Boost Your Wi-Fi Range Without Busting Your Wallet

July 11, 2007

At the beginning of the month, I mentioned that I added a D-Link external antenna to my router in order to expand its coverage ‘footprint’. If you’re interested in following in the path that I blazed, and if your wireless gear supports R-TNC antenna connections, check out a two-for-$9.99 7dBi antenna deal currently ongoing at Radio Shack (with free shipping to a nearby store). Although the Radio Shack web page isn’t specific, this appears to be Linksys’ HGA7T antenna kit (whose compatibility is not restricted to Linksys equipment). Two qualifiers to keep in mind:

These antennas only work with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi technologies, i.e. 802.11b, 802.11g and the 2.4 GHz flavour of draft 802.11n. They won’t be effective with 802.11a or the 5.8 Ghz 802.11n band.
Unlike the D-Link antenna that I bought, they don’t include SMA connector adapters, so be sure your equipment is R-TNC-based before punching the ‘purchase now’ button. Linksys’ HGA7S, or an equivalent, is what you need to use for R-SMA-based gear.

Posted by Brian Dipert on July 11, 2007 | Comments (4)

August 10, 2007

In response to: Boost Your Wi-Fi Range Without Busting Your Wallet
rootbeer commented:

A lot of folks would like to extend the range of their Wi-Fi by a couple of thousand feet. In my case, my neighborhood cannot get Internet via cable or DSL. But the subdivision a block away (as the crow flys) have cable. What about getting some parabolic reflectors (old satelite dishes) and setting up a directional point to point link. There should be a lot more than 7 db gain on both ends, but the propigation time might be too long for the Wi-Fi software?? Anybody know of any successful implementations?

August 7, 2007

In response to: Boost Your Wi-Fi Range Without Busting Your Wallet
Mike Clouser commented:

Since these are passive antennae gain is achieved by narrowing the effective "view" of the antenna. In this case the narrowing occurs in the vertical dimension. This antenna will be more directional (vertically) than an isotropic antenna (equal reception in a sphere).

July 11, 2007

In response to: Boost Your Wi-Fi Range Without Busting Your Wallet
Brian Dipert commented:

Dear Lou, well for one thing remember that these are OMNIDIRECTIONAL antennas; ie they broadcast/receive in all directions. If you have your router or access point stuck in one corner of the house as I do here in Sacramento, for example, some of the signal strength improvement will be wasted....that is, unless you tape aluminum foil to the wall(s) behind the antenna(s) in order to redirect the signals in the desired directions....

July 11, 2007

In response to: Boost Your Wi-Fi Range Without Busting Your Wallet
Lou Covey commented:

OK, so how did you deploy them? I've got antennas on my Apple routers and can't seem to see any difference one way or the other.

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