Create a Cheap Wi-Fi Antenna at Home: DIY Guide
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Sometimes, your Wi-Fi signal just doesn’t reach where you want it to reach. You’ve seen wireless adapters at the store, but they can cost a lot more than you want to spend. We’ll show you a way to build a directional Wi-Fi antenna using off-the-shelf parts, no new software, and without opening your computer case. Get a significant signal boost for about $30 USD.
- You’ll need a USB Wi-Fi LAN dongle for your computer, even if you have onboard Wi-Fi.
- You’ll also need a USB passive extension cable, which you can find cheap at many retailers.
- Attach the dongle and extension cable to a mesh sieve or other dish-shaped mesh metal item, then connect the extension cable to your computer.
- For best compatibility, get one that includes the 802.11b and 802.11g standards.
- The shape of the dongle is important. For cost-effectiveness, look for a small thumb-shaped device. Larger «squashed mouse» models (~$50 – 60 USD) are generally more sensitive and powerful. Although they may be harder to mount, they perform better in more demanding setups.
- The antenna is directional, so you’ll need to position it so it has a direct line of sight view of the wireless access point. Make sure your cable is long enough to position it where you need it, up to a maximum of 15 feet (4.6 m) (5m).
- You can link multiple extension cables together if you need.
- Active USB extenders (~$10 USD) allow further cable runs, which may even allow elevated outdoor antenna placement.
- Other options include sieves, steamers, pot lids, and lamp shades—as long as they are dish-shaped and metal. Any parabolic piece of metal mesh will work—bigger means a better signal, but harder to carry around.
- Larger options include discarded DirectTV dishes or mesh-covered umbrellas, and although these should give more signal boost, mounting difficulties, and wind resistance tend to make about 12 inch (30 cm) (300mm) diameter the most practical.
- Flexible stalk desk lamps allow these to be neatly mounted & positioned.
- You want the dongle at the focal point «hot spot» apex of the dish—radio signals come in and bounce toward the center, a few fingers above the surface of the dish.
- The best dongle location spot can be found by simple experiments. One aiming method involves covering the dish with aluminum foil and watching it reflect sunshine—the spot with the most light is the dish’s hot spot.
- You may need a short support stick to get the dongle off the surface of the dish into this position.
- Alternative support methods use string tied across the face of the dish like a spider web, hollowed-out plastic garden hose fittings, or even chopsticks!
Plug in your antenna. Insert the male end of the USB extension cable into your computer, and set that as your Wi-Fi card using your network settings.
- Your Wi-Fi antenna is very directional, so getting the aim right is important. Pointing the dish toward the remote antenna is the best place to start, although stray reflections from buildings etc may sometimes give good signals from unexpected directions.
- You can use an inexpensive hand-held laser pointer to verify that you are aimed right at the wireless transmitter. It’s great fun with your cat when you’re done surfing the web!
- A program like NetStumbler for Windows or KisMAC for Mac can greatly help by giving you graphical readouts of signal strengths.
- Compared with inbuilt Wi-Fi adapters, which are usually down at desk level and can easily be screened by metal walls, partitions, vegetation, or your body, even a simple elevated «woki» setup like this can boost signals and extend ranges enormously!
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The antenna merely amplifies the WiFi signal, it will still require an existing wireless Internet access point.
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Yes, I believe it will work if your TV has a USB port and you know how to connect your TV to different WiFi signals.
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Installing a WiFi antenna can boost internet speeds all around your home
Get faster and more reliable WiFi wherever your laptop goes.
By David Nield | Published Jun 16, 2023 12:00 PM EDT
If a weak signal has prevented you from working on your terrace, a WiFi antenna might solve your problem. Anete Lūsiņa / Unsplash
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It’s safe to say we’re always looking for ways to make our WiFi faster and more stable everywhere in our homes. And there are a few methods you can try—from moving your router out of a corner to buying a better one altogether.
But one relatively affordable and simple trick you may not have considered yet is plugging a WiFi antenna into your laptop or desktop. Your computer most likely already has one inside, but depending on your current setup, an external antenna can mean a more stable and faster connection across a greater distance.
WiFi antennas are not an upgrade for everyone, but they can be very effective for some. To decide whether it’s right for you, it helps to know how these devices work and what they can offer.
How WiFi antennas work
If you can remember a time before the internet, you might also remember when personal computers didn’t come with WiFi built in, strange though it might seem now. As wireless connections became more ubiquitous, laptops and desktops had to catch up, and people often used WiFi dongles to get older devices online.
Nowadays, you’d be hard-pressed to find a computer that didn’t have everything you need to get online: Manufacturers integrate one or more WiFi antennas somewhere on the motherboard or inside the chassis (sometimes on the outside of a desktop PC case). But external WiFi antennas can still be useful in some scenarios. If you buy an antenna that’s more powerful than the one built into your computer (particularly one that supports a newer WiFi standard), your machine will be better at picking up your router’s signals, so you should see a stronger and more stable connection.
Just having an external WiFi antenna connected through a USB cable can make a difference, as you’ll be able to relocate it up on a shelf or on the other side of a desk, where the WiFi signal might be stronger.
If you think you might benefit from a WiFi antenna, make sure they support WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E: the fastest, highest capacity WiFi standards around right now. As long as your router supports these protocols, a WiFi 6- or WiFi6E-compatible antenna should give you a substantial boost in terms of latency, stability, and download and upload speeds.
There are multiple factors that determine your network’s speed and stability, including your router, your computer, and the layout of your home. This is why it’s not guaranteed a WiFi antenna will make a difference with your setup, but with some careful detective work you should be able to make a good guess. Start by checking reviews of WiFi antennas online, for example, to see if you can find feedback from users with a similar set of hardware as you.
Setting up a WiFi antenna
You won’t find a wealth of antennas for sale, because they’re still quite a niche upgrade. Two devices that are worth a look are the TP-Link AX1800 WiFi 6 adapter ($70 on Amazon) and the Netgear A8000 Nighthawk WiFi 6E adapter ($80 on Amazon). They both connect via USB 3.0 for the fastest possible transfer speeds, so your computer will need to support USB 3.0 too.
The specifics of installing an antenna will vary between models, but all these devices need software, which will either come in the box or be available to download on the manufacturer’s website. For the Netgear antenna, for example, the driver comes on a USB stick with the device, but you can also download it from the Netgear site.
You’ll usually need to connect the antenna before you install the software. Both the Netgear and TP-Link models come with a wired dock, so you can either plug the antenna directly into your computer (which is probably easier on a laptop that you’ll be moving around) or use the dock to better position the antenna (which might work better on a desktop).
Your new antenna will automatically take over WiFi duties, and you should be able to start enjoying improved connectivity straight away. There’s no need to reconnect to your WiFi network—the login information will still be saved to your device.
If you need to troubleshoot any problems, make any changes, or switch back to the built-in WiFi antenna, you can do this in the operating system settings. On Windows, go to Settings, Network & internet, and then WiFi to see your options. If you’re on macOS, open System Settings and then go to Network and Wi-Fi.
Finally, there’s also a way to combine the power of your antennas. The app Speedify ($15 a month) can add up the signals from multiple WiFi antennas on both Windows and macOS. In other words, your new external antenna and your existing internal one will work as a single device, theoretically boosting WiFi speeds and stability. You can cancel at any time, so it might be worth giving it a try to see if it’s able to boost your computer’s connection even further.
David Nield is a freelance contributor at Popular Science, producing how to guides and explainers for the DIY section on everything from improving your smartphone photos to boosting the security of your laptop. He doesn’t get much spare time, but when he does he spends it watching obscure movies and taking long walks in the countryside.