Learn how to use an antenna extension to your adaptor to extend your wireless network reception area
Wireless networking can be wonderful for computing; connecting mobile laptops instantly to the wireless network and removing the hassles of cables. What’s more you can even find wireless at many restaurants and from your neighbors if you’re lucky. Unfortunately wireless connectivity is only useful when you can get signal. To make it worse a poor connection means that the bandwidth between your laptop and the access point is slower and may intermittently drop connection. Any wireless antenna will improve the connection quality and thus eliminate dropped connections or actually get a connection where you were unable to do so earlier. There are many types of antenna’s available and vary wildly in terms of cost, signal boost (decibel gain), intended use, and compatibility. The vast majority of network adaptor cards and routers can have an antenna attached as an extension to the adaptor or gateway.
Having an antenna attached to either your computer’s adaptor or the access point should increase the signal quality for two reasons. The first is that it simply provides a higher level of “gain” or the signal amplification. The better link quality is because the antenna being attached is larger than the one in the card and because it is designed to help as a coverage extension. The receiver in the network adaptor is designed to be small and compact. Some wireless network adaptors have an existing extension; an antenna a few inches long that can be moved for better reception. This can generally be removed to be replaced by a larger one. The second advantage is that it can usually be moved around if you are getting a bad signal. Think of a TV with old fashioned local stations coming through the air. Anything will be better than forcing the TV to use just the tiny piece of metal the jack where it gets plugged in. However a large receiver (for example a large one on the roof) does much better than the rabbit ears. The rabbit ears can be adjusted if you are not satisfied with the reception to improve it. Wireless is the same way. A larger extension does better than a smaller one, and adding to both the router and the card in mobile laptop (or PC) will do more than just adding to network adaptor.
There are different types of antenna extensions. There are directional ones, for example if you need to transmit to, or receive signal in a different building. This is a popular choice for a business to connect two buildings to the same network in close proximity. However directional equipment is just that, directional and should be avoided for when you want to get signal from every direction. For the single user this is a poor choice, but could be suitable for a PC or docking station that stays in the same place and just needs a range extension. A home or small office user should not use it unless their only intention is to use it as an extension boost signal reception. (Perhaps it would be useful to share an internet connection with your neighbor, but it’s not legal unless you get permission from them.) The smaller the angles of reception the receiver has, the smaller the window of reception it provides is and the farther out that reaches. There are receivers intended to provide reception to an area 120 or 90 degrees wide but you are on your own for the other 240 or 270 degrees. There are experiments successfully carried out with a wireless link being established over a hundred miles away but that was using large very specialized equipment under perfect unobstructed conditions. Most of the time you want what’s called an omni-directional antenna for an extension to the adaptor, which means it gets reception from every direction. Anything that isn’t specifically labeled as just “directional” or a dish is almost always omni-directional.
For compatibility the main consideration is the type of connector between the wireless adaptor and the external add-on. There is no software changes or driver installation. You should also consider where you are going to put the range extender antenna. The jack type of the network adaptor on the PC or the wireless router must match the type on the receiver. If you want to place it farther from the access point you may want a longer cable where a travel router or laptop will be more cumbersome the longer the cable is. The cable length should provide little or no impact on the effectiveness (gain) other than placement.
For your adaptor or access point’s connector type this connector type chart may be useful. Otherwise your product documentation or vendor’s website should document what connector type you need to connect an antenna for an 802.11 anything WiFi signal boost and range extension.
Next topic: How to get a wireless network to go through a metal building using an antenna.
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