250m away from college wi-fi

[Kiki112]

Hello guys

I'm some 200-250m away from my college wi-fi (which is pretty fast and I have my own password and username so I can connect to it legally), however I'm not at the college dorm but in an apartment some 250m away.

I can't catch the wi-fi with my phone or laptop.

I've been searching online to see if I could buy something so I'm able to connect to it, I'm not very savy with these things so that's why I'm coming here..

I found some cool antennas that should get me to connect, but the problem is I have 2 roommates, so it would be necessary to somehow have a hotspot too.

I've found some stuff, like the NanoStation M5 that has really good range (I'm on the top floor), but I'm unsure if all of us can use it, and will it work at all.

Anyways, I apologize upfront if I haven't done enough research but if you're willing to help out, I'm looking forward to your replies!

What do I need to set this up and have a good and stable/fast connection?
What do I buy?

 

[degrub]

Have you measured with a phone app or laptop the college wifi signal strength in decibels not "bars" at your location ?
i am going to guess the result here - Unless you get the university to put up a higher power antenna you are likely OOL and should get local internet service in the apartment. You need more than -67 dB of signal to have any kind of connection and it has to go both ways. It will likely be very slow at best and have plenty of interference from your apartment neighbors with their own 2.4 Ghz wireless blasting at -35 dB of signal.

 

[Kiki112]

Just told my roommate to check the signal strenght tommorow (I'm home for the weekend).

Ohh, and I've accidently written 1st floor, I'm actually at the top floor, if it makes any difference.

Their wi-fi works at the Uni , the dorm and the restaurant, which are different building but nearby. I assume the signal should be strong?

Though, when I go between buildings, there's no signal, so it's most probably a different hotspot in each building.

 

[degrub]

your latter conclusion is likely correct.
Usually, corporate entities look to minimize exterior leakage of wireless from a building.
Good luck.

 

[aSmallWorld]

Chances are high you won't ever catch it, unless you setup an access point, logged on the UNI network, with its own antenna. And then it will serve as a repeater on which you'll log-in with your own credentials. I used to do this with my university wifi (which was 100m away from my house) until my students credentials expired.