Would a simple, 1.5 metre long FM radio antenna work for WiFi router?

[The Tiger]

I'm not getting good enough signal strength in all parts of my house, and also the speeds are extremely slow, at maximum 1-2 Mbps.


If I open up the router and connect the wire to the built in antenna to three FM radio antennae (telescopic, 1.5 metre each; I have them ready), would I get a good boost in signal strength and speeds?

This is a Netgear G router.

I also have an idea. I've calculated that a 2450 MHz WiFi wavelength is around 12 cm. So if I coil a copper wire to a length of 12 cm, would it be more effective than the FM antennae?

What do you suggest?

Thank you.

 

[bill001g]

Microwave antenna are pretty picky things to get to work. You cannot just use wire you must use microwave rated coax or you will lose more signal that you gain. Even with microwave coax you lose a large amount of your signal when you use the thin stuff that would be needed to connect inside the router.
I would buy a antenna that is designed to hook to the internal boards that are put in a motherboard. They are the same cards used in laptops. You can get a 9db antenna and a short connecting piece of microwave coax for under $10. They are not deisgned to solder but I guess you could. The solder connection though must be perfect to not cause signal loss at the microwave frequencies.

Best bet is going to be to replace the router. 802.11n does not have more range but it will transfer more data at a given signal level. So your signal level will not increase but your data rete will. You could also get a router with external antenna and you could try to upgrade them...it may help a little bit.

Your problem though may not be signal strength it may be interference. Try changing the router channels and see if you get any improvement.

 

[The Tiger]

Thank you so much for the answer! I bought a 300 mbps dual antena router. The signal is not increased much, but I'm getting much better speed per unit signal signal strength. I think I'll add a parabolic reflector to the antennae, as well. Thanks for your help.