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.
Like what you read?
If so, please join over 28,000 people who receive our exclusive weekly newsletter and computer tips, and get FREE COPIES of 5 eBooks we created, as our gift to you for subscribing. Just enter your name and email below:
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 .