Will adding a 5dbi Antenna make a difference to wifi coverage?

[dhruv990]

Hi,

I recently kept my wifi router with 2x3dbi antenna at the best possible place and it covers almost my entire house except for one room where my tv is (The TV is on the first floor, the router on the second). Now I manage to browse the web on my laptop there but my tv isn't able to use the connection (it's able to pick it up though, something it wasnt able to do before). The second floor gets full coverage as does most of the first except the area i told you about.

So Now I'm thinking of getting either a single/double 5dbi antenna. What I would like to know is whether the 5dbi antenna would allow me to spread the coverage to that room on the first floor or not? Also is it worth getting 2 5dbi antennas or will a single one do the trick?

My house is about 5625 Sq. Ft. in area. The router is at one end of the house on the second floor, and the first floor room where I'm not getting a full coverage is at the opposite end.

Thank you

 

[Ra_V_en]

Is the TV exactly above the router? If so try moving the antenna from vertical to horizontal position and see if it boosts the speed.
If its note enough i will personally try to make 1 of the antennas more directional:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Wi-Fi-Booster-Using-Only-a-Beer-Can

Maybe it looks funny but it works just like with satellite dishes, it concentrates the signal in one direction.
So try that can trick or some different one (there is plenty of cardboard DIY solutions) if it wont help enough then simply buy bigger omnidirectional antenna.

 

[dhruv990]

Is the TV exactly above the router? If so try moving the antenna from vertical to horizontal position and see if it boosts the speed.
If its note enough i will personally try to make 1 of the antennas more directional:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Wi-Fi-Booster-Using-Only-a-Beer-Can

Maybe it looks funny but it works just like with satellite dishes, it concentrates the signal in one direction.
So try that can trick or some different one (there is plenty of cardboard DIY solutions) if it wont help enough then simply buy bigger omnidirectional antenna.

Hey thanks for the quick reply

And yeah I forgot to mention the 5dbi antenna i'm looking at is omni directional. And no the TV is one floor down and at the opposite end of the house. My tv is in the Leftmost room on the first floor, my router is in the Rightmost room on the second floor. The problem with the directional antenna is that its quite expensive, I could probably get a range extender for that much. I'm getting 2 antennas for about 10 $. Plus wont the directional antenna limit the connection to just my floor? Also I need the omni antenna to be able to access the net when I'm sitting out.

 

[Ra_V_en]

Did you actually read the link I've send. For that matter you need a can from pepsi/coca cola (in the tutorial above) or a cardboard and some aluminium foil (others on google). You use this DIY thing on the standard "stick" antena on your router. How can it be expensive? Just try that, it will cost you max 30 mins of some manual job at difficulty of a primary school projects

 

[bill001g]

When you talk home wireless it is almost a magic art to figure out how to make things work. The construction of the house makes far more difference than anything else so it is all guess work.

Changing the antenna if you can do that is a cheap thing to try. You can also try the standard tricks of changing the channel. You problem may be interference rather than signal level. That room may just be getting more signal that others from some other signal source.

After this you start to get into the fancy solution like directional antenna and stuff.

I would try powerline extenders before you buy wireless range extenders. You also need to think quite some time if it worth the headache to get a ethernet cable run before wireless extenders.

Wireless extenders should only be used when you have no other options left. In the very best case you are going to lose 50% of your wireless bandwidth. It will also have a negative impact on users who are also directly connecting to the main router because this repeater is now interfering with these connections. You must think of it as "better than nothing" and tolerate the issue it brings.

 

[dhruv990]

Did you actually read the link I've send. For that matter you need a can from pepsi/coca cola (in the tutorial above) or a cardboard and some aluminium foil (others on google). You use this DIY thing on the standard "stick" antena on your router. How can it be expensive? Just try that, it will cost you max 30 mins of some manual job at difficulty of a primary school projects

Yeah dint' see that you posted a link. Anyways I did try that a while back but it didnt work, in fact it worsened the signal

 

[dhruv990]

When you talk home wireless it is almost a magic art to figure out how to make things work. The construction of the house makes far more difference than anything else so it is all guess work.

Changing the antenna if you can do that is a cheap thing to try. You can also try the standard tricks of changing the channel. You problem may be interference rather than signal level. That room may just be getting more signal that others from some other signal source.

After this you start to get into the fancy solution like directional antenna and stuff.

I would try powerline extenders before you buy wireless range extenders. You also need to think quite some time if it worth the headache to get a ethernet cable run before wireless extenders.

Wireless extenders should only be used when you have no other options left. In the very best case you are going to lose 50% of your wireless bandwidth. It will also have a negative impact on users who are also directly connecting to the main router because this repeater is now interfering with these connections. You must think of it as "better than nothing" and tolerate the issue it brings.

Ok, ill try that. But tell me one thing can a higher dbi omni-directional antenna actually worsen coverage? or does it improve it. I'm not getting a directional antenna, that's for sure. Can't risk loosing coverage to outdoor areas of my house. I'm not worried about spending the money on the omni-antennas as they are pretty cheap. Also should I get two? or is one sufficient? (if I get one 5dbi antenna, I may have an effective 8 Dbi signal given the fact that it already has a 3dbi antenna installed)

 

[bill001g]

Directional does make the coverage worse in the areas it is not pointed toward. That is the purpose you are only allowed to have so much output power and if you concentrate it one direction you must cut it in another. But it is actually much more complex than that with the actual government regulations.
Still sometime have worse coverage in some directions is a good thing. It tend to block interference from unwanted signals better from those directions also.

