USB wifi antenna Asus AC68, range issue

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bapab

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Feb 12, 2018
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Dear friends,

Excuse my english first, I m not native english speaker. I am having an issue with my wifi connection. I actually use public wifi coming from outside at home because I think we already have enough waves around us and I dont want to subscribe for a paid service.

However, the signal is very weak, around -75 dBm, so disconnections are frequent.
I purchased an Asus AC68 USB antenna, supposed to be good quality stuff, but when using it the signal barely improve, actually I could even say there's so few changes compared to before that I dont see any advantages in having this extra antenna.

I m not quite sure if I missed something since according to many reviews, people can get amazing results.
Is it because I didn't buy the right product ? Should I get something like high gain antennas ± 9 DBI ?

Thanks for the help !

Pierre
 
Solution
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Ok so I had time to test the Alfa AWUS036ACH and my conclusion is : the improvement is nothing better than 10 to 30%
I can see more wifi, and all have a good signal apparently but it very similar to the internal internet card. The main advantage is that I can put the antenna outside where I can't put my computer and I might get a sightly better signal :)

I didn't observe anything like what we can see in those RV fan's video where they can get stellar improvements grabing wifi from super far away sources and multiply their download and uploads by 20 fold. But at least I know more now about wireless haha
Thanks for everyone's answer
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zoltan.boese

zoltan.boese

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"Beep, beep"
Sputnik 1
 
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bapab

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Feb 12, 2018
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;-P sorry about that
 
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zoltan.boese

zoltan.boese

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Jan 30, 2018
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A solution for weak signal could be a range extender also called signal repeater. Is the TP-Link RE200 available in your region?
As for the antenna, that can be a game changer, if the wireless signal is present and strong, otherwise it can not make wonders.
 
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bapab

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Feb 12, 2018
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actually the free wifi I m getting now is not great because you basically have to reconnect every 2 or 3 minutes by clicking on ads, sometimes its working better so it can hold for several tens minutes. So its not the ideal choice for me.

I was hoping to be able to "catch" other more far away wifis. There are some convenient stores in my nearby area (less than 100 meters away). Unfortunately the Asus AC68's range for the one I have is barely better than my laptop's internal antenna.

What would be the best option to grab these wifis ? antenna + extender or antenna alone would be okay ?

Thanks !
 
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zoltan.boese

zoltan.boese

Estimable
Jan 30, 2018
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I would recommend a single extender. Please read here:
https://www.repeaterstore.com/pages/wifi-booster-repeater-extender-differences
 
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bapab

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Feb 12, 2018
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Thanks, I m going to take a look, and meanwhile I will send back the Asus AC68 because it s not helping at all in my case.

I might give a try with long range / high gain, high DBI USB adapters, to be able to grab far away wifi. and if I can get a good enough signal I might add an extender to it. If anyone have any comments about that, I will be coming back to check. It s possible I m still a little bit confused about how these things work.

Thank you !
 
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bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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A repeater will not fix the issue of poor signal levels. It MUST be placed in a location that it gets good signal levels and then it can send the signal to a farther location. If it is placed in a location with poor signals it will just attempt to re transmit the poor signal degrading it even more.

The device you call a antenna is not actually a antenna. It is a WiFi nic card. You could try a long USB cable, put it outside if you can keep it dry. Still that likely helps little.

The best option is what is called a outdoor directional bridge. These devices are a high gain directional antenna with a all the radio equipment mounted inside a water proof enclosure. They are best placed as high as you can get them pointed at the source of the wifi signals.

Not sure if they are available by you but ubiquiti makes some of the more popular ones used by end consumers. Which model you need depends on the radio frequencies used by the source and the encoding. It would be things like 2.4g or 5g and then if it supports things like 802.11ac or only 802.11n.
 
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bapab

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Feb 12, 2018
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Right, I m going to get higher gain NIC (like those Alfa 2 x 5 DBI). It seems like there are different categories for NIC, some labelled as for "gaming" and others for "hacking". The one I got, the AC68 seems not to be high gain, it is even very difficult to find the true gain of that antenna.

As you said I m planning to use a long USB cable and find a good reception on my balcony.

Thanks for the answer !

 
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bill001g

Titan
Aug 9, 2012
28,318
2,754
125,640
Do not get mislead by advertising and hype words. You would have to look the actual values up but the output power is limited by law. The DB gain of the antenna is only part it is depending on the actual radio power. You could take the fcc number and look them up if you really want to know. The laws are different as to what is legal in many countries so equipment may not output the fcc tested levels in all countries. It really depends if there are different models sold.

Still when you are looking for solutions for outdoor use your best option is directional antenna. When you use stick type (omni directional) antenna you are sending your output power in all directions. When you use a directional antenna all the power is send in a single direction which increases the distance the signal can go. You also in many countries can use more output power on directional antenna than on omni directional.

Now if you do not have a clear path to the source you are depending on reflections off say building omni directional may be better. You will get best results though if you have a clear line of sight to the source of the signal and use a directional antenna.
 
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bapab

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Feb 12, 2018
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Thanks for these info. I finally purchased an Alfa AWUS036ACH, which is omni directional I think because I dont know from which direction the source comes from. I m going to come back to here to update about the situation, if there s any improvement comparing to Asus AC68. Normally I should receive the new NIC soon, maybe tomorrow or after tomorrow ;)
 
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bapab

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Feb 12, 2018
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Btw I was mentioning that I had to reconnect all the time to this free wifi by clicking on ads every 2-3 minutes. However, 2 days ago I installer a free VPN system (Tunnelblick) and now I can be connected continuously without having to click on ads like a robot constantly :) Which is a big improvement in terms of confort ! :D Hope this info can help people with similar situation.
 
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bapab

Prominent
Feb 12, 2018
8
0
520
Ok so I had time to test the Alfa AWUS036ACH and my conclusion is : the improvement is nothing better than 10 to 30%
I can see more wifi, and all have a good signal apparently but it very similar to the internal internet card. The main advantage is that I can put the antenna outside where I can't put my computer and I might get a sightly better signal :)

I didn't observe anything like what we can see in those RV fan's video where they can get stellar improvements grabing wifi from super far away sources and multiply their download and uploads by 20 fold. But at least I know more now about wireless haha
Thanks for everyone's answer
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
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