How can I improve reception of wireless signal?...

[gimpel]

Forgive me for asking what may seem to be a 'noob' question... I am a 'noobie' at this 'new' technology I have not used bfor...

The details of my situation... I have internet access by 4G WiMAX ( WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a wireless communications standard... [this from WikiPedia] ) through Clear.com (many major metro areas in USA) ... my internet access in the past coupla years has been through DSL (ATT) and cable (Time-Warner), and the performance then wasnt what I wanted it to be, because I have older, slower, less capable systems, upgraded as much as possible, and I still cannot afford to buy better systems... (still restricted to Win XP)

When I signed up with Clear.com, and bought the equipment from a neighborhood retailer a few weeks ago, he told me I should 'position' the 'wireless modem' to get 4 or 5 of the 5 led's (representing the strength of the received signal) to light. I have not been able to get more than 3 of the led's to light, and sometimes it drops to 2...

I am dependent for the 'robustness' of my connection between my 'wireless modem' (WIXFBR-117) and Clear.com's broadcast towers, (and I cant see the entire map they show me, bcuz there is a big window obscuring much of it... but their nearest broadcast antenna is less than 3/4 mile away. and I can see that they have at least 3 towers within 2 miles, and 6 or so within 3 miles... )

So, I am concluding that my problem is how to better receive these radio signals inside my house... I live in a single story house surrounded by two story houses... I moved the modem to the other side of the house, and that didnt help, at all...

So, what should I do?... install the modem in the attic, or on a tall pole (mounted in a weather-proof box) on the roof, or on the garage, or on the tall tree (my neighbor's tree) that reaches over my backyard to get a stronger signal...

can I make a 'reflector' which will effectively focus the broadcast signals onto the modem's receiving antenna?...

Or, is there something else I havent thought of yet?...

Any response is most welcome...

gimpel

 

[bill001g]

First thing is to take the unit outside and see if you get better reception. If not then it is unlikely anything is going to help.

Its going to depend which unit you have. Some have the ability to connect a external antenna to them. If it does not then you are very limited in options.
Still you must be careful since a long antenna cable will undo any gain you get from the antenna. The best solution I suspect i going to be to mount the device on a pole connected to the antenna and run a ethernet cable back to the house. Unfortunately they do not design it for this so you will also have to figure out how to get power there. You also need to be concern about heat so you want a box that is rain proof but lets air in. This is how people used to do WiFi before they started making commercial outdoor units very cheap.

Just a general comment on clear. They are in the process of abandoning WiMAX and going to LTE. Not sure their schedule but they are installing LTE equipment in missouri and tennessee. Since sprint was their partner on this and they are going to merge with metropcs who runs LTE I think that is further indication that we will not see WiMax around much longer.