Reddit reviews TP-Link 2.4GHz 9dBi Directional Antenna,802.11n/b/g, RP-SMA Male connector, 1m/3ft cable (TL-ANT2409A),White

u/Rubik842 is right, even if he is being a little vague. It probably won't help much, if at all. RF at WiFi frequencies is very vulnerable to the skin effect. The wire you are using is probably causing a lot of loss, or at the very least, low SNR. Even though your speeds are significantly higher, your latency is probably off the charts due to all the packets it would be dropping. The only time you wouldn't be dropping packets is if you are incredibly lucky, as even the slightest defect in that cable will cause multipath distortion and at least a little bit of noise.

All of this is completely disregarding the problem with your reflector. There is a very low chance that it is efficient at 0.12491352416m (for 2.4GHz, around 12.49cm) or 0.0599584916m (for 5GHz, around 5.99cm) If I were you, I would go buy a pre-built directional antenna, as they are designed with all this in mind. They are pretty cheap if you know what you are looking for.

It is still pretty intuitive for a temporary solution, though.

This one will work well with 5GHz: https://www.amazon.com/ALFA-APA-M25-directional-connector-WL-ANT-157/dp/B00R1PA9EO

This one will work well with 2.4GHz: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Outdoor-Directional-connector-TL-ANT2414A/dp/B003CFATNS?th=1

Beware of no-name omnidirectional antennae, as they aren't well made. Most of them make things worse.

Info for those who don't work with radio: Those numbers above represent the ideal length for your antenna. They are pretty easy to calculate. The formula is λ = C/f, which means wavelength = speed of light / frequency in Hz.

To get wavelength from GHz:

299792458 / (GHz * 1000000000)

For MHz:

299792458 / (MHz * 1000000)

For KHz:

299792458 / (KHz * 1000)

For Hz:

299792458 / Hz

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The result will be in meters for all of the above.

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Your antenna can be full-wave, which means its length matches the wavelength.

You can also get a half-wave antenna, which has a very small degradation in performance. Its length is half of the wavelength that you are using.

Quarter-wave antennas are also available, but they carry a more significant performance decrease. You can probably guess how long it needs to be based on the pattern so far.

Anything smaller probably isn't worth it, as a full-wave antenna for 2.4GHz is just under 5 inches long in the first place. A quarter wave antenna is just over an inch. Full-wave 5GHz antennas are already tiny. They are around 2.4 inches long, with quarter-wave being barely longer than half an inch.

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To be totally honest u/dusty_whale, if you are happy with it's functionality, I wouldn't bother buying one. There is a chance, albeit a rather small one, that your DIY reflector fulfilled all of those requirements I listed above. Nice job, it looks really cool regardless.

Edit: Easier to read number formatting for the wavelengths.

Do you have an Android smart phone or tablet?
If so, DL the Wiggle wifi app.

With it running, you can walk around the property and better triangulate various signals.

If you have a macbook, you can do the same thing pretty much with Kismac. I use WiFiFoFum to do it with an iPhone, but it requires jailbreaking.

Subnet Insight is an absolutely amazing app for iPhone for taking keeping track of your local network and keeping it safe. It's $5, and the only non-free software I'm linking.

If you have an external wireless adapter, or are willing to spend $15-$30 on a specialized one, I can walk you through putting it in monitor mode and really getting the the bottom of the issue.

Here's a simple tp-link USB wifi adapter you can use to monitor all transmissions over B/G/N wifi, [for only $11 amazon prime.] (http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN722N-Wireless-Adapter-External/dp/B002SZEOLG). Here's a very high quality (and foolproof) directional antenna you can use to make it much more effective for less than $30.


^Also ^a ^lot ^of ^the ^advice ^you've ^gotten ^so ^far ^is ^pretty ^badummmmm, ^or ^too ^complicated ^w/out ^better ^context.
But don't be discouraged. Network internals & also wifi/radio signals are complex topics, but the basics are accessible enough to pick up quickly in your situation.

Easy!

Go buy an old used android phone off ebay for $20-30 shipped. (This one is nice!) You just need something with a camera, wifi, working charge port and working touch screen. Read the description carefully.

Download "IP Webcam" off the android store (free) and load it on your new phone.

Hook your phone up to your home's wifi. If you need more Wifi range, replace your routers antenna with this and put it on your wall outside your house facing in the direction of the camera. Mine boosts the signal to a good 1-2 acres.

