Re: Wireless signal increase...

the337th <the337th.2udw09@no-mx.wirelessforums.org> hath wroth:

>
>I'm looking for some sort of device to relay/repeat/increase the
>wireless signal my laptop receives. I work on the road and spend 90% of
>my time living out of hotels. More times than I'd like the signal is
>barely even functional.

Carry a panel antenna with some gain. A 12dBi panel is about 1" thick
and will fit inside a suitcase (I've done it). Something like one of
these:
<http://www.fab-corp.com/home.php?cat=255>
You also need a fairly good wireless PCMCIA card for your laptop, or
an external "travel router" such as the Linksys WTR54GS. Lots of
options, but the basic idea is to point the antenna where the signal
is coming from. It may not be a direct shot and might be a bounce.
Incidentally 6dB increase in gain is 2x the range. 12dB increase is 4
times.

The problem with using an external antenna is the big fat coax needed
to connect between a wireless card inside the laptop. I don't think
you want to be carrying that around. Therefore, the radio has to be
external or part of the antenna.

Another catch is that the WTR54GS travel router doesn't have an
external antenna connector. I had to butcher one for a customer. It
was fairly easy, but I ruined the warranty.

If the problem is that you don't like working with your laptop hanging
out of a window in order to get a decent signal, I suggest the travel
router with an external antenna. Carry about 20ft of CAT5 cable with
you to connect between the travel router and the laptop. You may not
even need a panel antenna on the travel router as the travel router
will be in a much better antenna location. Bring an AC extension cord
for power.

One customer called me with a signal problem. He had good signal if
he left the hotel door open, but the signal died when it was shut. I
had him shove his USB dongle into the overhead, where the HVAC ducting
was located, and where there was a fairly clear shot out of the room.
When his USB radio was over the corridor, everything worked just fine.
This would not have been possible with a travel router as the AC power
supply is built into the unit. Sorry, but I don't have a univeral
solution that works for every hotel situation.

Incidentally, I recommend a travel router instead of a USB dongle. You
can do the same things with a USB dongle as with the travel router,
except that you have to use stiff and expensive USB extension cable
that is officially limited to 16ft. USB radios also tend to have
marginal antennas with no connector for outside antennas. However, USB
radios can have cheap reflectors attached to improve gain. Toss a
coin to see which system works best for you.

>In fact, the one I'm currently using is so weak that simply registering
>to this board was a painful 1+ minute wait between pages.

I feel your pain.

>Back on point though, I've came up with nothing feasible for my
>situation after a bit of google crawling.
>
>The only device I've ever seen that's supposed to do this, was some
>sort of standalone box that plugged straight into the outlet,
>unfortunately I had no chance to test its effectiveness as I was only
>in that certain hotel room overnight. Curious how useful these are if
>at all.
>
>Anyways, thanks in advance for any help. I'll be on my way now, time
>for a swim back through the molasses over to google .

At the bottom of every dumpster, is a jewel. The problem is digging
through all the garbage. (Wisdom from a former dumpster diver).

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558