Wifi Signal Booster - Any improvement over Intel 6200 Card?

Hey all,

I have a question. I live in an apartment building where the download/upload speeds can be really mixed. The wall that separates my notebook from the router is several inches thick and built to reduce sound.

So my question here is, would purchasing a wifi signal booster like this one here improve my reception, or would it more than likely bring no improvement or even be slower than my Intel 6200 internal card?


EDIT: Oops, big booboo. Turns out it's not a wifi signal booster, but a USB wifi card with a long antenna. My question still stands. Will it help things?


Thanks in advance!!!

 

You can try to extend the antenna of the router instead.

If you're the DIY type, try this, but it relies on some guesswork to make the antenna work as well as possible. At any rate, it should be better than the antenna you had before: WIFI Antenna Hack!

If you're not into DIY, search up wifi antenna booster and your brand of router.

You could always buy the Alfa one and just use the antenna, but it would be a huge waste of 40$. You can get one of those antennas for <5$.

 

Problem is I can't access the router. Belongs to the school.

 

What's your rx at right now?
I believe you can turn up the gain in the adapter properties...take a look at that.
I think getting an Alpha 1000mw will do the trick for you. Mine picks up wireless networks almost a quarter mile away.

Or you could use a ddwrt router with some high gains as a repeater....eh

 

Huh? I'm new to this. How do I turn up the gain on my 6200 card? What's rx?

Do you use the 1000mw too? Does it prevent bandwidth fluctuations? Problem with connection is that I'm sharing with a lot of people, and I think this is leading to my ping in L4D vacillating between 100-800. Not cool when your team needs mucho help in taking on hordes of zombies.

AFAIK, $40 is no large expense. It's that or sign up for a 1-year internet contract which I'm hesitant to do. I can always just eBay and/or put it up for cheaper on Amazon and take a small hit.

 

Yeah, you would have to get an external adapter. Can't easily modify the internal antenna, unless you get a Hirose u.fl > standard antenna connector, then drill a hole in the case to plug in a traditional antenna. (a little extreme IMO)

Are your wifi transmit settings on the highest?

 

Yep, yes they are. Just checked now. Sooo...what's the verdict. For an average joe like me who doesn't normally do DIY stuff, would I be best off just getting the alpha? Will it do a better job of maintaining a consistent connection on top of reaching routers through thick walls better?

 

It should. The alpha looks like the best choice right now

 

Ok. Here goes. I'm pulling the trigger on the $32.99 one on Amazon that's for g/n connections. Here's to hoping it disposes of any need for a dang contract!

Worst comes to worst, if it has NO noticeable effect that justifies the price tag, it's off to some online retailer it goes. Some other chap can pick it up for cheaper.

 

I've never used the N adapter but i have 2 Alfa G's and they rock...it should remedy your problem. That's a fair price too....i paid $50 for my first one and $25 for the other. The antenna it comes with is very good too. I have a 9dbi also but i find the 5dbi that comes with the adapter is perfect.

 

Hope so. I'm kind of afraid that it won't solve the fluctuation issue as that problem might/might not be the result of people in my building using too much bandwidth at at time.

 

Got the alfa today, had it set up and running within minutes.

Average ping went down. Experienced stable ping ranging from 89-98 for about half an hour before it spiked to 400 and returned back to 98 after a couple of minutes.

In other words, I'm experiencing a difference, but I'm still subject to the occasional spike. I'll have to spend some time with my alfa before i decide whether I want to sign up for a DSL plan.

 

Major coincidence. My apartment building has officially blocked torrent traffic. The alfa adapter didn't contribute to the increased speeds, but it does a great job of keeping my ping constant with just the rare spike. I'm always at 5 bars instead of 3-4 now. The wifi managing software works so much better than Intel's.

 

That alfa is a rockin adapter. You can get torrent throttling after some googling. Randomizing ports, proxies etc.

 

How? When I load a torrent file, the download speed and # of seeds/leechers remains zero.