Today we will again touch on a very delicate and painful topic - strengthening the signal of a Wi-Fi network. I'll tell you how you can slightly increase the range of a Wi-Fi network by replacing antennas with more powerful ones, consider installing TP-LINK TL-ANT2408CL antennas, and of course, let's look at the numbers, how much the wireless network signal will increase, and whether it will increase at all , after replacing Wi-Fi antennas with a router.
I suspect that if you have visited this page, then you are not satisfied with the wireless range that your router provides. Most likely, in some rooms (if we are talking about a house), the signal is very bad, or there is none at all. And you want to somehow strengthen it, so that you can use a wireless Internet connection without restrictions. In this article, we will consider one of the ways - replacing Wi-Fi antennas with more powerful ones.
How to strengthen the Wi-Fi signal by replacing the antennas?
Your router most likely has multiple antennas. There are routers on which the antennas are internal, they are not visible, they do not stick out like horns. Or, if the antennas are even external, then they can be non-removable. This is very important, because in the first and second cases, you cannot replace them, since you cannot simply remove them. If you have such a router, with internal antennas, or non-removable, then the method described in this article will not work for you.
So, these antennas transmit the signal of the Wi-Fi network. They come in different capacities. There are antennas with 2dbi, 5dbi, 8dbi, 10dbi gain, these are the most popular. There are also more powerful ones. On the router, the manufacturer has already installed antennas of a certain power. Depending on the model, price, etc. You can increase the coverage and strength of the Wi-Fi signal by replacing these antennas (which are already installed on the router) with more powerful ones.
Almost all manufacturers of networking equipment produce such antennas, and they can be bought at almost any computer hardware store. I have three TP-LINK TL-ANT2408CL antennas. These are antennas with 8dbi gain. By the way, a very popular model, at a very good price. They are sold by the piece, so you can buy as many of them as you need. The connector for these antennas is RP-SMA. They fit most routers. If the antennas are from TP-LINK, this does not mean that they are only suitable for TP-LINK routers. Everything needs to be changed, this is a must.
It should be noted that installing more powerful antennas is not the only way to strengthen the signal of a Wi-Fi network. There are other ways: the correct location of the router, setting up a wireless network, and even homemade Wi-Fi antennas. I wrote about this in the article: How to strengthen the signal of a Wi-Fi network? We increase the range of Wi-Fi.
If you need a significant increase in mongrel coverage in one direction, then I would advise you to consider installing a repeater. You can read what it is here. It will be more efficient than more powerful antennas.
An important point: Wi-Fi is two-way communication. And when we change the antenna on the router, the antenna on the laptop or mobile device remains the same. Therefore, it would be nice to change the antenna also on the device that we connect to the Internet. But, in most cases, this is certainly not possible. Only if you have a Wi-Fi adapter with a detachable antenna.
Connecting Wi-Fi antennas TP-LINK TL-ANT2408CL to the router
Now we will take a closer look at the installation of TP-LINK TL-ANT2408CL Wi-Fi antennas, well, let's look at the result of strengthening the wireless network, because this is the most important thing. In this regard, of course, it is difficult to draw any specific conclusions, because a lot depends on the router itself, the devices you connect to Wi-Fi, interference, etc. But, I did a little test here, and the results seem to be quite objective.
As for the replacement of antennas, their installation, everything is simpler than ever. We unscrew the old antennas from the router, and fasten the new ones.
Just grip them well, by hand, no special tool is needed 🙂
Results of strengthening the Wi-Fi signal after replacing antennas
I tested the TL-ANT2408CL antennas on two routers: TP-LINK TL-WR1045ND, and Asus RT-N18U. I also wanted to check on TP-LINK TL-WR740ND, but now I only have TP-LINK TL-WR740N, and this model does not have a removable antenna.
How tested
I thought for a long time how to take the results before and after replacing the antennas and show them to you. I did this: I installed a TP-LINK TL-WR1045ND router in one room, I put a laptop in another room. On the router, I set a static channel (6), and the channel width is 40 MHz. I turned on the router with factory antennas, waited a little, and removed the signal level through the inSSIDer program. This is the program with which we were looking for a free channel in the article How to find a free Wi-Fi channel and change the channel on the router.
Next, I unscrewed the factory antennas and connected three pieces of TL-ANT2408CL. I waited again and took the readings in inSSIDer. Did not change anything, and did not rearrange. I tried it both with rebooting the router, after replacing the antennas, and without. The results were the same.
There were no other Wi-Fi networks in the radius. During the test, I did not turn off or turn on any devices.
In the inSSIDer program, I looked at the "Signal" indicator. The lower it is, the better. Minimum value like -25. Also, I looked at the signal indicator in Windows 7. The screenshots have all this.
On a smartphone (Android) I measured the signal strength with the "Wifi Analyzer" program.
Test results for TP-LINK TL-WR1045ND
The TL-WR1045ND router comes with 5dbi antennas. With them, I had the following result:
And with the TL-ANT2408CL (8dbi) antenna, the result is better:
These are the results. I took the average results, since the signal strength was constantly changing by 1-2 values in both directions.
Testing antennas on the Asus RT-N18U router
I did not find any information anywhere, what power are the antennas installed on the Asus RT-N18U router. But, it seems to me that they are the same as on the TL-WR1045ND, 5 dBi. These routers are very similar in performance and price.
Signal level on factory antennas:
After installing TP-LINK TL-ANT2408CL:
These are the results.
Conclusions. Should you buy more powerful antennas for your router?
As you can see, replacing the antennas still gives a result. And I think the result is good. After all, I changed 5dbi to 8dbi. And if I initially had antennas, say in 3dbi, then the result would be even better. The range of the wireless network will definitely increase by several meters, and where there was one division, there will be about two.
But, again, everyone has different results. I read reviews about TP-LINK TL-ANT2408CL here, and there you can see messages from those who did not notice the difference at all after installing the antennas, and those who have increased Wi-Fi coverage. And the most interesting thing is that both of them may be right, because everyone has different routers and conditions.
If I needed to strengthen the Wi-Fi network, then I would still look towards Wi-Fi repeaters. Yes, they will cost a little more than antennas, but the gain will be better.
