Improve Signal on Wireless USB Card?

[7Case]

Hi everyone,

I've got a room in the house that seems to have terrible signal reception from my home's wireless router.

I a wireless usb network card to connect to the router. There's no antenna, so I pretty much just move the USB cord (around 3 feet) around to get the best signal.

Is there any way to increase reception on a USB adapter that doesn't have an antenna?

I don't care if it looks stupid, like wrapping the thing in foil, or whatever. It's not like anybody's going to see it.

Thanks

 

[AltF4]

Good question!

In fact you can increase the signal strength of your usb wifi adapter using nothing but household items. What you're going to do is hack together a directional antenna. Here's how it goes:

Some things you will need:

1) A metal strainer that is as parabolic as possible. The bowl-like ones, not the flat ones of course.

2) Some good tape. Scotch can work, but tends to fall apart. I've found electrical or duct to work well.

3) A usb wifi adapter and usb extender cable. Sounds like you already have this.

What you will do:

Think of what a satellite dish looks like. That's what you're going to make. Find a way to tape the adapter so that it's end is in the middle of the strainer. (Technically speaking you want to find the focus of the strainer. But it's not going to be a perfect paraboloid anyway, so just shoot for the middle)

The way I did it is to make a kind of "Double Cross" that kind of looks like the pound symbol "#" across the strainer. You now have a middle square that you can slide the adapter into and secure using a bit more tape .

Make sure to point the whole contraption directly at your router as much as you can aim.


Does this really work? What's the deal?

Yea! Your adapter before doing this was not directional, meaning it looked for routers everywhere. What you did was make the adapter directional, meaning it only looks in the direction you point. You won't be able to see any information being sent from another direction, but the stuff you CAN see will be noticeably stronger. It's the same principle that satellite dishes and flashlights use.

Enjoy!

-AltF4