What Are "High Gain" Router Antennas? Can They Increase WiFi Range? 

High gain antennas aren't purchased for speed though. Purely for extended range. Weird analysis.

This video makes no sense. You compared two antennas from one location where both had excellent signal. Of course you won't see any difference. You need to do a range comparison where you do speed tests from each antenna configuration further and further from the source. This video tested absolutely nothing. Also, range extenders are a terrible idea. Only use if you have absolutely no other choice.

It made a huge difference for me. Been using the 3200 with these big antennas for almost 3 years. My main problem was getting penetration through walls to security cameras.

Directional antennas do work if used correctly. In this case, you measured pretty close to the router, so the shape of the signal didn't make a difference. But if you're farther away, it does make a big difference, especially with those rectangular antennas that concentrate the entire signal in a 60 by 20 degree cone. Wi-Fi range extenders (and even mesh networks) are bad because they cut whatever bandwidth they get in half. If you can hardwire an additional AP, of course that's the best solution, but it's often not feasible. Short of that, directional antennas are probably the most often overlooked solution. If you have a 3x3 or 4x4 router and you install 3 or 4 of those square-shaped directional antennas and point them each where you need Wi-Fi, you can extend your range dramatically.

As much as I enjoyed the trolling videos from a while ago, it's good to see you sharing helpful information.

your videos are always helpful thanks for taking the time to help with them

Thanks for the video. I've been debating those for a while. Nice to know my extender was the better choice. I like the randomness of the subjects, thanks

very informative! Keep it up Theo!

thanks for the information, just moved into a new place. I'm glad you did this video saved me some money.

I have 2 HG antennas on my Netgear router because I live in an apartment. The range is broader so I now get the same signal strength in my bedroom as I do in the living room.

Well explainede - "manipulates the signal so it goes further in one direction, and less in another direction"

There's another effect that the video didn't talk about. When you get a better gain antenna, you also increase your reception sensitivity. In some cases, if your device has a poor transmission power, it can be a good idea to have a better antenna. This is true in many other scenarios, like HAM radios. But I share the same idea that a extender is a simpler and more effective way to improve wireless coverage.

Similar in theory to directional antennas. I think a good companion piece to this would be access points in general (and wiring them up for ethernet rather than repeating), although PoE would be neat to look at if not particularly useful in your apartment. TP-Link has a number of fairly inexpensive 802.11n ones, though ac seems expensive still for PoE.

I tried a pair of high gain antennas when 54g was popular and they did nothing at all. I ended up getting a signal booster for my desktop PC instead, which plugs into the wall and is basically a wifi antenna on crack. Worked much better! The downside is it doesn't affect the source wifi broadcast. I think a dedicated power source is really needed to properly amplify the signal.

damn!!!! your camera quality is just beyond crystal clear, what camera do you use for making video?? I loved the quality i see in my monitor>> Thanks

good to see you're making real videos now

The thumbnail reminded me of the good ol dayssss *sheds a tears*

Fantastic explanation, Thank you!

Awesome. Wifi wired extender is my new choice now!

That explains a lot. I am a OTR truck driver and I use a Alfa AWUS036NH to pick up free wifi around from a nearby restaurant or hotel that offers it. The flat antenna works well, but I know exactly where to point it and can dial it in using MediaTek's app. So I figured an Alfa high gain would be even better but, mostly, it is worse. Honestly, until now, I was convinced it was counterfeit because I always tested at home and never considered it was shaped and not more efficient.

I thought I was going to be able to double my internet speed for free.

A gain or loss of 3dB corressponds to an increase of twice, or a decrease to one-half, the power respectively. So -53dB or -52dB is quite a bit. Never the less, good video.

So yea basically just get an extender instead

Superb video! Subbed

compelling analysis and strangely attractive

You are absolutely able to change the power output of the signal on routers. It just depends on the firmware.

Nicely explained. Thank You!

