Anyone got a wireless signal booster?

[snowball]

I'm looking to buy a wireless signal booster, for getting wireless next door :) I do get a signal but its usually pretty poor and unstable.

Theyre going for between £15 - £50 on ebay so I was wondering if anyone has one, and do they work? Do you connect them on the receiving PC or the wireless router itself?

Heres an example:

wireless booster (http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-582776-9479574?loc=http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WiFi-Wi-Fi-Booster-Antenna-SMA-for-Wireless-LAN-CARD-AP_W0QQitemZ5857728483QQcategoryZ61816QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

[Dodgy]

Hi,

A few words about 'boosting' wireless signals. It can be achieved in three ways:

1. By increasing the level of RF (power in watts) from the transmitter.
2. By applying gain in the form of a well designed antenna (usually directional).
3. By reducing loss in the station (all parts including transmitter, antenna lead and joints).

I would ignore option 1 unless you are licensed to do it, it's crude (probably illegal) and most likely you'll be scattering your sordid details all across the neighbourhood :)
What you're trying to achieve is not to generally increase your signal in a radius from your site, but to target it towards the other participant in your network. For this I would recommend spending a few quid on a directional antenna from Solwise. I recently bought a high gain Solwise antenna from this page - http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-outdoorantenna-24.htm . I chose the 'backfire' model ( http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-outdoorantenna-24-backfire-15bn.htm ) , it's ugly but massively effective for what I needed it for. It has 15db of gain which is impressive for such a cheap antenna, but it also has amazing rejection of signals that try and enter the antenna from the rear ( ooh-err missus). These are external antennas, that may not be an option for you but they are quite small due to the frequency they operate on ( 2.4GHZ). For full effect, you'd put one on each end of the wireless link.

So you understand what those gain figures mean in real life, work to the crude rule of "threes and tens". That is, your average wireless access point (WAP) puts out 50mw. If you feed that 50mw into an antenna with no gain, you'll get 50mw out (assuming no loss in the feed - but there will be). Now, if you feed that same 50mw into an antenna with 15db gain, you'll get roughly 800mw out. That's a 16 fold increase, with no extra power (electricity) requirements!

You may be able to achieve what you want by not going as far as the above example, you can get a couple of high gain indoor omnidirectional antennas instead - http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-indoorantenna-24.htm .

Good luck,
Dave.

[Kryten]

I have one, seems ok but I only paid $5USD for it from Fry's in the US last week :D Seems to boost signal a bit but haven't played with the positioning a lot yet or channel selection.

[maddogsuk]

What happens with the signal getting back to the Access Point? If you increasing the gain from the AP would you also need to do the same from the equipment that is trying to send data back?

Basicaly have the same problem!

[Dodgy]

What happens with the signal getting back to the Access Point? If you increasing the gain from the AP would you also need to do the same from the equipment that is trying to send data back?

Basicaly have the same problem!

Read my post again.
For full effect, you'd put one on each end of the wireless link.

Dave.

[maddogsuk]

Read my post again.

Dave. :brickwall :thumbs: Sorry dunno how I missed that.

[Kryten]

Yep, that's right, unless your AP has a weaker antenna/signal than your reciever! My laptop has a pretty good antenna integrated but my downstairs AP was weak (the built-in antenna only on the AP) so I added the external one for the low price to help boost it to the best my laptop can use :)

[snowball]

I just nothced up a quick antennae using a Pringles can and boy, it works like a dream :lol:

More details on how to build one here:


http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/index.html

At the moment I'm getting a better than normal signal, but I'm sure I can improve it much better by spending a bit more time on perfecting the antennae ... :)