Concast for the 1 month service owing at 59.95. No late fees have been assessed to date. I did not pay the additional 59.95 'looking forward' that they were billing. I'm all paid up and my service was cut off on the 'anniversary date' at my request. So now, unless I start hearing again from those people at their 'save a customer' contractor, Concast and I are finished for good. Last month, I was offered basically a 6 month teaser rate at about half price, then reverting to the old rate. I told them that would be 'acceptable'. Now lets see if they honor their word. Any attempts to assess late fees or connection fees will be a deal killer. Of course one could grow old and die, waiting for those turkeys to call at a time when one is at home and available. It is utterly insane to have set that up to preclude and 'reverse' calling of that contractor. You simply cannot call them, must sit by the phone and wait.

You probably heard that before, but Comcast's way of thinking according to one of their memos, it was that they should work to mold and change their customers to their way of thinking, instead of their bending and serving the customer. This is not the exact words of the memo, but it gives you the idea of their way of thinking. I told my wife that I was real glad that I didn't have to deal with them.Have had very good luck with my Internet provider, and no problems. However, my sister is stuck with Comcast, and she is not a very happy camper! Comcast has pulled some dirty tricks and bad service over the years, much to the ire of it's customers.Cheers!

[Cluttermagnet]

I finally got around to firing up my new wifi card in one of my computers at home. Ran it under a live CD session of PCLos. Was amused to see (only) one readable signal which I know to a virtual certainty to be a certain neighbor. That it was not an open access point is irrelevant for now. I'm learning a little, bit by bit, and will one day know what I'm doing...Probably more signals would be visible earlier in the day, I imagine. I'm going to work on building a better directional antenna- although the one I have now is demonstrably somewhat directional.BTW I'm assuming that the USB 'refurb' wifi dongle that I bought a couple of years ago was DOA. One day I'll get an opportunity for someone with a lappy or netbook to test it for me.BTW I just recently heard mention on the radio of someone who got hold of a 65 dollar Chinese netbook and was evaluating it. That under 100 dollar price point intrigues me. One of these days...(It would have to accommodate Linux to move me to actually buy)

Edited August 2, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[onederer]

You can make a highly directional antenna with a pringles can, and a cat-5 cable (with the hardware to mount and hold it in the can). They've had contests to see which one can transmit and receive the fartest. I believe that it's been recorded at more than a mile. Would that satisfy what you are looking for? It's also been used to drive around and pickup stray WiFi signals. It is highly directional.

[Cluttermagnet]

You can make a highly directional antenna with a pringles can, and a cat-5 cable (with the hardware to mount and hold it in the can)...It is highly directional.

I'd be interested in a link to that. I'm having a hard time visualizing how the CAT5 cable gets used. Usually those are a cavity with a feedhorn (little wire stub) on a connector, and are connected by coax cable, not CAT5.Coincidentally, I was doing a lot of surfing on wifi antennas last night and the one I came up with that I really liked was the parabolic section designs. Basically, you take a square of metal reflector and bend it to conform to a parabolic curve, and then place your dipole antenna at the focus. (The little stubs of antennas on routers are dipoles inside that plastic covering) Another that looked good was the BiQuad and double BiQuad, both pretty easy to build. All of these are pretty directional and give something like 12dB or so of gain, good enough for pulling in some fairly weak signals from nearby.

[onederer]

I'd be interested in a link to that. I'm having a hard time visualizing how the CAT5 cable gets used. Usually those are a cavity with a feedhorn (little wire stub) on a connector, and are connected by coax cable, not CAT5.Coincidentally, I was doing a lot of surfing on wifi antennas last night and the one I came up with that I really liked was the parabolic section designs. Basically, you take a square of metal reflector and bend it to conform to a parabolic curve, and then place your dipole antenna at the focus. (The little stubs of antennas on routers are dipoles inside that plastic covering) Another that looked good was the BiQuad and double BiQuad, both pretty easy to build. All of these are pretty directional and give something like 12dB or so of gain, good enough for pulling in some fairly weak signals from nearby.

