# Boosting WIFI receptions



## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Can someone explain to me in very simple (non-techy baby terms) how I can get WIFI from farther away in the easiest way possible? Our Co-op has once again raised internet fees and my neighbour and I are thinking about sharing a connection. I get one or two bars of her internet when I'm in the house, and that's not enough to stay connected on. 

Here's an article I found on the subject, but they lost me about half-way through. http://ehelpfultips.com/how_to_get_free_internet_with_lo.htm

It seems there should be a single item I can buy to boost my reception instead of the three this article suggests. 

Someone on here a few months (years?) ago said he had boosted his reception to get signals as far as a mile away. I only need about 200', but there are house walls and trees between us. 

Would something like this work? http://www.amazon.com/Blurex-Wirele.../ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AHALS71WJO58T


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

I share with a neighbor. I put the wifi access router on the side of my house towards the neighbor. That works pretty well for both of us.

Remember also that wireless G is said to be good for 100 feet indoors, while wireless N is good for more like 160 feet indoors. So going to wireless N may improve things. My experience has also shown that using a wireless N adapter in a workstation improves reception, even if your access point is still wireless G.

I've seen some videos at youtube where the boost the signal with a half can, but that only concentrates the signal in one direction. I don't think that will help sharing wifi in two directions.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

So how do I find out if the Co-op uses G or N? They provide the modems/routers (all one unit), so we have to stick with what they have.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

The longer antenna you show is worthless. I tried one on one of my webcams and the signal was worse.

Trees will make reception spotty. Sometimes the cost of change is greater than it is worth.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Belfrybat said:


> So how do I find out if the Co-op uses G or N? They provide the modems/routers (all one unit), so we have to stick with what they have.


It should say on the wifi router. If not then google the model number.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

I know I can sit in my car 100 feet away from the house and still get connected using my iPad. LOL That is a good distance in my book from Inside the car windows up and sitting on the seat so the signal had to go through the front seat even after it made it through two walls of the house at that to even reach the car. LOL


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## MNBobcat (Feb 4, 2011)

Get a pair of Ubiquiti NBE-M5-16 High-Performance airMAX Bridge NanoBeam M5 16dBi

You point them at each other and it works like if you had run a cable between your house and your neighbor's.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

MNBobcat said:


> Get a pair of Ubiquiti NBE-M5-16 High-Performance airMAX Bridge NanoBeam M5 16dBi
> 
> You point them at each other and it works like if you had run a cable between your house and your neighbor's.


I Binged this product and can't figure out if it has to be connected to something (like my modem/router)? I'm not a techy type person. Do I just mount them on the side of the two houses? No wiring or anything?


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

arabian knight said:


> I know I can sit in my car 100 feet away from the house and still get connected using my iPad. LOL That is a good distance in my book from Inside the car windows up and sitting on the seat so the signal had to go through the front seat even after it made it through two walls of the house at that to even reach the car. LOL


The two houses are about 120' apart and it's a no go without something to boost the signal. But thanks anyway.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

MNBobcat said:


> Get a pair of Ubiquiti NBE-M5-16 High-Performance airMAX Bridge NanoBeam M5 16dBi
> 
> You point them at each other and it works like if you had run a cable between your house and your neighbor's.


 I sure am glad that I put in a nice strong password on my WiFi that nobody can sit just around the corner get in and steal my paid for by hard earned dollars WiFi connection. I hope that person knows what the password is to in to the system when the signal is made stronger.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

Belfrybat said:


> Someone on here a few months (years?) ago said he had boosted his reception to get signals as far as a mile away.


That may have been me. At present my longest operating link is about 0.9 mile, but for a few years I ran several multi-mile links, including one of about 10 miles, mostly with ordinary wireless routers.



> Can someone explain to me in very simple (non-techy baby terms) how I can get WIFI from farther away in the easiest way possible?


Maybe. There's really only one thing you can try without getting a lot more technical than you want to, and it may or may not work depending on several factors, probably mostly on how many trees and exactly where they're located.

Get a wireless router that says both Wireless-N (or 802.11n) _and_ 300Mbps, and has external (preferably removable) antennas, the longer the better. Put it at your neighbor's house, plugged into their router. Make sure it's positioned so, if you could see it from your house, you'd be able to see both antennas, i.e. so the signal from one antenna doesn't have to go through the other to get to your house. Don't put it where it has to go through a window that has low-E glass; the wall is more transparent to microwaves (but old windows with plain uncoated glass work well).

