3 ms·

As cool as this is, I'd rather just buy one. Could someone here recommend a commercial wifi signal enhancer for use with a laptop that they've had good results

by alister 14y ago

As cool as this is, I'd rather just buy one. Could someone here recommend a commercial wifi signal enhancer for use with a laptop that they've had good results with? (It need not have a directional antenna as in the original article.) Whenever I've googled the commercial products, I feel like the market is rife with snake oil. I'd be much happier with a recommendation from someone on HN.

hippich 14y ago
From my research it is snake oil mostly. The only ones I had any noticeable difference - are cantennas, both home made and production made. The rest - no noticeable difference.
- ktizo 14y ago
  I'd add satellite dishes and woks to the list of things that work pretty well.
theatrus2 14y ago
To make any consistent results, you need to couple to the RF ouput/input connectors. Nothing you attach to the exterior is going to do what you want - it will change some aspect of the signal, but so does any environmental aspect, including the pipe in the wall next to you.
gonzo 14y ago
I'm www.netgate.com The closest thing (though it's completely different) to what is covered in the article is here: http://store.netgate.com/24-GHz-9-dBi-Linear-Feed-Antenna-N-Female-P337C42.aspx http://store.netgate.com/24-GHz-9-dBi-Linear-Feed-Antenna-N-... The cantennas is really a waveguide. As such, it has no gain. What is being measured is the increase in SNR, due to a lowered noise floor. (Edit: to be completely fair, the antenna raises the signal and noise level.) This one has increased gain: http://people.wallawalla.edu/%7ERob.Frohne/Airport/Primestar/Primestar.html http://people.wallawalla.edu/%7ERob.Frohne/Airport/Primestar...
- K2h 14y ago
  Cool seeing the link to Rob Frohne, he was one of my outstanding professors.
gmig 14y ago
http://www.cantenna.com/ http://www.cantenna.com/
- bks 14y ago
  I'll second that on http://cantenna.com http://cantenna.com - Jason and the team there have been providing an excellent source of these antenna's for almost a decade. (I can vouch for the integrity of the product because we were one of the biggest consumers of their product in the day on my site http://netstumbler.com http://netstumbler.com) I assume that the interest in this is back because of Marius Milner the Google employee who built the Netstumbler software http://www.netstumbler.com http://www.netstumbler.com / http://stumbler.net http://stumbler.net is the suspected engineer who wrote the Google software that has been in the news about the mapping of access points by Google streets cars.
ricardobeat 14y ago
Ubiquiti (http://ubnt.com http://ubnt.com) makes some great wi-fi equipment. One of the pico or nanostation units set to client/station/bridge mode should end any troubles you have. They are incredibly low priced.

by alister 14y ago

hippich 14y ago

From my research it is snake oil mostly. The only ones I had any noticeable difference - are cantennas, both home made and production made. The rest - no noticeable difference.

ktizo 14y ago
I'd add satellite dishes and woks to the list of things that work pretty well.

theatrus2 14y ago

To make any consistent results, you need to couple to the RF ouput/input connectors. Nothing you attach to the exterior is going to do what you want - it will change some aspect of the signal, but so does any environmental aspect, including the pipe in the wall next to you.

gonzo 14y ago

I'm www.netgate.com The closest thing (though it's completely different) to what is covered in the article is here: http://store.netgate.com/24-GHz-9-dBi-Linear-Feed-Antenna-N-Female-P337C42.aspx http://store.netgate.com/24-GHz-9-dBi-Linear-Feed-Antenna-N-... The cantennas is really a waveguide. As such, it has no gain. What is being measured is the increase in SNR, due to a lowered noise floor. (Edit: to be completely fair, the antenna raises the signal and noise level.) This one has increased gain: http://people.wallawalla.edu/%7ERob.Frohne/Airport/Primestar/Primestar.html http://people.wallawalla.edu/%7ERob.Frohne/Airport/Primestar...

K2h 14y ago
Cool seeing the link to Rob Frohne, he was one of my outstanding professors.

gmig 14y ago

http://www.cantenna.com/ http://www.cantenna.com/

bks 14y ago
I'll second that on http://cantenna.com http://cantenna.com - Jason and the team there have been providing an excellent source of these antenna's for almost a decade. (I can vouch for the integrity of the product because we were one of the biggest consumers of their product in the day on my site http://netstumbler.com http://netstumbler.com) I assume that the interest in this is back because of Marius Milner the Google employee who built the Netstumbler software http://www.netstumbler.com http://www.netstumbler.com / http://stumbler.net http://stumbler.net is the suspected engineer who wrote the Google software that has been in the news about the mapping of access points by Google streets cars.

ricardobeat 14y ago

Ubiquiti (http://ubnt.com http://ubnt.com) makes some great wi-fi equipment. One of the pico or nanostation units set to client/station/bridge mode should end any troubles you have. They are incredibly low priced.