The "little" wire stub on a connector, IS the cat-5 cable! Just take a junk piece of cable, with the connector on one side. On the other end (no connector), you have to expose the CAT-5 center wire that goes into the can. You will have to get the length of the wire, and the distance of the exposed wire, away from the bottom of the can, from the internet. Those two parameters are critical for the sensitivity of the "cantana". Those parameters are critical to the frequency that you are operating at.If you Google "pringles can antenna", you will get all kinds of links and information on how to do this. You can also use a larger coffee can to do this. The larger can would act as a wave guide. The parabola will also give you the same results. In all of these designs, the length of the wire and distance from the reflector is critical for optimal antenna gain. I've got a discarted DirecTV dish, that I think that I will try this. That should be a real high gain setup.Cheers!

[Cluttermagnet]

A link to what you describe would be helpful. Having a background in electronics design engineering, I know that coaxial cable is generally used. These are microwave antennas, and the coax is handling SHF (super high frequencies) at usually 2.4GHz. Cable losses are important- the coax should be short and of a low loss type. Where CAT5 cable fits into this eludes me. Usually some sort of RF connector such as a type "N" is placed at a very specific location at the back end of the can. A wire stub, often made from 14 or 12 ga bare copper wire is soldered into the connector end in the can. The total length is generally around 1.2 inches, and is also critical. CAT5 cable is quadruple twisted pair (8 conductors) Ethernet cable, last I checked. Where Ethernet cable fits into this design escapes me. I suppose you could strip out an individual conductor from CAT5 cable and solder this 24 gage 'whisker' to the "N" connector? Perhaps there is some symbolic reason for doing this, but any practical size copper wire will do- such as a bit from a piece of "Romex" electrical cable.

Cat-5 cable is unshielded wire containing four pairs of 24-gauge twisted copper pairs, (usually) terminating in an RJ-45 (connector)What is Cat-5 Cable?

I'm not too impressed with the Pringles can designs, but they are very popular, I know. I'm favoring the parabolic reflector types more as I plan what to build next- but the BiQuad types also look interesting and very easy to build.This is probably the easiest way to make a 'rubber duckie' type antenna directional, and I will probably build one to replace my quasi-parabolic Chinese soup strainer. www.freeantennas.comThis is a BiQuad type.biQuad (and double biQuad) homemade wifi Antenna: 14db !

[Cluttermagnet]

I've got a discarted DirecTV dish, that I think that I will try this. That should be a real high gain setup.

I wish I had one of those small satellite TV dishes, but even a smaller reflector type can do wonders. BTW both the cantennas and the BiQuad make excellent feedpoints for a parabola like you have. Edited August 3, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[onederer]

I didn't give you a specific link, because on Google, there are miriads of links there to choose from! You just have to use the title that I gave you to go to that web site where there are all kinds of DIY antenna projects to choose from. The link was a Google link with all the choices to choose fromAnother choice for an external directional antenna, is a foldable steamer dish. This one is fast and easy to do. Open the dish. It has a parabolic shape. Cut a rectangular shape in the center just large enough to tightly insert a USB extension cable. Use RTV, or Epoxy to hold the connector in place. Plug in one of those inexpensive WIFI USB adapters into the epoxied connector, and plug the other end of the cable into a computer's USB port. Not the best, but quite an effective WIFI directional antenna with a reasonable gain. The length of the WIFI adapter in respect to the center of the steamer will determine it's gain. Cheers!

[Cluttermagnet]

Yep- the USB dongle + reflector is what I tried first, but I got sold a dead unit, looks like. So I next got a wireless card. But those work at microwave frequencies, so cable losses are a real issue with them. For a longer run, you need a microwave amplifier at the antenna. USB wifi can run 15 feet no problem because the signal in the cable is 'baseband' (low frequencies). I hear 15ft of USB cable is no problem. OTOH some wifi card users report they are much more sensitive than the USB dongles they replaced.

