Get our kit, or bring your own 802.11b/g gear

We have created a kit to help people get online quickly and reliably. This kit has been pre-configured to work with the Socalfreenet service. It will work with either a Macintosh or PC and with almost any operating system. Its available from Influx for $90 (bakery and coffee shop) at 1948 Broadway.

Your computer needs an ethernet port. It looks a lot like a phone jack, but wider. If you bought your computer in the last 1-2 years, then it will almost certainly have this jack. Older laptops or desktops may need an adapter card available from many stores. Here's a picture of one. It might not have lights.

The price of the kit is currently $90. This reflects our cost price for the components ($60 for a D-Link 810+ and $30 for the hi gain directional antenna) with no charge for the setup.

These kits are available from Influx Cafe at 1948 Broadway (cash only). Influx cannot provide any technical support AT ALL for these kits. You can purchase these on a trial basis and return them for a full refund if they don't work in your location. Returns will be taken each month by SoCalFreenet members, until we can find a local person willing to do this.

Socalfreenet members can help install this or your own equipment on the second Sat of each month. Meet between 9-11am on Saturday at Influx cafe.

We put this kit together after helping many people get online during the past couple of months. We've found there's a wide variety of operating systems and computers and also a large variability in signal strength around the neighborhood. This kit has all the configuration built into the grey adapter box which we setup for you. Thus in almost all cases you don't need to change any settings on your computer for it to work.

In addition to being preconfigured, the kits come with a powerful antenna that provides a stronger and more reliable signal. By aiming the antenna at the closest wireless rooftop, you also avoid interference from other radio signals such as some cordless phones and microwave ovens. If this antenna isn't enough, we can swap it for an even more powerful version on one of our install days.

Build your Own Kit - Configuration Instructions

The kit is based on the D-Link 810+ Ethernet to Wireless Bridge (manual) and D-Link R60AT antenna. Check Pricegrabber (the following links) for the latest prices for the bridge and the antenna. Lately Amazon prices for the radio and antenna have been competitive too (especially with no CA sales tax and often free shipping).

We configure the kit as follows:

Set your computer to the static IP 192.168.0.15 (say). (If you don't know how to do this, then google about or ask a friend or wait until we update this page :->. Don't worry about DNS or gateway addresses.
Open a browser window to the address http://192.168.0.30. You should be prompted with a Login prompt.
Login with username admin and a blank password. You should see the D-Link device configuration page.
Click on Wireless.
Set the SSID to socalfreenet.org
Set the TX Rate to 1-2-5.5-11 (Mbps) from its default of up to 22Mbs
Click Appy. You will get a screen saying "The device is restarting"
When the lights have stopped flashing on the D-Link box (about 20 secs), click the continue button.
Click on the Admin tab.
Change the password, write it down - e.g. we put it on a sticker on the box. This stops people reconfiguring your D-Link for fun and freakiness.
Change your IP back to DHCP (or whatever it was).Be sure to set the DNS back to automatic also as Windows will try not to.

That's it! You should be able to connect and surf the net rhough the D-Link now.

Wireless Kit Geek Notes

There's nothing too special about the radio in this kit. Nor the antenna. But together its a convenient and well priced indoor close-range CPE package: small, fits on a shelf, can be pre-configured with the SSID. The antenna is compact and fits directly with no loss or hassle from a pigtail. Having a directional really helps block out some of the other APs (those noisy and ubiquitous SBC 2wire boxes) that may otherwise interfere. A cantenna will add a lot of range and more noise suppression, though its a bigger package on the window sill.

The radio lacks one important feature in our opinion: no signal strength reading. On the other hand, it has another very nice feature: the ability to lock to a particular MAC. This is handy if there are multiple identical SSIDs, but only one gives solid reception, or if you're building a mini-relay and don't want the bridge to loop back to the repeating AP.

One other minor weirdness: Sometimes the kits just won't associate with a particular AP. We've only seen this once, with a homebrew AP, but its very consistent. Switching radio cards in the AP doesn't fix it. Its not a problem in similar home brew APs elsewhere, but we mention it here for completeness.

Budget tip: if you buy the similar DWL-800+ repeater/AP, you can reflash
them to be 810+ units (described here). Best of all, they're typically half the price.

Outdoor CPE

The word is that the best price/feature combination for an outdoor CPE is the Tranzeo TR-CPE200-15 which can be found by Google and Froogle for < $200 (Sep 04).

Unlike putting the D-Link kit on the roof, this is a waterproof box with high power 200mW radio and a 13dBi panel, powered by PoE. Very nice.