Make a Wi-Fi Extender

Step 3 Attach onto the Router

Slide the booster over the existing antenna of your router and point it in the desired direction.

Comments

[cncnorman]

What a great idea. Can I ask what distance I can get with this? I work a half mile from my house and would love to be connected to he home system.

[sn00ze]

for distances this far you would want a clear line of sight between the two ends, and something more like this: http://urbanwireless.info/antennas/dish-with-biquad-feed

[unwrittenrainbow]

if you have a powerful router, and there is little interference it MIGHT work. If you live in the city, dont bother and if your router is a cheap one, dont bother.

[kd5fcy]

Has anybody tried measuring the SWR post-mod to make sure this won't shorten the life of the router? I love the idea of a DIY directional from omnidirectional antenna, I just don't want 1/2 my transmissions being redirected back into the antenna if I can help it.

[gavox]

I have a thing called a "Livebox" (european stuff) anyhow it doesn't have any kind of antenna, so is there a way of still directing the signal?

[infiniteshadow]

You can try to place a foil covered card behind the device and see if that helps.

[gavox]

Thanks! done that, kinda works...........slightly....................a bit...........

[brutal_magnet]

would this work on usb modem?cause i have this usb broadband that i use for my laptop but the signal is weak and often times don't have signal...so i want to know if the parabolic antenna will work on that and how am i going to position the usb?thanks in advance!

[theonlysong]

i have a linsys range plus router ...the kind that doesn't have an actual antenna on it... anyone know if there is a way to boost a signal from something like that?

[vista09]

Works awesome.... 2 bars to full 5 bars! Thanks! 

[Draxis]

This is probably a stupid question, but where do I print out the template?

[Draxis]

nvm, found it, like i said, a stupid question.

[Draxis]

And I forgot to say, it works great!

[themope]

Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. I even tried making a larger sized template but to no avail. My signal didn't change at all. Great idea though.

[silverandsand]

Hot diggity dog! I had been getting an average of around 2.5Mb/s. Here is Australia, according to Speedtest.net anyways, the average is 4.7Mb/s. Once I made these little foil things and added them to my wifi, my signal jumped up to an average of 9.4Mb/s!!! Woohoo. This was the first instructable project I've tried making, and given the success of this one, I'll defiitely be trying more. Thanks mate. The funny thing is, they still seem to transmit a strong signal even when I have the foil pointing away from the laptop, which doesn't make sense, but I'm certainly not complaining.

[licey]

Wow! This works. Really only 5 minutes of work. Full signal strength on my mac.

[The_Patriarch]

Just wondering, since Im not much of a tech guy, heh; Should the foiled side of the "boosters" be pointed toward the computer trying to connect to the internet, or the other way around?

[infiniteshadow]

The foiled side should be pointed towards your computer.

[The_Patriarch]

Oh, and should you put foil on all 4 pieces, or only the rectangular ones? Sorry bout the double post.

[infiniteshadow]

Np, they should be applied only on the rectangular ones. (check image)

[silverback999]

Just spent about six minutes doing this. Looks really crappy but - amazingly - it works really well! My lad is playing XBox Live upstairs moaning about his 'laggy' connection; I tried this and about twenty seconds later his signal strength went from 2 bars to 5 bars. Many thanks.

[infiniteshadow]

Glad to hear that it works.

[150freak]

does this pick up wifi singnals and send them to your computer for use or just boost your own wifi

[americaniam]

I will try this, thanks for info. My question is, can I tweak it and make the ears larger? Will this boost the wifi or in this case bigger is not better?

[infiniteshadow]

Yes

[phazey]

I attached one of these to a Linksys WUSB11, and was able to connect and use an open AP that is 3.1km's from my location! Fantastic little mod.

[joannablack]

This worked extremely well for me. My signal strength went from "low" and "very low" to "good". I have a feeling with a bit more strategic aiming I'll be able to get it even higher. The best part was it took about five minutes to do and was really cheap.