i've been on the neighbors almost out of rang wifi for a weeks now cause my stepdad setup an embarq modem. he can connect to it with his laptop and blackberry wirelessly, but i cant seem to get past the "obtaining ip address" on wicd. I'm using slackware-current and zenwalk 6. i tried setting a static ip to

ip 192.160.1.51
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.254
dns 192.168.1.254

and still nothing. wicd says i have anywhere from 1% to 11% signal and im connected, but i cant ping even the modem. and ideas?

Chances are you're NOT connected. They may have changed keys, and gotten tired of you using their AP, blocked the static IP address you stole from them, or changed their network to DHCP with NO static addresses, and disabled the range you're using. They could have also changed their internal network range too, to something else.

Best idea would be to use your own wireless router, and ask your stepdad to set up your PC to use the new hardware. Either that or pay for your own net connection, and not steal a connection from someone else.

quite the conterary i'm allowed to be using the ap but he says my problem is that i'm using linux cause he can connect with windows and both the blackberrys, but im the only one who cant connect. i dont understand what could be the problem being im the only linux pc his reasoning makes some sense, but i dont think that linux could be "incompatable" with a network. and i've never had a problem connecting to any specific ap before this.

Well, he's wrong. I travel with my laptop quite a bit, and connect everywhere, from airports to hotels, coffee shops, etc., with no problems at all. I use either WEP or WPA...

You haven't really said what errors you're getting, other than you can't connect. Find out the details of your AP...is it using static addresses or DHCP? How many addresses can it handle? (if it's from a company like Bellsouth, etc., they may only allow a certain number of devices). What address range?

Either set your laptop up for DHCP, and let the router provide an address, or check the address range for the AP, and put a static address in accordingly.