When the city provided free WiFi service, I couldn't get a decent signal at my desk, so bought 2 x 15 foot active USB cables to put the receiver in the front of my house. Worked fine for about a year, the the city's budget cuts, dropped the WiFi. This was using a desktop computer. I got luck occasionally and hijacked a neighbor's unsecured network for a while, the Windows Vista did an update, and now I can't get into any unsecured nets. The cables state clearly, that you can only connect a total of three in series, and suggest a powered hub for high current USB powered equipment.