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nairaland.net • View topic - How to boost your Internet signal - Internet access solution

How to boost your Internet signal - Internet access solution

How to boost your Internet signal - Internet access solution

Postby Richard Akindele » Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:42 pm

Internet connection in Nigeria is largely wireless. Wired copper or fiber lines coming into our homes is still in the future.

For now, if you own a laptop, and want to get online from home, you're limited to services provided by the likes of Eutelsat, mtnonline, etc.

How does it work?

If you look at this page: http://mtnonline.com/products-services/ ... ta-bundles
You can see that MTN provides several price options from N500 to N8,000. Disclaimer: I'm not an affiliate of MTN. They are used for informational purposes only.

Basically, you sign up for one of the accounts. MTN gives you a USB adapter, and software.
You insert that USB adapter into your computer, and install the software.

Once that is done, you should be able to connect to the Internet.



Dropped connectivity
One major problem with the solution above is that it is wireless, and you're likely to experience frequent loss of connectivity. When I chat with my friends in Nigeria via Skype, gtalk, icq, etc, it gets frustrating sometimes, as the connection is dropped constantly. Once in a blue moon, they may stay connected for one hour or more. But most times, each connection lasts just a couple of minutes, and the user has to reconnect.

How to boost wireless signal
That brings us to the topic of this article, how to boost your wireless signal. You may be lucky enough that your usb adapter comes equipped with an antenna:



If however, your usb adapter does not come with an antenna, an inexpensive homebrew solution exists to boost your signal, and hopefully alleviate the incessant disconnects. In any event, I suggest you try the solution below. You may get a better connection still.

Here is how to do it...

(1) Get a large size parabolic mesh drainer, as shown below:


This is one of those meshes used to drain rice, vegetables, etc in the kitchen. Just make sure the mesh is metallic. Get one with a soft mesh, so you can easily make a hole in it.

It is important that your mesh is parabolic in shape. Also, buy the cheapest you can find, as long as it's metallic.

(2) Make a small hole in it, the size of your usb adapter plug. You can use a sharp blade, a suitable pair of scissors, or a scalpel for this.

(3) Push your usb adapter dongle through the hole. Make sure the mesh wires maintain contact with the usb metal connector. Optionally, if you have the capability, you can solder the mesh wires to the usb connector later.

(4) Now with the usb dongle attached to the mesh, plug the protruding part of the dongle into a usb slot on your computer, as shown here:



(5) Now connect your computer to the Internet, and see if there's an improvement in the dropped connection problem. Try different positions for improved reception.

If this alleviates the poor connection problem, then consider getting a bigger mesh. Congratulations! You just made yourself an antenna from cheap home items.

Improving your antenna.
Instead of connecting the mesh directly to your computer, some have devised ways to make the mesh movable.



As you can see from the picture above, the usb dongle is on the mesh. An extension cable from the back of the mesh then plugs into your computer. This makes it possible to move the mesh around, and orient it for better signal reception.

You would receive the best signal if you place the largest possible mesh near a window, or outside in a balcony area. Since antennas are line-of-sight devices, the fewer things that are blocking it, the better would be your signal reception.

The picture below shows four items you could use to build an antenna. 1. USB extension cable. 2. Your usb adapter dongle that you obtained from your Internet service provider. 3. An old reading lamp. You remove the top, and replace it with a mesh. 4. Finally the mesh itself.



You can see an antenna that was built from the four items above.




Tweaking Your Settings
One more adjustment you could make is to check transmission power settings of the usb adapter software. If you find such setting, bring it up to a max setting of 100%.

Things to remember about obtaining best reception...

Remember that your wireless signal is affected by microwave ovens, cordless phones and even your neighbor's wireless router. So check these things if you're getting consistently bad wireless siginal.

If this homemade antenna helped boost your Internet signal, be sure to share the information with others, so they too can benefit.

Recommended:
viewtopic.php?t=3070 - How to own a Laptop for $80 (N12,000).

References:
http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Uni-Dir ... -Extender/
Richard Akindele
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Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:33 pm
Location: USA

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