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I just thought I would write a little something for the people on this forum struggling with Wi-Fi range issues. I solved mine after many problems using a couple of high-wattage items from wifi-link.com.
Here is my situation:
I live in a rural area serviced by Charter cable. I have the 10Mb down / 1Mb up service (which has been working great for me, btw). The problem came when my sister moved a couple of streets away from me. She just separated from her husband and they have yet to work out the alimony/child support issues, so she is kinda light on money right now. Unfortunately, her children "attend" the ONLINE middle / high school. Obviously she requires high-speed internet access, but would have a hard time affording the cost. So, being the loving brother that I am, I told her, "Hey, don't worry about it, I'll hook you up to my network and you can share my connection." She said, "Can you do that? I live too far away to string a cable across the neighborhood." I assured her I could do it using Wi-Fi. I then started making my own YAGI potato chip can antennas. I am an experienced A+-certified technician, so I figured it would be no big deal. Well, long story short, my antennas sucked. NO SIGNAL. I must have aimed and re-aimed the things for hours. I started to worry that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I did NOT want to tell my sister that I had failed. So I went looking on the web for some cheap antennas. Well, the first place I tried, "cheap" was the operative word. These things were terrible. Made out of the cheapest plastic possible. And then when they didn't work, I tried to get a refund but no one would help me. Those antennas are sitting in my closet, unused. Then I found www.wifi-link.com I ordered two items:
This 500mW USB adapter + GRID 19dBi+ 5m/15ft for my sister's computer.
and this 2.4G GRID Antenna 24dBi + RSMA Pigtail for my Netgear router.
OK, now we're talking. After only one evening's setup time, including aiming / re-aiming, it is working like a charm. Not only does it work, but my sister has a consistent 60-75% signal strength. I ran the test at http://speedtest.net/ and she is getting the full 10mb download speed that I get from Charter.
I never did tell her I paid out of pocket for the non-working ones, she was just too happy to have working, fast internet.
So, obviously I recommend http://www.wifi-link.com/.
Oh, and if you want to know where the crappy products came from, message me. I'll tell you who to avoid. I don't like to complain on forums unless I have to.
Thanks for listening, any questions? mail me,
Michael G.
Here is my situation:
I live in a rural area serviced by Charter cable. I have the 10Mb down / 1Mb up service (which has been working great for me, btw). The problem came when my sister moved a couple of streets away from me. She just separated from her husband and they have yet to work out the alimony/child support issues, so she is kinda light on money right now. Unfortunately, her children "attend" the ONLINE middle / high school. Obviously she requires high-speed internet access, but would have a hard time affording the cost. So, being the loving brother that I am, I told her, "Hey, don't worry about it, I'll hook you up to my network and you can share my connection." She said, "Can you do that? I live too far away to string a cable across the neighborhood." I assured her I could do it using Wi-Fi. I then started making my own YAGI potato chip can antennas. I am an experienced A+-certified technician, so I figured it would be no big deal. Well, long story short, my antennas sucked. NO SIGNAL. I must have aimed and re-aimed the things for hours. I started to worry that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I did NOT want to tell my sister that I had failed. So I went looking on the web for some cheap antennas. Well, the first place I tried, "cheap" was the operative word. These things were terrible. Made out of the cheapest plastic possible. And then when they didn't work, I tried to get a refund but no one would help me. Those antennas are sitting in my closet, unused. Then I found www.wifi-link.com I ordered two items:
This 500mW USB adapter + GRID 19dBi+ 5m/15ft for my sister's computer.
and this 2.4G GRID Antenna 24dBi + RSMA Pigtail for my Netgear router.
OK, now we're talking. After only one evening's setup time, including aiming / re-aiming, it is working like a charm. Not only does it work, but my sister has a consistent 60-75% signal strength. I ran the test at http://speedtest.net/ and she is getting the full 10mb download speed that I get from Charter.
I never did tell her I paid out of pocket for the non-working ones, she was just too happy to have working, fast internet.
So, obviously I recommend http://www.wifi-link.com/.
Oh, and if you want to know where the crappy products came from, message me. I'll tell you who to avoid. I don't like to complain on forums unless I have to.
Thanks for listening, any questions? mail me,
Michael G.
