Changing Aeriel/Antenna

Chrisoldinho

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Hi all,

I am wanting to upgrade the ariel/antenna on my Netgear DG834GT.

The OEM one is "OK" but I find that my 360 struggles to pick up the signal consistently when it's upstairs and it's nearly always at it's lowest setting. I've tried everything to improve it but moving the router/360 is unfortunately not possible.

The Aerial or Antenna unscrews from the back no probs and from research I think the Aerial Gain Level is 2 dBi.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a stronger aeriel that will improve the wireless strength at range.

If I can spend £10 and get a quick fix i'd rather do this than get homeplugs at £60-80.

Thanks, Chris.
 
bear in mind there is a reason why the antenna is that amount of gain,and that by increasing gain, the signal becomes more directional

all consumer routers have to abide by the legal limit in Europe of 20dBm EIRP - this is measure at the antenna and consists of radio output - cable loss + antenna gain = EIRP

all manufacturers try to put in a radio near the limit - say 18dBm at centre frequency on channel 6 - then add a 2dBi omni directional antenna for best coverage

usually when you get a router and its a 5dBi antenna on it, its to make up for a poor output on the radio - a 2 dBi omni is the most suitable for covering the avg home

also bear in mind, its a 2 way conversation - just sticking a big antenna on one end dosent always work, as essentially its like 2 people at either end of a football field, one has a megaphone, the other dosent - not ideal for communication

so yeah, you can stick a 20dBi on there and you will be a) illegal and b) able to reach about 10Miles if you can get it high enough and have one on the other end ...but you will need a pair of lasers to aim them LOL ;)

if you want to improve things, just re-locating the router higher, run on channel 6 (usually slightly stronger) and maybe even download US firmware (if its not already locked down) as they have a 30dBm limit there - almost 10x the power output than we get over here...so set the region to US and give that a try first ;)
 

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