 - Increases the effective range of Linksys wireless devices
- Stronger signal increases wireless coverage into hard-to-reach areas and improves throughput by reducing retransmissions
- Easy installation -- simply replace your current antennas
- Works with both Wireless-G and Wireless-B devices
- Omni Directional design for 360 degrees of coverage
List Price: $72.00 
Product Description: Increase the range of your Wireless network! Attach these high gain antennas to your Linksys Wireless Broadband Router or Access Point, and increase both the effective strength of the outgoing signals, and the receive sensitivity for incoming signals. The added signal strength and sensitivity also improves close-range communication reliability because every packet comes through "loud and clear", reducing retransmissions due to weak signal reception errors. To install, just unscrew your current antennas, and attach the High Gain antennas in their place. There are no drivers to install, and no modifications to your setup are necessary. The Linksys High Gain Antenna Kit saves wiring costs and helps to build corporate wireless infrastructure by driving stronger signals into distant corners and hard-to-reach areas. And it's perfect for covering large areas in warehouse environments, public spaces, wireless hotspots, and outdoor venues - anywhere you need extra coverage for your wireless network. Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-05-27
Great Product
Great response time on product, recieved it before I expected it :) Also it works like a dream, cleaned up those signals and keeps me connected more often. Would recommend these to anyone who has a large distance to push the wireless signal. Rating: 
Date: 2008-05-14
Mistake
I was told the longer antenna's would send the signal further, but it never worked. I only got the same range from the long antenna as I did the shorter ones. I don't know how to solve this problem I only have to extend the range another 8 feet. The longer antenna did not do this for me. Rating:
Date: 2008-02-06
They accomplish what they are designed to accomplish
These antennas have been tested in my labs using very sensitive wireless network testing equipment and the perform exactly as specified. The sad thing is that the industry doesn't do a good job of explaining what the "specifications" mean for the average user. Here's the basic foundation you need:
Antennas come in three basic types: omni-directional, semi-directional and high-directional.
Omni-directional antennas, such as these Linksys antennas, radiate the network signal out in all directions around the antenna. Think of it like the ripples in the water when you stick your finger directly down into it. This is the way an omni-directional antenna works.
Now, when you increase the gain of an omni-directional antenna, you flatten the signal or what som have called the doughnut. In other words, you increase the distance "out" from the antenna, but you decrease the distance "up" from the antenna. For example, if you have the antenna in a vertical position (it is pointing up), a higher gain indicates that the signal travel farther out from the antenn in a pattern parallel with the floor/earth and it doesn't travel as far perpendicular to the floor/earth.
The semi-directional antenna is an antenna that transmits the vast majority of the signal in one direction out and up from the antenna. Think of it like placing a speaker against a wall and facing into the room. In the room, you will hear the sounds clearly. Behind the speaker and the wall, they will not be so clear. This is similar to the behavior of a semi-directional antenna.
High-directional antenas usually look like a satellite dish with either a solid or a mesh panel behind the antenna. These antennas, as you might expect, have an extremely narrow signal pattern. There are rarely used in home networks are are mostly used to create links from building to building over greater distances (sometimes many miles).
In the end, the antenna will not have as great an impact on your home wireless network as the wireless router or access point will. If you can get a wireless router or access point that uses greater output power with the lower gain omni antennas, you will likely be more satisfied with the coverage of your wireless network that you will be with a network that includes lower output power and high gain antennas. This is a general rule of thumb for home networks.
Sadly, one of the best home wireless routers is now off the market (the Buffalo WZR-RS-G54); however, you may be able to find others with simila specs. Look for devices that offer 100 mW output power and external antennas (in case you want them for tweaking). In the new 802.11n line, the Engenius ESR-9710 offers very good performance in my lab tests and is reasobably priced at under $100. It does feature 100 mW of output power. For this with a little more pocket cash, the EnGenius ENG-ECB-3220 will give you 400 mW of output power; however, I have not had the chance to test the latter.
Happy WiFi-ing!
Tom Carpenter Rating: 
Date: 2007-12-31
Definite signal increase.
The antennas did what they were suppose to, the increased the signal. The only thing that I didn't like about them was that on the back of the package they said that they would work with the Linksys WRT54G. There was no asterisk stating that they only work up to version 6 of those routers. I had to find out by looking on line at Linksys' website. Other than that they work perfectly. Rating:
Date: 2007-12-19
Concrete walls are no match for these antennae
I installed a wireless network for a private school system, and their high school was in a 50-year-old former public school building. Every wall was concrete block, but not the standard ones they use today, no, these were 2-inch-thick-sided survive-a-nuclear-attack type of block.
The stock antennae on the Linksys wireless routers we installed (WRT54G and WRT54GS) just weren't giving them that great a signal, so we installed these kits and BAM! Great signals everywhere.
The trick is, the way these antennae (and any long skinny antennae, for that matter) are designed, the wireless signal radiates out in a donut-shaped pattern. Imagine a donut slid onto a broom handle. That's the signal pattern. These kits make that signal stronger outward, not necessarily upward. So, in a single-story school building with concrete walls, these did their job magnificently. |
