Need a powerful WiFi adapter

One of the computers in my house suffers from a terrible connection probelm. It always gets weak signals, and hardly ever works. I was hoping someone can help me find a powerful wifi adapter, preferably an external one, like using USB.

 

For low signals I have used a Engenius Senao EUB-362
It's usb and fairly compact


Alex

 

Is it just that one computer that gets weak signals, and is that related to the location of the computer or not?

I ask because if its the only computer getting a weak signal, and if that weakness doesn't have anything to do with where the computer's located, then the problem is most likely that the on-board wireless NIC is going bad, and thus any decent up-to-date wireless adapter should do the trick.

I had a similar problem on my old VAIO - even though I was sitting 15 feet away from the router I would continually get dropped signals; out of desperation I finally grabbed a basic PCI adapter from the local electronix big-box, stuck it in the slot, and haven't had a lick of trouble with getting, and keeping, wireless signal since then.

 

you get an internal pci card such as the linksys wireless g pci and then add this to it: http://www.cantenna.com/

 

Whoa, that thing is a beast of an antenna, I have never seen anything quite like that. I had an Abit Wifi card that had a 24 inch antenna and it got very nice reception.

 

The Engenius Senao is a pretty good option because they have higher Tx power and a little better receive sensitivity. Another option, though more complicated would be to get one of the wireless routers that can be flashed with aftermarket firmware and put it in client mode. This makes the router connect you your networked router and you simply plug your computer into one of it's LAN ports. Once it's setup it pretty much automatically maintains the connection and is fairly seamless. I older WRT54G(S) and WRT54GL's for this quite often because there are many external antenna options.

One thing to mention though is that often times just increasing Tx power won't help the connection, you need to improve the antenna because a wireless connection requires two-way communication. This means that a good antenna is probably your simplest and best investment, but not all wireless adapters have the ability to attach an external antenna. That's where nizzy115's suggestion comes into play. internal PCI cards can be very good or very bad depending on the antenna, some simply have an antenna that screws into the card and sits hidden behind the computer, these aren't ideal. You want one with a short length of antenna wire attached to it so you can move the antenna out from behind the computer to get a better signal.

 

Yeah, it is a directional antenna. Meaning you have to point it at the router's direction. But they can go such long distances. You can even make them yourself using a pringles can (thats how they got started) but its easier to buy them from the company (even radioshack sells them) because you have to be extremely precise with the measurements inside or it wont work.

 

Hey please buy this and tell me how it works.

http://www.radiolabs.com/products/wireless/wave-magnum.php

I want one, but I can't find anyone that has one to see if it's worth it.

 

Oooh just the information i was looking for =)

 

Anyone know anything about this one?

 

Install Network Stumbler, turn on the Midi sound option. With this the strength of the wireless signal is converted into sound. Experiment with positioning of the laptop, router, switching channels on the router.

I used a CB connected to the sound of the laptop and started moving the router. A different position, even by a few inches can make a big difference in signal strength.