Wifi signal receiver booster

Author
Discussion

iamthestig

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

211 months

Wednesday 11th October 2006
quotequote all
What gadget do I need to boost the wireless reception on my laptop?

TheExcession

11,669 posts

249 months

Wednesday 11th October 2006
quotequote all
There are lots of options, likely none of them will include a wireless signal booster.

Can you describe a bit more of your problem, namely what eqipment are you using, and specifically what leads you to believe you need a signal booster?

How far are you trying to run this wireless link and what is there blocking the signal?

I run some my links over 1.5km and I don't have a booster in sight.



iamthestig

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

211 months

Wednesday 11th October 2006
quotequote all
Ok, it's probably illegal and immoral but here goes. I work in a signal box, very dull 8 to 12 hour shifts on my own all day, and there's only so much TV/radio/reading I can tolerate without going nuts - internet makes the day go so much quicker. Since I got my first wireless laptop I've been getting 2-3 intermitant wifi signals from some of the nearby houses, only ever get a very weak signal and it goes altogether a lot of the time. Was just wandering if there was any sort of arial or something I could try to increase the reception.

TheExcession

11,669 posts

249 months

Thursday 12th October 2006
quotequote all
iamthestig said:
Ok, it's probably illegal and immoral but here goes. I work in a signal box, very dull 8 to 12 hour shifts on my own all day, and there's only so much TV/radio/reading I can tolerate without going nuts - internet makes the day go so much quicker. Since I got my first wireless laptop I've been getting 2-3 intermitant wifi signals from some of the nearby houses, only ever get a very weak signal and it goes altogether a lot of the time. Was just wandering if there was any sort of arial or something I could try to increase the reception.


Indeed it is very illegal to piggy back onto someone elses wireless network without their permission, do you know if the networks are secured?

Your problem here is that likely the laptop wireless gubbins are internal and so you can't easily connect and external aerial. One method would be to get hold of a PCMCIA or maybe a USB wireless card that allows you to add an external antenna, that would certainly be one option.

A secondary wireless repeater/signal booster box, external to the laptop might work as it will certainly have better antennas. It might get a good enough signal to and from the APs, then again it might not! It seems that people's experiences with these units varies wildly.

Have you considered a 3GPP card for the laptop? I think you can get some pretty reasonable tariffs for Internet Access now a days (I'm not in the UK so might be worth asking again here for other's experiences).

This of course would be completely legal and IMO best thing to do.

best
Ex

_deano

7,405 posts

252 months

Thursday 12th October 2006
quotequote all
You might want to take a look at the Hawking website (www.hawkingtech.com). I bought the HWU8DD which give a better signal than a high gain antenna as it's focused, but you need to know know where the source of the signal is.
www.hawkingtech.com/products/productlist.php?CatID=32&FamID=60&ProdID=280
They are easy to set up and the unit has LEDs on it to indicate signal strength.

I use this in my cabin at the back of the garden and have it pointing to the router in the house about 100ft away and i can get a strong signal with a 54Mbps speed, with the normal laptop internal gubbing i got a low signal with only a 11mbps max speed.


Edited by _deano on Thursday 12th October 15:25

TheExcession

11,669 posts

249 months

Friday 13th October 2006
quotequote all
_deano said:

That's seriously cute... might have to get one just to sit on top of the monitor...

arfur

3,871 posts

213 months

Friday 13th October 2006
quotequote all
www.wirelesspro.co.uk They sell boosters and antennas ... I have the mobile kit as it's usually gives me a free connection if I'm in a hotel without broadband

luca brazzi

3,974 posts

264 months

Friday 13th October 2006
quotequote all
arfur said:
www.wirelesspro.co.uk They sell boosters and antennas ... I have the mobile kit as it's usually gives me a free connection if I'm in a hotel without broadband
Can you let me know exactly which bit of kit you got...as I'm also looking for something similar.

Thanks
LB

Pigeon

18,535 posts

245 months

Friday 13th October 2006
quotequote all
iamthestig said:
Since I got my first wireless laptop I've been getting 2-3 intermitant wifi signals from some of the nearby houses, only ever get a very weak signal and it goes altogether a lot of the time. Was just wandering if there was any sort of arial or something I could try to increase the reception.

There is indeed...

mcflurry

9,079 posts

252 months

Monday 16th October 2006
quotequote all
TheExcession said:
Have you considered a 3GPP card for the laptop? I think you can get some pretty reasonable tariffs for Internet Access now a days (I'm not in the UK so might be worth asking again here for other's experiences).

This of course would be completely legal and IMO best thing to do.

best
Ex

£25 a month with T mobile - 3G speeds and 2gb a month limit
The latency is noticable, but for smurfing its fine

arfur

3,871 posts

213 months

Tuesday 17th October 2006
quotequote all
luca brazzi said:
arfur said:
www.wirelesspro.co.uk They sell boosters and antennas ... I have the mobile kit as it's usually gives me a free connection if I'm in a hotel without broadband
Can you let me know exactly which bit of kit you got...as I'm also looking for something similar.

Thanks
LB


LB. This is what I have. You have to add the card as well About 90 quid inc vat + delivery

www.wirelesspro.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=36

uafon

2 posts

155 months

Wednesday 6th April 2011
quotequote all
Well you can try UAWIFI UA3, it worked for me. I had NG51123 from G-iSKY, and I was getting around 14-15 signals, now I get over 25 wifi signals with UA3. There are some folks selling them on ebay, but I bought mine directly from manufacturer. I do not know if I can post link or not....but here it is[link removed] I hope this info helps!

Edited by GlenMH on Wednesday 6th April 14:41

S6PNJ

5,157 posts

280 months

Wednesday 6th April 2011
quotequote all
uafon said:
I hope this info helps!
It might have done in October 2006!

jjr1

3,023 posts

259 months

Wednesday 6th April 2011
quotequote all
uafon said:
Well you can try UAWIFI UA3, it worked for me. I had NG51123 from G-iSKY, and I was getting around 14-15 signals, now I get over 25 wifi signals with UA3. There are some folks selling them on ebay, but I bought mine directly from manufacturer. I do not know if I can post link or not....but here it is [and again...] I hope this info helps!
If I had one of these would it increase data transfer speeds from the same internet access point? ie if all things were the same would plugging this in improve my download from say 5mps to 5mps+


Edited by GlenMH on Wednesday 6th April 14:41

uafon

2 posts

155 months

Wednesday 6th April 2011
quotequote all
FOR SURE

UAWIFI UA3 uses MIMO technology which will increase your speed dramatically!!!

tribbles

3,970 posts

221 months

Wednesday 6th April 2011
quotequote all
I sense someone trying to push their own products........

jjr1

3,023 posts

259 months

Wednesday 6th April 2011
quotequote all
What is mimo?

GlenMH

5,204 posts

242 months

Wednesday 6th April 2011
quotequote all
tribbles said:
I sense someone trying to push their own products........
Indeed, which is why the links have gone....

sussexjob

1,985 posts

230 months

Wednesday 6th April 2011
quotequote all
Get a 3G kindle not the fastest Internet but free

jjr1

3,023 posts

259 months

Wednesday 6th April 2011
quotequote all
sussexjob said:
Get a 3G kindle not the fastest Internet but free
Not exactly what I am after wink

Does anyone know if I catch a weak wifi signal outdoors at say a horse race meeting, can I use a wifi booster to improve signal and get faster download/upload speeds?

A lot of the racecourses I go to have free public wifi but is often a weak signal if you are not near the wifi box.