How exactly the antenna work depends on the feature the router is using. Some of the older ones used to always pick the strongest. The more modern ones actually simultaneously transmit overlapping signals out the different antenna...this is how they go from 150 to 300 to 450. Now the latest 802.11ac has some method of setting up interference patterns to do something they call beam forming to try to in effect make a virtual directional antenna. This pretty much means the days of replacing antenna are gone. You have to be very careful not to destroy these new features that now have all kinds of dependencies on antenna size and spacing.

The antenna will never add because you run a 3db and a 5db. It will either pick the 5db one or it will use both and get something in between. I would replace both antenna.

You may be better of buying another "router" with a directional antenna. What you really should look for is a AP that has the AP electronics integrated into the antenna. These look like flat boxes you mount on the wall. Engenius sell a number of options many under $50.

 

[Ra_V_en]

If you have 2 or 3 antennas on the router, there is a minor possibility to lower the range making on of them directional.
There is nothing magical in antenna construction and if you really tried the booster from the link (which i doubt) you probably did something wrong, it makes the signal at least twice higher in the direction its pointed. I've never heard putting a bigger antenna makes a signal worse, if it will then the antenna is just overrated or its a low quality.

 

[bill001g]

If you have 2 or 3 antennas on the router, there is a minor possibility to lower the range making on of them directional.

This quickly gets into the definition of range. Very technically you are correct the distance the signal travels will likely not be reduced. You average person though is not talking about the raw signal strength they are talking about how much data they can get though.
In the days before MiMO the antenna if there where multiple were pretty much independent. Now days they actually send different signals on all of them simultaneously. So you need say 3 antenna on each end where they send 3 parallel overlapping signals to get the 450m rates. If you mess with or remove one of then antenna so you are left with only 2 then you get only 300m.

With the new "beam forming" where they somehow generate a interference pattern between the antenna to increase the range in a particular direction. I suspect you mess with these antenna and you will lose that beam forming ability.

But you are right it does not hurt to try some of the silly do it yourself reflectors you can always remove them if it does not help and it does not cost anything

 

[Ra_V_en]

And what does it have to do about the signal being not visible at all. If he wants perfect solution with all house covered with wide multichannel support then he should invest in an extender or second same brand router in extender mode. It seems we are talking about how to have a wide area wifi with no or low cost, if it was not about this than there wouldn't be any topic at all since the proper solutions is straightforward - you want a good coverage buy extenders, period.
This talk is getting nowhere...

dhruv990 did you check whats the signal strength with a laptop next to the TV? Whats the TV brand, model maybe its possible to put a better antenna there? What do you actually want to achieve? If its about "does swapping antenna on the router from 3dbi to 5 dbi do the job" we simply cannon guarantee it will because it can be not enough.

 

[dhruv990]

And what does it have to do about the signal being not visible at all. If he wants perfect solution with all house covered with wide multichannel support then he should invest in an extender or second same brand router in extender mode. It seems we are talking about how to have a wide area wifi with no or low cost, if it was not about this than there wouldn't be any topic at all since the proper solutions is straightforward - you want a good coverage buy extenders, period.
This talk is getting nowhere...

dhruv990 did you check whats the signal strength with a laptop next to the TV? Whats the TV brand, model maybe its possible to put a better antenna there? What do you actually want to achieve? If its about "does swapping antenna on the router from 3dbi to 5 dbi do the job" we simply cannon guarantee it will because it can be not enough.

Yeah that is what i want. To have good enough coverage throughout my house. To elaborate i want to be able to watch youtube on my tv. It's a sony kdl 750 with inbuilt wifi. Now by keeping the potter where i have, my tv has been able to update it's software but this only happens from time to time. My laptop gets a signal of about 3 bars where my tv is. I assume that the tv wifi card isn't very strong so it's not able to pick up as strong a connection as my laptop. My worry is that adding the 5 dbi antenna will ruin coverage to the room ending up giving me only 2 bars on the laptop and perhaps 1 or 0 bars on the tv(this because the tv is diagonaly below the router through 3 walls and not on the same level as the router) if the 5 dbi antenna can increase the bars on my tv by 1(it currently gets 2) then i can use my tv for youtube if it lowers the bar by one then i can't use the laptop either let alone the tv. This is the doubt that's in my mind.

 

[Ra_V_en]

So the answer is without the doubt, if you swap those 3dbi antennas for 5dbi, the range will extend a bit, but since its not an open space it can or cannot still be enough. Is far as i know 9dbi is also available as a stick antenna for routers. Pick that one and there will be higher chance you will solve that puzzle.

 

[dhruv990]

So the answer is without the doubt, if you swap those 3dbi antennas for 5dbi, the range will extend a bit, but since its not an open space it can or cannot still be enough. Is far as i know 9dbi is also available as a stick antenna for routers. Pick that one and there will be higher chance you will solve that puzzle.

Ahh thanks, so higher dbi doesnt necessarily destroy coverage right? Also they dont have a 9dbi one available but an 8 dbi antenna. That good too?

 

[bill001g]

I agree you might as well try 9bd but I would replace both antenna just so the router can also use both antenna to talk to your machine higher rates of speed.

I am sorry if I confused you on this. There is a difference in the ability to get a signal and the speed you can get on that signal. The only reason I mentioned this is I have recommended use of directional antenna before and the person confirmed that he now got coverage in a area he did not have coverage before but he was then complaining that his machine that was closer to the router was now connecting at a slower speed.

 

[Ra_V_en]

Just take a pair of the best you can get, if it wont be enough the other solution needs to be considered.
As far as the router has decent power output on those antennas (80-100mW is a typical value) it won't can get any worse, so don't worry about that.