The park we are setup in offers Wi-Fi service but the signals were barely received by our Wi-Fi equipped laptop. The access to the internet was spotty unless we turned the laptop just the right way....
This device worked great. It was easy to install and immediately the signal strength went from poor to excellent. Before the antenna, we could only see 2 Wi-Fi connections, after adding the antenna we saw 8 Wi-Fi connections in the area.
This is from inside the RV shooting through metal mini-blinds. It's a great little antenna.
The antenna is cute, it looks like a toy satellite dish and is completely powered using a USB port, so no batteries or power supply to worry about. It has a 5 bar LED signal strength meter on the base, to aid in pointing the rotatable dish for the best signal.
This is a great, easy to use product, that does exactly what the sales person at Best Buy said it would do. The price was $19.99, well worth it.
The Bear II
Speedhitch said
10:35 AM Jul 8, 2008
Thanks Bear! I have the same problem sometimes. I will give this a try and see how it works.
Joe
jdensie said
07:04 AM Jul 9, 2008
We have been using the Hawkings for about a year. I made a waterproff container out of a Tupperware container and mounted it on a pole. I have two spring clamps and we can clip it on to the side of the slide out. Aim it toward the supply and it works great.
if any one wants pictures we can e-mail them.
-- Edited by jdensie at 08:04, 2008-07-09
mward3 said
07:26 AM Jul 9, 2008
thebearII,
This sounds like a good deal as I also have problems picking up a signal in some campgrounds. I have one question though about the price - when I looked this up on best buy's web site the price was listed at over 60 dollars. Has the price went up that fast or did you get it somewhere else?
Thanks,
Mike
thebearII said
08:02 AM Jul 9, 2008
I guess I had a senior moment. We bought several items at Best Buy that day and I was working from memory. I don't have the receipt handy so I can't check the price. I just remember I thought the price was reasonable.
I know something we bought was $19.99 and everything else was much higher....so I went with the $19.99.
Maybe I ended up with a better deal than I thought. Perhaps they mis-priced them at the store.
The web site shows the price at $62.00 still a "best buy" because it works great.
Sorry if I mis-represented the price. I'm going to take my memory pills now.....if I can remember where I put them. "Honey !...where's my glasses"
Aliceinwl said
09:54 AM Jul 15, 2008
I just picked it up at Buy Now through Amazon.com for $50 - no shipping charges
Tom Donaldson said
09:36 AM Aug 25, 2008
Here is another way to go if you want a more permanent installation and you are comfortable configuring networking gear:
We got solid connections this way when no one else in the park could.
Tom Donaldson said
12:59 PM Sep 15, 2008
Here is a very nice option for MacBook Pros. It is the QuickerTek Express Card with an external antenna attached by a coax cable. You could put a longer cable on it and stick it just about anywhere.
Sure wish computer manufacturers would just put a standard coax connector in laptops so we could add an external antenna ...
So I went to Best Buy and purchased a Hawking Technologies USB boost antenna. Here are the details regarding the antenna:
http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/productlist.php?CatID=32&FamID=60&ProdID=280
This device worked great. It was easy to install and immediately the signal strength went from poor to excellent. Before the antenna, we could only see 2 Wi-Fi connections, after adding the antenna we saw 8 Wi-Fi connections in the area.
This is from inside the RV shooting through metal mini-blinds. It's a great little antenna.
The antenna is cute, it looks like a toy satellite dish and is completely powered using a USB port, so no batteries or power supply to worry about. It has a 5 bar LED signal strength meter on the base, to aid in pointing the rotatable dish for the best signal.
This is a great, easy to use product, that does exactly what the sales person at Best Buy said it would do. The price was $19.99, well worth it.
The Bear II
if any one wants pictures we can e-mail them.
-- Edited by jdensie at 08:04, 2008-07-09
thebearII,
This sounds like a good deal as I also have problems picking up a signal in some campgrounds. I have one question though about the price - when I looked this up on best buy's web site the price was listed at over 60 dollars. Has the price went up that fast or did you get it somewhere else?
Thanks,
Mike
I know something we bought was $19.99 and everything else was much higher....so I went with the $19.99.
Maybe I ended up with a better deal than I thought. Perhaps they mis-priced them at the store.
The web site shows the price at $62.00 still a "best buy" because it works great.
We got solid connections this way when no one else in the park could.
Sure wish computer manufacturers would just put a standard coax connector in laptops so we could add an external antenna ...