You’ve heard of interesting ways concerning how to extend the range of a wi-fi router. Some involve using a small dish instead of a traditional stick-style antenna, others involve aluminum foil, and yet others involve creating DIY antennas with a coil.
But is there anything you can simply buy pre-built that will do the job right the first time?
Yes. It’s called MIMO (pronounced my-mow). It’s an abbreviation for Multiple Input Multiple Output. In simple terms, this is a "brute force" style of extending a wi-fi signal by adding in extra power and antennas. A quick search for MIMO on NewEgg shows the options that are available. The prices are reasonable.
But the big question is: Does MIMO actually work?
The answer unfortunately is "maybe", as there are no guarantees when it comes to cleaning up radio signals.
MIMO wi-fi routers can supposedly get a range of up to 100 feet indoors and 1,000 feet outdoors. Whether you achieve this or not obviously depends on what obstructions and/or interference there are between your computer and the router.
If you’re at your wit’s end trying to figure out how to get more wi-fi signal, a MIMO router may do the trick for you.
Should you decide to purchase one, I strongly recommend keeping the receipt because this is not a guaranteed solution. But it’s certainly easier than trying to hack your own.
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Actually I found the cheapest range boost was just to buy an extension coaxial cable and mount the stock antenna up higher . I picked up a three meter cable from NCIX for about $13.00 CDN and mounted the stock antenna from the WiFi card on the PC near the ceiling and it made a big improvement .