[Cluttermagnet]

Just to update, I tried my cable modem yesterday and as expected, there is no service. Wherever one attempts to point their browser, all that can be seen is the Concast config page, silently mocking you. Yep, you're disconnected, buddy. I thought I'd check just in case that goofy contractor firm had slipped in a reconnection on me, but alas, it is probably not to be. I don't think I'll waste too much more time calling Concast, trying vainly to elicit a return call from the contractor firm. Most people at Concast are clueless that that firm even exists. I doubt they'll help me.So it's dialup for the foreseeable future. I'm adjusting. Shortly I should have dialup on the Linux side, then it will become somewhat more tolerable for now. Yes, a cheap netbook might be a darned good investment at this point. I'll start seriously considering that next month.(Holding PC board to head) I have a wireless card. Don't come any closer. Don't make me use it. I swear it will... :"> :">

Edited August 7, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[Urmas]

I don't think I'll waste too much more time calling Concast, trying vainly to elicit a return call from the contractor firm. Most people at Concast are clueless that that firm even exists. I doubt they'll help me.

Cue Louis Jordan:Is you is or is you ain't my baby Way you're acting lately makes me doubtI realize there is a whachamacallit principal issue going on here... but what is it exactly that you lose by calling 'em? :">

[Cluttermagnet]

Cue Louis Jordan:Is you is or is you ain't my baby Way you're acting lately makes me doubtI realize there is a whachamacallit principal issue going on here... but what is it exactly that you lose by calling 'em? :">

Nope, it really isn't a principle issue at all. It's 98 percent lousy logistics. Concast's lousy setup.Let me explain again. They have an outside company contracted to contact customers who are leaving and offer them rate reductions that will cause them to reconsider and stay. I received just such an offer, after first trying to get a rate reduction directly from Concast. What Concast offered wouldn't have done it for me. What the contractor offered did- a 30 dollar per month teaser rate for half a year, followed by a return to the old monthly rate, not the new 60 dollar per month rate. That was 'good enough'. I agreed.Here's the rub- you can not directly contact these people (the contractor). If you call back the number they use, you get a recording which says that they don't take any calls. So look at what you face- sitting by the phone from 8AM to 6PM for six days a week, waiting for a possible call from them. They must have called me for about a week before they finally got lucky and caught me here and awake, mid afternoon.There was a problem- I had a balance owing, for one month at the 60 dollar rate, and they wouldn't close the deal until I paid that balance. I told them I needed two days to get to my bank and put some money in so I could make an online payment. It was agreed that the rep would call me again in two days (Friday), within a specific time window in the afternoon. I was to have that balance paid by then. That call never came, BTW.Meanwhile, they (the contractor) had told me a date certain for disconnection. Probably she said the 26th, if I recall correctly. Anyway, it was definitely on a day 'next week', not 'this week'. But meanwhile, I had already requested disconnection on the 21st ('this week'), but not before, as this would be the monthly renewal date and keep things neat and tidy. Well, lo and behold, their info was flat out wrong. I lost service on the 21st, just as I had requested.My entire interaction with this contractor was triggered by my requesting disconnection- because I could not get Concast to drop their price to a level I could (more or less) afford. Now was I facing the possible imposition of late fees or a reconnect fee? I really didn't know for sure. I needed to talk to an agent again to ascertain what the situation was. So I intentionally did not keep my promise to have the 60 dollars owing paid online by Friday PM. And I called a couple of times, trying to get Concast to alert the contractor to call me. And they (the contractor) did not keep their promise to call me Friday.There were 3 more contractor calls, two on Monday AM early and PM late, one on Tuesday AM early. I was not awake or physically present to take any of these calls. Then the trail grows cold- no more calls from them after that. After holding the 60 dollars 'in escrow' for a week, and trying in vain several times to get the contractor to call me by leaving messages with various clueless people at Concast, I finally caved and just made the 60 dollar payment. As far as I am concerned, Concast and I are 'square' to the penny, as the disconnect date fell right on the monthly renewal date. If Concast wants to try to fight me later for some kind of trumped up 'fees', I will struggle with them until h..e..double..L freezes over, since I was negotiating in good faith and they had an offer on the table. Let the chips fall where they may.So why don't I call them? Simply because they have made it totally impossible to call the contractor, near as I can tell. I mean, I would love to call that contractor and rattle their cage- if I could. I suppose I can try to wait them out, but meanwhile, I've got to get on with my (internet) life, and if that means being stuck on dialup once again, so be it. Consider- most of the folks I talked to at Concast had never even heard of this contractor (whose phone calls cause the name "Comcast" to appear in your Caller ID window).I don't have any real broadband options with Verizon for multiple reasons, some of them logistical (no fiber in my neighborhood, no DSL possibilities), some of them political (net neutrality, screwing their telephone customers r.e. long distance carriers setup, etc. ad nauseum). I'll muddle along, and just wait to see if Concast's contractor eventually comes back and honors their end of the agreement. Don't know what the odds are, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for them.Cost of Concast broadband internet: 60.00 per month.Cost of dialup ISP: 4.95 per month.(I would have a Verizon POTS dialup line regardless,internet or not- unless they had a competitor I could use)Cost of cell phone: Prohibitive, so far as I am concerned. Edited August 7, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[onederer]

