Linksys High Gain Antenna for SMA Connectors HGA7S
See it at Amazon.com for $36.57Average Customer Rating
(3.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(5 out of 5)Antennas and their impact on wireless communications
It is important to understand that antennas are passive gain devices. This means that they focus the signal or energy but do not actually increase the literal power of the signal. Think of it like placing your thumb over the end of a water hose. You can focus the water being expelled so that it travels farther, but there is no more water being expelled. In the same way, higher gain antennas (7 dBi being higher than 2 dBi) focus the energy coming out of the antenna so that it travels farther.
This can have the impact of increasing signal quality within a coverage area and extending the coverage area to a greater distance.
These 7 dBi antennas will work as well as any other 7 dBi antennas, generally speaking. The big thing is to be sure that the antennas have the right connector type to connect to your device. While these antennas will connect to a Linksys infrastructure device (access point or router) or some Cisco devices, you may need different antennas for your client devices. For example, the Buffalo card I mentioned uses an MC type connecter which these antennas do not support.
Keep these issues in mind and you'll be on your way to a successful and better functional wireless home or small business network. Good luck.
-Tom Carpenter
Author - Wireless# Certification Official Study Guide
(3 out of 5)A Decent Investment
I have a Linksys WRV54G Wireless Broadband VPN Router and purchased this product with the hopes of increasing the range of my wireless network. The way my home network is currently configured, I cannot have the router placed close enough to the center of my house to prevent dropped signals on one end.
Unfortunately, this antenna has not noticeably broadened the range (distance) of my wireless network. I still have difficulty connecting devices on the far side of the house; however, it has strengthened the quality of the signal to the areas it does reach. This helps especially when moving around the house with a wireless device; walking around certain areas of my home would decrease the signal just enough to briefly lose it with the original antenna-even if I was close to the router.
That is why I have given this product a rating of 3. This antenna only does half of what Linksys promises, and of that half, it works well.
I am not disappointed with this purchase because I have plans to drop cable to the other end of the house and install a WAP54G Wireless-G Access Point to extend the range of my network. I also plan to get the compatible high-gain antennas for that device as well.
I suppose I was naive to think that this would suddenly increase the range through so many walls and rooms; I believe an antenna such as this would be far better suited to a large open area rather than indoors for performing such a feat.
I would recommend this antenna if you are having trouble with your wireless network in certain areas when you know you are close enough to the access point to get a decent signal.
(4 out of 5)Expensive, but it helped
I purchased a Linksys WRT54GC Compact Wireless-G Broadband Router for my in-laws place so I could have wireless access while visiting. My mother-in-law liked the little compact router because it was unobtrusive compared to the bigger routers. So, we bought it. After we installed it and got it working we found out the range on the little compact was router very limited (25 feet). To extend the range I purchased this High Gain Antenna. I attached it the router and it now has the range I need (50 feet). The down side of it is, now the router is very obtrusive with this tall ugly stick coming out of the top it and the cost of the two items purchased separately was a lot more than if I had just purchased a non-compact router.
(3 out of 5)Good improvement but costly
Easy to connect and setup and an increase in 7dB is a substantial increase in RF propagation. No necessarily worth the full price cost at local retailers but good way to save on cost of improving your wireless network. Best route is a repeater if cost is not an issue.
(4 out of 5)Fixed my problems
I'm over 300' from my house to my shop and with the stock antenna I could only connect part of the time and then at 37 to 45 percent signal strength. And this is after installing the twin 7dbi antennas on my WRT54GS router. After adding just the 7bdi on my PCI card I am hooking up at 67% signal strength and haven't dropped the connection since.
Overpriced but it did help a lot in my circumstance.