# Router Aerials: 3dbi Vs 9dbi, much better?



## HookeyStreet (May 19, 2009)

I was thinking about replacing my standard Netgear DG834G v3 's 3dbi aerial with a much larger 9dbi aerial.....but would I notice much of a range/signal strength boost?


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## regan1985 (May 19, 2009)

i have done the same this on the same router well just ordered so hope so, also going to relocate the antena so should make a difference


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## Geofrancis (May 20, 2009)

yea you will notice the difference it should almost double your range. for every 6dbi you double the power (i think )


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## Steevo (May 20, 2009)

Db gain is not linear.


A higher gain antenna has a longer range, however remember that the antenna in the laptop also has to transmit. 


I usually find that a better alternative is to build a free or almost free parabolic dish to control the throw of the signal, and also improve reception of the laptop's signal.

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/


I built a custom one for a friend, a metal framed house was killing his range to about 30 feet. After the build he got full strength on his patio through alot of walls. Another one I built was placed in a utility room at one end of a house 120' long and two stories. It works well.


http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html


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## Beertintedgoggles (May 20, 2009)

It's every 3dB of gain doubles your RF power....  so you'd be looking at a 4x increase in power ideally.


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## HookeyStreet (May 20, 2009)

Steevo said:


> Db gain is not linear.
> 
> 
> A higher gain antenna has a longer range, however remember that the antenna in the laptop also has to transmit.
> ...



Cool.  I wanted to boost my signal to improve my sons wireless connection on his XBOX360 in his bedroom.

I got a 9dbi aerial for my router and a Netgear WGE111 wireless gaming adapter and his signal does seem better now (compared to the standard Netgear aerial and official MS adapter)

But, I will have a go at building something like youve shown me


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## lemonadesoda (May 20, 2009)

Increasing the "power specification" is all very good, but remember that unless you MODIFY the output stage of the hardware circuitry, it is still the same output power from the router.

There are people that can modify a router to increase the power output. You need to do this in conjunction with a bigger aerial to get the max benefit.

Just sticking a "bigger aerial" on an existing router may not make any difference. As steevo pointed out... if you can POINT or ORIENT the existing power in a specific direction, you will get benefit.

Try the parabolic or "tin can" approach first. If that isnt enough, you need to discover how to get your router to output more power as well as a bigger aerial.


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## Geofrancis (May 20, 2009)

for gaming use the ethernet over powerline adapter it uses your houses existing power cables as networking cable and its far more stable for gaming. no randomly driopping packets and lag


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## regan1985 (May 20, 2009)

lemonadesoda said:


> Increasing the "power specification" is all very good, but remember that unless you MODIFY the output stage of the hardware circuitry, it is still the same output power from the router.
> 
> There are people that can modify a router to increase the power output. You need to do this in conjunction with a bigger aerial to get the max benefit.
> 
> ...



if thats the case then its pritty pointless as there shouldnt be any reason for it to be better if the router still outputs the same?


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## alexp999 (May 20, 2009)

Helped a bit for me, got an extra bar in the luonge by going from the "stock" 2dbi aerial to a 7 dbi aerial

Just dont forget they tend to be quite big, its about twice the size of a normal one.


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## lemonadesoda (May 20, 2009)

regan1985 said:


> if thats the case then its pritty pointless as there shouldnt be any reason for it to be better if the router still outputs the same?


Your advice of relocating the antenna is better than just sticking a huge aerial on a consumer wireless router but in the same place.

Althernatively, or together with a better location, use a directional antenna too.

If that aint enough, then while you might get a slight improvement using a "bigger" aerial, you really need a higher output from the wireless device, and that requires a mod.

People have done that. You sometimes see modded routers on ebay where the output has been professionally "upped"


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## Frederik S (May 21, 2009)

If you have a router that allows modded firmware like DD-WRT or equivalent then you can use that to up the transmit power of the device. Problems with transmission from a laptop or stationary PC can sometimes occur because of the power saving feature that is built into the cards, you can try disabling it in the driver through the windows control panel. 

Increasing transmit power on a router can lead to instability because the strain on the chipset is higher, hence pumping out more heat. Plus you never know if the signal to noise ratio will deteriorate and cause the signal integrity to drop. For instance I have a DD-WRT modded Linksys WRT-54G router and anything above 85 mW makes the signal quality go down, even though the maximum allowed output in Europe is a full 100 mW


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## Geofrancis (May 21, 2009)

a bigger antenna will give much futher range i was able to connect to an access point over a mile away with a usb wifi adapter with a cheap 9dbi antenna from ebay. that wasnt possible with the stock 2 dbi antenna


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## Steevo (May 21, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> a bigger antenna will give much futher range i was able to connect to an access point over a mile away with a usb wifi adapter with a cheap 9dbi antenna from ebay. that wasnt possible with the stock 2 dbi antenna



Who is connecting on the other side?


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## lemonadesoda (May 21, 2009)

Geofrancis said:


> a bigger antenna will give much futher range i was able to connect to an access point over a mile away with a usb wifi adapter with a cheap 9dbi antenna from ebay. that wasnt possible with the stock 2 dbi antenna



That's an excellent result. I bet it was a directional antenna though.  Share your data: model of aerial and model of router.

I had a different result. I upgraded a Netgear Pro Safe router from the standard aerial to an ebay extra long. It made no worthwhile difference. The signal was marginally better, and the range marginally better, but in practice the benefit was so small it wasnt worth the time and effort.  However, I have heard of people modding the amp stages and getting more out of the bigger aerials.  I guess milage varies.


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## regan1985 (May 21, 2009)

yeh i invested in a good wireless card rangemax 802n thinking well worth the money when i would have be better off buying a better router netgear sumit g cant remember the most common one but im betting therers no moded firmware for it


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