High gain antenna

Spinnaker

Does anyone have experience of these range solutions...High gain antenna. Unscrew the existing antenna from my linksys router router and replace it with one of these ....

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115416829339&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=2933945678B40

Basically i want to extend wireless range specifically on a 'G' netwrork. Don't want to spend on 'N' or untidy APs. I do have powerline but not getting great performance from it for some reason. Curious about these antenna as the solution for me


# Increases the effective range of Linksys wireless devices
# Stronger signal increases wireless coverage into hard-to-reach areas
# Improves throughput by reducing retransmissions Easy installation -- simply replace your current antenn

jk47

few on pixmania

stylers

yes, but its not always just as simple as that, and there are other ways of getting better range/performance. What you are looking at is a higher gain omni antenna, but remember it has a different radiation pattern (flatter, doughnut shaped) than spherical as you would have with the usual omni supplied with most gear, thus if your laptop/net card/wireless gear is directly above or below the AP/router antenna for example the "range" might actually be less. The main disadvantage with different antennas is that you cannot expect to just use a single high gain antenna on the router for example, and achieve a useful range increase, as both sides are transmitting, so both antenna's need to transmit with the same "range" in order for each side to "hear" the other.

What is the main problem with your current setup ? Is the gear in a difficult location e.g. lots of thick/new/whatever walls or just too much distance ?.

IMHO Usually the best thing one can do is use good placement, i.e. try and get the router/AP antenna as high/centralized as possible in a house, or at least in a good location, and keep antenna's away from walls and metal objects as this will affect their performance. Also, with pci network cards for example, the antenna is almost always right next to the metal case of the pc, which totally detunes it, so in some cases this needs to be rectified. laptop antenna performance is usually variable and compromised due to the inherent design constraints. You will almost never achieve the theoretical maximum throughput, so son't be surprised by this.

Also, don't pay over the odds for simple direct mount omni antenna's. Some of the prices charged are outrageous. When you are used to buying "proper" big antenna's which actually use some metal its shocking. Antenna's are not just random bits of wire, they are a whole field of engineering themselves, but usually complexity = cost. If you have a root on ebay for example, you will usually find more realistic prices..

JonMac

I used 4 of these to get 2 Linksys WAP54G's to connect two buildings; used b band only. Quite satisfied with it. See Linksys forum
http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/board?board.id=Access_Points
for lots of tips.