External Antenna Laptop

[The_Other_One]

I've seen a few laptops with external antenna's, but has anyone ever tried adding one to their laptop? It really wouldn't be all that hard and would probably substantially boost your signal.

You know... I might have to try this myself! Though, it would be nice if I didn't have to rip my whole laptop apart just to get to the card!

 

[Trizoy]

Some Laptop card (don;t know if yours is built in) have an unscrewable antenna. You can plgu an external antenna in here.
If it is internal, I probably wont be to hard to get to.

 

[The_Other_One]

I know...that's why I was asking if anyone had done it

 

[Ku-sama]

came from right above, one of the ads from google.com

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.co...link.com/&client=ca-pub-6389994658113650&nm=4

 

[tlarkin]

you would have to get a wifi card that pumps out enough milliwatts (mW) to make the signal that much stronger, antenna alone doesn't do it. Orinocco (sp?) makes some cards that can have external antenna attachments.

Do you currently have a problem with your signal?

 

[The_Other_One]

Ku-sama - That's one heck of an antenna to drag around with your laptop

you would have to get a wifi card that pumps out enough milliwatts (mW) to make the signal that much stronger

I don't know much about adding antenna's to cards and what not, but are you sure about that? My access point is just a PCMCIA card with some external antenna's connected to it. I've heard of some people even taking the card out and using it in their laptops!

Do you currently have a problem with your signal?

Yes and no... My signals are weak, but I'm fine around my apartment/home because I'm never too far from the AP. I wasn't really planning on doing anything, just thought it might be a fun project.

 

[tlarkin]

I am sure, I do lots of contract networking for home/businesses on the side.

Really, if you want a fun project, what to learn about routers and want boosted reliable signal go get a Linksys or Buffalo router that supports third party open source linux firmware. Load it on the router and you will have tons of higher end configurations and features that even allow you to boost the signal (in mW).

I'll post an example.



See the setting xmit power, and see how it is measured in mW? That is my router's signal strength and by default it is only pumping out a merely 28mW signal. I have it almost trippled and everyone in my apartment building can see my SSID and get a full connection. I also run WPA2 encryption with a 64 character passkey (tkip + aes) so I am sure no one is stealing my network. I do give a few of my neighbors access for file sharing, but thats it.

My router cost me about 50 dollars and has features of a 500 dollar router because of the firmware I loaded on it.

FWIW, most cards that interface PCMCIA or mini PCI or mini PCI-E probably have enough power going to them already, but you never know. One example is our gateway laptops at my work, they do not have enough power going out of one of the slots to even get any signal really. It all has to do with how it is engineered.