Nope, it really isn't a principle issue at all. It's 98 percent lousy logistics. Concast's lousy setup.Let me explain again. They have an outside company contracted to contact customers who are leaving and offer them rate reductions that will cause them to reconsider and stay. I received just such an offer, after first trying to get a rate reduction directly from Concast. What Concast offered wouldn't have done it for me. What the contractor offered did- a 30 dollar per month teaser rate for half a year, followed by a return to the old monthly rate, not the new 60 dollar per month rate. That was 'good enough'. I agreed.Here's the rub- you can not directly contact these people (the contractor). If you call back the number they use, you get a recording which says that they don't take any calls. So look at what you face- sitting by the phone from 8AM to 6PM for six days a week, waiting for a possible call from them. They must have called me for about a week before they finally got lucky and caught me here and awake, mid afternoon.There was a problem- I had a balance owing, for one month at the 60 dollar rate, and they wouldn't close the deal until I paid that balance. I told them I needed two days to get to my bank and put some money in so I could make an online payment. It was agreed that the rep would call me again in two days (Friday), within a specific time window in the afternoon. I was to have that balance paid by then. That call never came, BTW.Meanwhile, they (the contractor) had told me a date certain for disconnection. Probably she said the 26th, if I recall correctly. Anyway, it was definitely on a day 'next week', not 'this week'. But meanwhile, I had already requested disconnection on the 21st ('this week'), but not before, as this would be the monthly renewal date and keep things neat and tidy. Well, lo and behold, their info was flat out wrong. I lost service on the 21st, just as I had requested.My entire interaction with this contractor was triggered by my requesting disconnection- because I could not get Concast to drop their price to a level I could (more or less) afford. Now was I facing the possible imposition of late fees or a reconnect fee? I really didn't know for sure. I needed to talk to an agent again to ascertain what the situation was. So I intentionally did not keep my promise to have the 60 dollars owing paid online by Friday PM. And I called a couple of times, trying to get Concast to alert the contractor to call me. And they (the contractor) did not keep their promise to call me Friday.There were 3 more contractor calls, two on Monday AM early and PM late, one on Tuesday AM early. I was not awake or physically present to take any of these calls. Then the trail grows cold- no more calls from them after that. After holding the 60 dollars 'in escrow' for a week, and trying in vain several times to get the contractor to call me by leaving messages with various clueless people at Concast, I finally caved and just made the 60 dollar payment. As far as I am concerned, Concast and I are 'square' to the penny, as the disconnect date fell right on the monthly renewal date. If Concast wants to try to fight me later for some kind of trumped up 'fees', I will struggle with them until h..e..double..L freezes over, since I was negotiating in good faith and they had an offer on the table. Let the chips fall where they may.So why don't I call them? Simply because they have made it totally impossible to call the contractor, near as I can tell. I mean, I would love to call that contractor and rattle their cage- if I could. I suppose I can try to wait them out, but meanwhile, I've got to get on with my (internet) life, and if that means being stuck on dialup once again, so be it. Consider- most of the folks I talked to at Concast had never even heard of this contractor (whose phone calls cause the name "Comcast" to appear in your Caller ID window).I don't have any real broadband options with Verizon for multiple reasons, some of them logistical (no fiber in my neighborhood, no DSL possibilities), some of them political (net neutrality, screwing their telephone customers r.e. long distance carriers setup, etc. ad nauseum). I'll muddle along, and just wait to see if Concast's contractor eventually comes back and honors their end of the agreement. Don't know what the odds are, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for them.Cost of Concast broadband internet: 60.00 per month.Cost of dialup ISP: 4.95 per month.(I would have a Verizon POTS dialup line regardless,internet or not- unless they had a competitor I could use)Cost of cell phone: Prohibitive, so far as I am concerned.

