Super Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna<base href="http://www.atruereview.com/" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.atruereview.com/images/favicon.ico" /> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/css/template_css.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/css/style10.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/slimbox/slimbox.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/css/rokmoomenu.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />  <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.atruereview.com/images/favicon.ico" /> <style type="text/css"> td.left div.moduletable, td.right div.moduletable, td.left div.moduletable-hilite1, td.right div.moduletable-hilite1, td.left div.moduletable-hilite2, td.right div.moduletable-hilite2, td.left div.moduletable-hilite3, td.right div.moduletable-hilite3, td.left div.moduletable-hilite4, td.right div.moduletable-hilite4, td.left div.moduletable-hilite5, td.right div.moduletable-hilite5, td.left div.moduletable-hilite6, td.right div.moduletable-hilite6, td.left div.moduletable-hilite7, td.right div.moduletable-hilite7, td.left div.moduletable-hilite8, td.right div.moduletable-hilite8 { width: 175px; 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There are a couple of wireless hotspots in my neighborhood. One is a neighbor right next door to me, the other neighbor is two houses down. To test the strength and noise of the signals, I will use <a href="http://www.netstumbler.com/">Network Stumbler</a> 0.4.0. My wireless NIC is a D-Link DWL-520. The D-Link comes with an antenna on the back. It is a 802.11B network card.</p> <p>I tested the stock D-Link to my closest neighbor. The house is about 20 feet away from my wireless room.</p> <p align="center"><img src="atruereview/cantenna/noboost.gif" alt="Super Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna" title="Super Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna" width="300" height="208" border="0"></p> <p>With the regular antenna, I pull a great signal. I am normally in the Good to Very Good range.</p> <p align="center"><img src="atruereview/cantenna/boost.gif" alt="Super Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna" title="Super Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna" width="300" height="205" border="0"></p> <p>With the Cantenna Booster I get a stronger wireless signal. The graph touches 50 where before it is about 55. Not a really great improvement one would say, but since this is a logarithmic scale, about every 3 dBm is equivalent to doubling the signal. I was in the Very Good range, with an occasional Excellent.</p> <p></a> <a href="cantenna/">Next, I tested a house that is about 75 feet away across a green way. I am only giving the location of the house for I have no idea where the wireless setup is in the house.</p> <p align="center"><img src="atruereview/cantenna/2ndnoboost.gif" alt="Super Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna" title="Super Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna" width="300" height="207" border="0"></p> <p>I pulled a pretty decent signal with the wireless card's antenna. I am normally in the Very Bad to Bad range with a stock antenna.</p> <p align="center"><img src="atruereview/cantenna/2ndboost.gif" alt="Super Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna" title="Super Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna" width="300" height="208" border="0"></p> <p>I tried positioning the Cantenna for about two hours. While pointing at some areas got me a little bit more strength, the most complete signal was only a few dBm better than the stock antenna. I was able to hold the Bad range.</p> <p>When pointed at my network upstairs, I was able to keep an Excellent signal, which is normally only Very Good with the stock antenna.</p> <p><strong></strong>One other note: the wireless computers and access points around me doubled, I can see 6 access points with the Cantenna as compared to 3 with the stock antenna.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong></p> <p>With the Super Cantenna Wireless Antenna, I can see an improvement in signal strength as well as a few more networks on my network. Not knowing the exact location of the neighbors' wireless components didn't help in positioning the Cantenna properly. </p> <p>I can safely say that the Centenna will provide you an extra bar on the Windows signal strength. If knowing where the wireless point is, you will gain even more. If you can almost connect to your neighbor, but have a lot of issues dropping networks or low speed, get the Cantenna. It will easily pay for itself in ISP payments.</p> <p><strong>Pros:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Adds extra length to your wireless signal</li> <li>Full rotation</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Takes a while to position</li> <li>Short cord</li> </ul> <p><strong>Ratings:</strong></p> <p>Very Good</p> <p>(Ratings Possible: Terrible, Very Bad, Bad, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent)</p> <p><a href="atruereview/cantenna/index.php"></a> <a href="cantenna/index.php">Previous (Introduction & Description)</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="footer" class="clr"> <div class="rk-1"> <div class="rk-2"> <div id="the-footer"> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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