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3 Antenna Wifi Card VS 2?

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  • WiFi
  • Wireless Network
Last response: in Wireless Networking
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September 11, 2014 10:21:09 AM

What will the benefit be of a wifi card with 3 antennas vs one with 2?

More about : antenna wifi card

September 11, 2014 10:42:06 AM

The card with 3 antennas can handle a 3 stream connection. This is usually referred to as N900 (450Mbit at 2.4 Ghz or 450Mbit at 5Ghz).
A two antenna card can handle 2 simultaneous streams, referred to as N600 (300 + 300).
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September 11, 2014 10:46:01 AM

In theory you get 150m more throughput with the extra antenna. In the real world who knows it will be more but not anywhere even close to 150. I know when they were trying to get 4 antenna streams to work they actually ran slower. Seems they may have figured the problems out since some of the newest 802.11ac routers claim to do 4x4 mimo.
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September 11, 2014 12:00:53 PM

kanewolf said:
The card with 3 antennas can handle a 3 stream connection. This is usually referred to as N900 (450Mbit at 2.4 Ghz or 450Mbit at 5Ghz).
A two antenna card can handle 2 simultaneous streams, referred to as N600 (300 + 300).


So is it worth me getting the three antenna as opposed to sticking with the two?
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September 11, 2014 12:07:14 PM

Chris Beldam said:
kanewolf said:
The card with 3 antennas can handle a 3 stream connection. This is usually referred to as N900 (450Mbit at 2.4 Ghz or 450Mbit at 5Ghz).
A two antenna card can handle 2 simultaneous streams, referred to as N600 (300 + 300).


So is it worth me getting the three antenna as opposed to sticking with the two?


Depends on your router. What router do you have and are you thinking about getting a newer one any time in the near future?
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September 11, 2014 12:14:50 PM

kanewolf said:
Chris Beldam said:
kanewolf said:
The card with 3 antennas can handle a 3 stream connection. This is usually referred to as N900 (450Mbit at 2.4 Ghz or 450Mbit at 5Ghz).
A two antenna card can handle 2 simultaneous streams, referred to as N600 (300 + 300).


So is it worth me getting the three antenna as opposed to sticking with the two?


Depends on your router. What router do you have and are you thinking about getting a newer one any time in the near future?


Got the superhub 2 due to an upgrade to 50mb virgin broadband but might consider getting a new router if needed
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September 11, 2014 12:27:58 PM

The superhub 2 is a 2 stream router on 2.4Ghz and 3 stream on 5Ghz. You didn't say if this was a dual band card. Which two cards are you considering?

If you are thinking about 5Ghz, how close to the router will you be? 5Ghz doesn't penetrate walls as well as 2.4Ghz. If you live in a congested 2.4Ghz environment (appartment complex, student housing, etc) then 5Ghz might still be better than 2.4Ghz. If you live in a detached house with few WIFI neighbors, then 2.4Ghz would be OK and the 2 antenna (streams) card would be fine.
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September 11, 2014 12:30:27 PM

kanewolf said:
The superhub 2 is a 2 stream router on 2.4Ghz and 3 stream on 5Ghz. You didn't say if this was a dual band card. Which two cards are you considering?

If you are thinking about 5Ghz, how close to the router will you be? 5Ghz doesn't penetrate walls as well as 2.4Ghz. If you live in a congested 2.4Ghz environment (appartment complex, student housing, etc) then 5Ghz might still be better than 2.4Ghz. If you live in a detached house with few WIFI neighbors, then 2.4Ghz would be OK and the 2 antenna (streams) card would be fine.



Yes the card is dual band that im considering getting and i live in a semi detached house. Im only about 4 metres away from the router anyway
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September 11, 2014 12:32:08 PM

Then I would get the three antenna card to take advantage of the three stream support from the superhub.
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September 11, 2014 12:33:32 PM

kanewolf said:
Then I would get the three antenna card to take advantage of the three stream support from the superhub.


Brilliant. Thank you for your help!
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