Well now, that leaves you with traveling to the nearest library or bistro with an Internet access, your neighbor's Internet, dial-up, or DirecTV or Dish Internet access. If you get a netbook computer, get the one with the highest chip number. A high capacity hard drive, and built-in camera, and microphone(s). They are all run approx. the same price. TigerDirect has quite a variety to choose from. But try to get one that has Windows7 in it. It won't be long now, that WinXP won't be supported at all. To run Linux, just use an external USB hard drive. They are small enough to fit into a breast pocket. The netbooks that will render you the best service are the ones that have 6 cell or greater battery packs. As for mine, it stays home as my telephone appliance, for Internet telephony.Cheers!

[Cluttermagnet]

Well now, that leaves you with traveling to the nearest library or bistro with an Internet access, your neighbor's Internet, dial-up, or DirecTV or Dish Internet access.

Yeah, dialup. It is internet. It's just not 'fun' internet. Only 4.95 a month- and everybody still has a POTS line anyway, right?(Just kidding)

If you get a netbook computer, get the one with the highest chip number. A high capacity hard drive, and built-in camera, and microphone(s). They are all run approx. the same price. TigerDirect has quite a variety to choose from. But try to get one that has Windows7 in it. It won't be long now, that WinXP won't be supported at all. To run Linux, just use an external USB hard drive. They are small enough to fit into a breast pocket. The netbooks that will render you the best service are the ones that have 6 cell or greater battery packs. As for mine, it stays home as my telephone appliance, for Internet telephony.

I understood everything you said except for the comment about highest chip number. There are multiple possible meanings that I can imagine for "hightest chip number" in this context. Please elaborate.I have a visceral, gut reaction to suggestions about a mic and camera. In my mind, I'm tearing them out. (Ditto for gps) I read accounts where new owners promptly tape over the camera. Worst case, they could give hackers eyes and ears on you and your surroundings. The only positive I can imagine is some sort of skype scenario. Not that I've ever done that.It's not easy being a Luddite in 21st century America. Dialup internet- rah! Edited August 7, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[onederer]

Hi,Netbooks come with different versions of the CPU chip. The way that I understand it, the greater the version number, the latest the version of the chip's version, and it's speed and capability. Anyhow, if the camera and the microphones already comes with the equipment, it's that much less of an expense should you ever need it. They can easily be disabled when not needed. I believe that taping the lens of the camera, is paranoia. Do you believe everything that you read? The Internet is the purveyor of many false rumors and scare tactics to bring up the ire and the unneeded apprehension of the readers. If you're using Linux, I'd least worry about that. Just don't use it in Windows (your most vulnerable OS).And no, I don't have POTS anymore. When we lose power, I have to start the generator to get electricity back, so I can access Internet again. It's down to my cell phone now, or my flat-rate $20.00 per year MagicJack USB adapter ( and sometimes Skype).Cheers!

[securitybreach]

I have a visceral, gut reaction to suggestions about a mic and camera. In my mind, I'm tearing them out. (Ditto for gps) I read accounts where new owners promptly tape over the camera. Worst case, they could give hackers eyes and ears on you and your surroundings. The only positive I can imagine is some sort of skype scenario. Not that I've ever done that.It's not easy being a Luddite in 21st century America. Dialup internet- rah!

