What should I buy for *long distance* (between houses) wireless connection?

For around a year I have connected to the internet using a Linksys Instant
Wireless 802.11b little wireless dongle at my house which in turn connects
to a cheapo Origo 8210 wireless router with built in modem which sits at my
mums house. (around 20 metres away)

It has worked brilliantly (hanging the dongle up near the window!) all this
time with the occasional drop in connection which I expected from this
distance and number of walls in the way.

Today I tried to connect and I cant seem to see any networks from my house
(I can normally see 3) yet when I take the dongle to mums house and try and
connect a little closer to the router it works fine. I'm not sure why it
seems to have lost its ability to "go the distance" but it has.

I think I should replace the dongle and was thinking of a wireless access
point so I could keep the "broken" dongle and use it with a laptop but want
one that *either* has a reputation for working over a longer distance than
others *or* one that has the ability to have an antenna of sorts plugged
into it.

Could anyone recommend anything that would help me?

Many thanks for your help

Regards

Barbara Chambers

These work great for longer distance.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MESE:IT

"Barbara Chambers" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d0cvb3$9bh$(E-Mail Removed)...
> For around a year I have connected to the internet using a Linksys Instant
> Wireless 802.11b little wireless dongle at my house which in turn connects
> to a cheapo Origo 8210 wireless router with built in modem which sits at
> my
> mums house. (around 20 metres away)
>
> It has worked brilliantly (hanging the dongle up near the window!) all
> this
> time with the occasional drop in connection which I expected from this
> distance and number of walls in the way.
>
> Today I tried to connect and I cant seem to see any networks from my house
> (I can normally see 3) yet when I take the dongle to mums house and try
> and
> connect a little closer to the router it works fine. I'm not sure why it
> seems to have lost its ability to "go the distance" but it has.
>
> I think I should replace the dongle and was thinking of a wireless access
> point so I could keep the "broken" dongle and use it with a laptop but
> want
> one that *either* has a reputation for working over a longer distance than
> others *or* one that has the ability to have an antenna of sorts plugged
> into it.
>
> Could anyone recommend anything that would help me?
>
> Many thanks for your help
>
> Regards
>
> Barbara Chambers
>
>

20 m should be no problem, try getting both router and dongle to have line
of sight trough the windows and experiment with different positions, half
and inch can make a lot of difference.
Either way, placing a card covered with silver foil and bent in to V shape
behind the dongle should improve the strength and stability of the signal.
I use Draytek Vigor 2600 router and Orinoco USB adapters between houses 70m
apart, work perfectly.
Regards,
Martin