HOME AND OFFICE

I got this so I could access our apartment complex wifi in the main office from my apartment 100+ yards away. I went from barely a bar and never able to connect with the wifi in my laptop to 4 full bars and all 54mbits their router had available. 2/5 on the sexiness however since the tripod it comes with is WAY too small and just adds something you have to throw away later. Buy a full tripod to mount this on otherwise it'll tip over constantly unless you weight the back end of it down.

I purchased 2 Yagi antenas to increase the signal strength to a distance of 300 feet between houses on our property. This antenna was attached to the receiving laptop (High Power USB-Yagi Plug and Play directional WiFi Antenna 802.11n 2200mW), which by itself was adequate to raise the signal strength from 0 MBPS to the full 54 MBPS that the Linksys WRT54GS is capable of. I looked to further boost the signal by attaching the Alfa 18 dBi antena to the router, which did not help at all.

The Yagi USB was a solid performer for us.

EXTEND THE REACH TO HOTEL AND CAFE WIFI ON THE ROAD

turbotenna

This antenna REALLY works! I was receiving two networks with a regular wi-fi card before hooking this baby up, my home router and my neighbors router about 50 feet away. After firing this beast up I'm getting between 12 and 15 WAPs depending on the weather conditions and my antenna pointing. I know at least one of these routers is three blocks away. This is with the antenna INSIDE and not next to a window! Outside pointing down the street I found 40 WAPs! I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood, I imagine in a large city the numbers would much higher. I still need to do a test with a known public access location so I can get a precise range.

The reason I bought this is that I frequently travel and many times the wi-fi range at my hotel is limited to just the hotel lobby or bar, so have to hike downstairs to use my netbook. With this, I'll be able to stay in my room or at worst put the antenna out on the balcony to get on the 'net.

I don't see any downside to this antenna. It's not too big maybe 12" long x 1.5" wide and 1" tall (not counting the tripod of course. It's also built out of good solid aluminum. You'll have to work to break this thing. The only sensitive part on it is the USB Wi-fi device which is encased in plastic. This can be removed if you just want to use the antenna attached to a different wi-fi device.)

I had no issues getting it to work on Windows 7 without a driver. Simply plug and play with Windows 8 and 10 as well.

Update: Took this to Mexico for vacation w/two laptops. It was a lifesaver at two different hotels. At one place, I was able to hook up to the hotel coffee shop from my room which was easily 100 yards away. Luckily we were on higher ground than the coffee shop which improves the range. The room's own wi-fi was spotty (without this unit) and expensive. At the other place it improved my connection to maximum strength in a room that barely had reception (and slow) on the regular built-in wi-fi card. Anyway, it paid for itself plus during the vacation.