Well, yes, cameras and mics can be taken over by hackers but only if they have installed a trojan like sub7 or something similar. If they have gotten that far, they could easily just watch your screen and record all your passwords so seeing/listening to you is just an added bonus. Granted this is not something that would happen to the average user even if they were running that "other OS". There is no point when all they want to do is to turn your machine into a zombie to launch DoSs or other attacks. Most of the time they are just scanning ranges of IPs to find vulnerable machines. Then again the government has things like Echelon, Information Awareness Office and ADVISE to worry about if your really paranoid. Personally, I am very security conscience(paranoid) and have 3 webcams/mics in my room and believe me that should be the least of your worries when online. As long as you are running Linux, you should not have to worry about people listening in and/or watching you via your webcam/mic. These are just my opinions, so take them for what their worth.Side note: if you do run Skype make sure to turn off auto-answer/auto video since they are enabled by default.

[Cluttermagnet]

Having received some good coaching on how to "su" in PCLos, I eventually figured out how to launch one of my wifi sniffer programs last night, with monitor mode for the wifi card enabled. Not many signals visible so far (just one), but I think I am going to have a lot of work to do with antenna experimentation and looking in various different compass directions before I can truly gage conditions here. I'm working with directional antennas, quite intentionally, but will also do some omnidirectional looking now that I know how to monitor. It's somewhat interesting, and it's at least a start.

[georgeg4]

And no, I don't have POTS anymore. When we lose power, I have to start the generator to get electricity back, so I can access Internet again. It's down to my cell phone now, or my flat-rate $20.00 per year MagicJack USB adapter ( and sometimes Skype).

A thought just came to about onderers comment , I have often wanted to try out MagicJack but I thought it would only work in Windows and I do not login to Windows more than once or twice a year . Is there a program that would allow MagicJack to operate in linux

[onederer]

A thought just came to about onderers comment , I have often wanted to try out MagicJack but I thought it would only work in Windows and I do not login to Windows more than once or twice a year . Is there a program that would allow MagicJack to operate in linux

Some have succeeded in running MagicJack in Wine, but I don't recommend it. Others have stolen MJ's code and applied it to free Linux tel. service. It's a pretty extensive procedure to grab MJ's code and key. MJ and Skype both use the same standard for their telephony. This is why I'm using a netbook as a telephone appliance. It's running WinXP. I bought tel. time in bulk. It now boils down to about $13.00/year for 5 years. I really frustrated my POTS provider when I told her I don't need their telephone service from now on. I must admit, I've saved quite a lot on national long distance calls.Have you tried the Pringles can or coffee can antenna yet? If you combine it with a rigged up old wok as the reflector, you can get quite a high gain out of that!

[georgeg4]

No I dont get wifi where I live nor do I get any cell phone service here either . Thats why I was interested in the MJ I do have skype but that would cost me more than the service I have if I use it solely since I do have unlimited US and Canada service . But you did give me an idea I have an old Mac Performa , Or an old computer with win 98 on it Perhaps I could use one of them for MJ

Edited August 10, 2010 by georgeg4

[zlim]

MajicJack needs XP or above; it won't work in 98 (some managed to get it working with windows 2000). It is hit and miss on an Apple computer too. Bottom line, it was designed for windows XP and above.

[georgeg4]

Thanks zlim I guess I will have to stick with Verizon then , At least for the time being

[Cluttermagnet]

Interresting development- the calls from Concast's 'customer retention' contractor have resumed as of August 13th, after about a 17 day hiatus. Meanwhile, despite my cancellation and Concast disconnecting cable internet, they are trying to bill me for the following month, in which I have not received any service. This should be interesting... Oh, if I still hear from them, that would be OK. So long as they honor their offer which was on the table, they can get me back- for now, at least. But my eyes have been opened. Sadly, they have lived up to the horrific although formerly abstract stories I had been hearing about this much hated, dysfunctional bureaucracy. Sad- pretty much everything I'd been hearing proved true.

Edited August 14, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[securitybreach]

Wow that is something Clutter. What could they possibly be thinking to charge you for not having service