If that doesn't work, and the router has removable antennas, Alfa makes cheap little directional antennas that go right on the router, that may help enough to make the difference.

The Ubiquiti radios suggested above would work if you have line of sight with no trees, but it's the most expensive solution, and still requires some technical stuff, not to mention drilling holes in both houses. (And, if you go the commercial-grade radio route, those aren't the ones I'd recommend, for several reasons.)


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

arabian knight said:


> I sure am glad that I put in a nice strong password on my WiFi that nobody can sit just around the corner get in and steal my paid for by hard earned dollars WiFi connection.


I have security on my wifi network, but it's not because I'm concerned that someone will get something for nothing. Without fail, when there are people within range of an open wifi router some high school kid will consume all the available bandwidth through P2P sharing. If everyone would behave themselves I wouldn't care if the entire neighborhood used my DSL, but we live in the real world.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Just a note about equipment, wireless N has become inexpensive.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261837125965

You'll probably pay more like $40 to $45 for that router locally.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Thanks for all your advice, but I'm getting more and more confused. (My problem, not yours.)

To answer Arabian Night -- of course we will each know the passcode if we decide to share internet service -- otherwise we wouldn't both be able to use it. 

As to the other comments -- Buying a router/ modem -- whatever they are called -- doesn't make sense since the Telephone Co-op provides them as part of the internet service. We don't buy our own. Apparently the Co-op frowns on people having their own --we have live 24/7 tech service and using the same router/modems apparently makes it easier for them to troubleshoot. So buying a second one is out, plus I don't understand plugging one router into the other at my neighbours house? They are plugged into the fiber optic wall receptacle. 

The router/modem has two antennas that are about 3" long. It's a Comtrend brand--would I replace both antennas or only one?


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Belfrybat said:


> The router/modem has two antennas that are about 3" long. It's a Comtrend brand--would I replace both antennas or only one?


Do you happen to know the model number?


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

Belfrybat said:


> The router/modem has two antennas that are about 3" long. It's a Comtrend brand--would I replace both antennas or only one?


OK, well ignore everything in my previous post then. It looks like the answer to your original question is, the only thing you can do is have your neighbor try to find a spot for their modem that's a little better for getting the signal to your house. That means as few obstructions as possible between it and your house, in particular nothing made of metal, wires, printer, monitor, computer, TV, etc. If it's not possible to get them to move it, or they can't find a better spot, then there's nothing else you can do. Those antennas probably aren't removable, and even if they are, you have to be sure of what type of connector they use before you can get other antennas, and I'm guessing that's a non-starter as well.


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## MNBobcat (Feb 4, 2011)

arabian knight said:


> I sure am glad that I put in a nice strong password on my WiFi that nobody can sit just around the corner get in and steal my paid for by hard earned dollars WiFi connection. I hope that person knows what the password is to in to the system when the signal is made stronger.


It doesn't work like that. The two devices act like a cable without the cable. It doesn't boost your wifi so that anyone can see the SSID broadcast. I'd have to look but I suspect the communication is encrypted. Also, you can turn them down to use minimum power limiting how far they go.


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## MNBobcat (Feb 4, 2011)

Belfrybat said:


> I Binged this product and can't figure out if it has to be connected to something (like my modem/router)? I'm not a techy type person. Do I just mount them on the side of the two houses? No wiring or anything?


You each run a cable from your router/hub to the dish on your own house. Point the dishes at each other and they act like a wireless cable. Think of it as if you ran a cat 5 wire to your neighbor's house. All they do is eliminate the cable. They are super easy to install.


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## Shin (Mar 25, 2014)

> Get a wireless router that says both Wireless-N (or 802.11n) _and_ 300Mbps, and has external (preferably removable) antennas, the longer the better. Put it at your neighbor's house, plugged into their router. Make sure it's positioned so, if you could see it from your house, you'd be able to see both antennas, i.e. so the signal from one antenna doesn't have to go through the other to get to your house. Don't put it where it has to go through a window that has low-E glass; the wall is more transparent to microwaves (but old windows with plain uncoated glass work well).


You can get an wireless AC router for around $30 now, so you can have the 5Ghz band access and earlier 2.4Ghz access inexpensively.


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