If you don't have an outlet to plug the phone in, just put a fully charged car/boat/tractor/lawn mower battery out there with an adapter and car charger attached to it and run it into the phone. That will last weeks. You can also get this style and a longer USB cable if you need it to reach more.

Buy one of these for a mount. I just drilled two holes in the suction part and screwed it to a wall with wood screws.

You can view the camera simply through a browser or download some free camera software to record it.

If you want to record directly to the phone and not hook up to your computer there are apps for that as well.

You can use the light on the phone (flashlight app) to help give some light to see at night or put some kind of portable light (lantern, flashlight) out there.

This is going to be your cheapest option, but requires some prep work. $30 for the non-wifi extending option, $50 with it.

Source: I have this setup. It works well until about 0 degrees F, then the phones sometimes shut off. I may rig up a small heater using resistor wire for them for this winter.

I would be surprised if that device worked.

What you need is a directional antenna. Ideally, something you can put in your roof or outside your window. Something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-ANT2409A-Directional-Antenna-connector/dp/B003CFATNS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1407434530&sr=8-2

A larger antenna with a bunch of gain will work really well, if you can find a place to mount it:
http://www.amazon.com/TL-ANT2424B-Directional-Parabolic-connector-resistant/dp/B003CFATOW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1407434530&sr=8-3

I actually had two antennas similar to those set up at Tenside, and I got GT WiFi for about 2 years. Never had to pay for my own internet. (This wasn't stealing, I was paying my technology fees...)

Anyways, you can hook that antenna up to USB adapter (like the Alfa one linked below), or into another wifi access point and rebroadcast your own network.

Sure, there's not too much to it. I started with a quality USB WiFi adapter that had a detachable antenna (RP-SMA connector): https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0035APGP6/ and replaced the stock omni antenna with a directional panel antenna: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003CFATNS/ Now the Alfa adapter I linked can output up to 2000mw of power, which is outrageous, especially with a 9dbi antenna, so I always dial it back to something more reasonable like 100-200mw. You don't want to overpower the radio in the access point you're trying to connect to. This can be set via software and the steps vary depending on the operating system you're using. (on Linux you'd set it with 'iwconfig wlan0 txpower 20' for 100mw or 23 for 200mw)

Oh sorry, missed that part.

As mentioned by DrunkRufie, powerline is an option, although from what I understand it's really hit or miss, and largely depends on your house wiring. Hard to predict the outcome, but maybe worth a shot.

Another option would be to get a decent directional antenna for your computer or the router; if you can swap out the antenna on either one (or both if you're super serious :P) with a decent patch antenna. That'll boost the signal in a big way.

Those will increase your signal gain slightly vs the stock antennae. This boost in the horizontal strength comes at the cost of the vertical signal, think of most wireless devices as having donuts around them. For two devices to interact you need the donuts overlapping, and more overlap means a better connection. If you buy a higher gain omni-directional antenna you are squishing the donut.

If you go with the omni-directional setup then get these:

https://www.amazon.com/Super-Power-Supply-TL-WDN4800-Directional/dp/B01C3FTJPG

Otherwise a pair of these will serve you better:

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Directional-Antenna-connector-TL-ANT2409A/dp/B003CFATNS

On the fairly cheap side of your options, you could try a directional antenna with maybe 6-9db of gain or so and point it to the tv. The signal may be strong enough with just that addition.

Something like this

edit: I just realized this is the triple antenna deal, same router as I have. It might be able to handle using one of the antennas with gain, not sure, that I would ask D-link.

Normal omnidirectional antennas like you have receive equally in all directions. Which means they don't get a strong signal in any particular direction either. This is useful for laptops and cellphones for example, but not so much for stationary things like desktops.

What you want is a directional gain antenna. Something like this could work... But it would only work on normal 802.11n mode with no fancy beamforming or anything like that.

But if this weak signal is in your house, it might be better to just get a wifi repeater.

What you are looking for is called an Amped Wireless Range Extender. If your router has a RP-SMA Male connector, you can use a Directional or Yagi Antenna.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003CFATNS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NQGVMSE

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JGUGKYU

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NBL9WK

So the ethernet over power idea will only work if there is a direct power line spanning the two buildings. I have a pair and they work but they're finicky about where they are placed. You might have a better bet using directional wifi extenders. You can attach one of these to the router sitting inside the main house and point it at your apartment preferably from a window. The product's page has different models from which you can choose what sort of range you would like.