Boosting Reception of Distant Wi-Fi Hotspot

I live in Downtown Baltimore, Maryland, and there is a free Wi-Fi service
that the city provides at the Inner Habor area of the city. I live just
outside of the signal. I can see the network, but I am unable to connect. I
rent a room and I do not have a Internet service, so I purchased a linksys
network card for my desktop and a linksys range expander. I can jump on
unsecured networks, but I would rather use the public Wi-Fi access. I am only
about a half-mile from being in range of connecting.
If anyone could give me some ideas as to what I could do to boost this
signal I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you.
Unwired in Baltimore City

jime2000 wrote:
> I live in Downtown Baltimore, Maryland, and there is a free Wi-Fi service
> that the city provides at the Inner Habor area of the city. I live just
> outside of the signal. I can see the network, but I am unable to connect. I
> rent a room and I do not have a Internet service, so I purchased a linksys
> network card for my desktop and a linksys range expander. I can jump on
> unsecured networks, but I would rather use the public Wi-Fi access. I am only
> about a half-mile from being in range of connecting.
> If anyone could give me some ideas as to what I could do to boost this
> signal I would greatly appreciate it.
> Thank you.
> Unwired in Baltimore City
Gain directional antenna

I found several high gain antennas that would probably do the trick, one
being the Cantanna. What do I need to plug the antenna into? Will a wireless
router work even though I don't have cable, dsl, etc.
-- thank you

"atec" wrote:

> jime2000 wrote:
> > I live in Downtown Baltimore, Maryland, and there is a free Wi-Fi service
> > that the city provides at the Inner Habor area of the city. I live just
> > outside of the signal. I can see the network, but I am unable to connect. I
> > rent a room and I do not have a Internet service, so I purchased a linksys
> > network card for my desktop and a linksys range expander. I can jump on
> > unsecured networks, but I would rather use the public Wi-Fi access. I am only
> > about a half-mile from being in range of connecting.
> > If anyone could give me some ideas as to what I could do to boost this
> > signal I would greatly appreciate it.
> > Thank you.
> > Unwired in Baltimore City
> Gain directional antenna
>