They're useful if you have a really on the very edge of a reliable signal and are in a situation where an extender can't be used for some reason, but they're certainly no silver bullet.

when i saw the thumbnail i had hope for 1 second

thx for the information

Awesome video. Saved me the trouble!

i used a High Gain Router Antenna and now i have internet for free, 10/10

hey, thanks for the video, was really helpful! I have a double-antenna router, can I change just on of them with a 8 dbi one? Is it dangerous for the router to work with two different antennas ?

simple explanation......very helpful. thank you.

amazing and thanks for genuine advice

Ty so much for this explanation

Thank you for the video!

it's good to be back

I've watched several of your boost wifi videos, and I was really interested in the one with the batteries and antenna, how would you go about boosting if there is no antenna

Joe i have to correct you, you can increase the signal power. you can use third party firmware such as DD-WRT to increase the gain in the settings. its standard with DD-WRT software.

thank you for great expliantion

i added an extension cable and a mountable antenna. works much better since i'm saturating a dead zone without needing an extender which is an issue for mobile devices when walking around since they don't automatically switch around to the strongest signal.

yeah I never understood the High gan under omnidirectional antennas however when it comes to directional antennas I have been able to push signal for up to 5 miles directional antennas come in handy on big pieces of land

Thank you very much that was very interesting

They work by extending range, so they wont give you more speed in your connection, but you could walk a block away and get a full connection rather then a some what lowered connection. Think Ham, they don't get a ham user speaking faster but they do get to reach that other ham user miles away, but only in that direction. So i could sit in my car and reach my AP from down the road, in fact quite a bit further away. Also great for detection of directions of AP's!!

I own a high gain WiFi adapter, and noticed a substantial improvement in my 5GHz network, maybe you should do a video on a high gain adapter.

I replaced my antennas not for the bandwidth nor signal strength. I did it to get better stability on the same floor, and to drastically decrease the range to the other floors. My problem with the default antennas was that I had a whole lot of "hicups" in the connection, where the connection would stop working for a few seconds every minute or so. I discovered that I had whole lot of hotspots in the nearby area. As I live in an apartment in a multifloor building (flats), each household has their own wifi hotspots that makes it extremely crowded. With the new antennas I reduced the "hicups" drastically, and the overall connection was a whole lot more stable. Same bandwidth. Same speeds as before. And slightly better range around my apartment.

I would be interested in seeing the internals of both antennas. Some of my wifi antennas are are nearly identical on the inside even though the casing for one is longer than the other.

If you want fast internet just use a ethernet cable

useful review!

very valuable thanks

Installed high gain pair of 10dBi TREADALT-TEC, basically a no brand, each over 15" long on my Netgear AC1200 Dual Band WiFi Range Extender, I think 2018 model. Original antennas were Two (2) about 4" 5dBi dual band detachable external antennas. The building is a mixture of new and old, I'm on the first floor in the old section that has mesh wire in the walls rather than the normal/usual drywall. The router signal that is extended is about three rooms away on the second floor, not straight above, in the new section of the building. My Lenovo notebook PC and smartphone will only pick-up a barely usable single most of the time. The extender didn't do much better and I'm in the same small room as the extender. The signal was obviously very strong because of my very close location to the extender but the internet was still lacking. The high gain antennas made a dramatic difference. My guess is these antennas made the extender much more sensitive, better than either the PC or smartphone. Many would complain about the connector breaking on these high gain antennas. The swivel connector is largely plastic and the breakage happens at the connection point between the antenna and device. Mines did not break but I was careful not to over torque. These antennas, IMO, are meant for stationary installations and are not or should not be as durable as for handheld handy talkie (ham radio). The latter is comparatively pricey while these antennas are very inexpensive. Pair is currently $10 on Amazon. I paid much more because bought years ago and they were sold individually with a cable. They appear to be identical to the ones currently being sold for $10 a pair.

Hi Thanks you for sharing your point but in my opinion the different is not on the speedtest because it gives you the up/down bitrate you had subscribe to your internet provider and normally it's the same except some parameter depending of the servers use for the test the best way to test antenna Gain is to look the force of the signal. Hight gain signal more coverage Best reagards

I expected you to test the signal strength further away from the router to really test if it makes a difference in range

There are powered antennas which can produce a signal up to 8 Watts(totally illegal anything >1 watt is illegal) which can produce super long range signals(or so they claim). I personally use 2 5Ghz dual-band 802.11ac Access Points from Ruckus so as not to have any WiFi issues.

Could your phone be the cause of the small difference you noticed. I would compare wifi signal reception on two device just to see...

It would have been a better test if you went out 100 meters (the spec. limit of WiFi) away from the antenna laterally and compared the two signal strengths. The further out laterally you go, probably the more superior the high gain antenna at maintaining a usable signal on the very directional microwave WiFi signal - and that's the use case where that antenna might be worth the money. Repeaters always reduce throughput due to the multiple hops.

Bought a Amped Wireless SB1000 1000mw signal booster antenna from micro center and pluged into my router, now I have strong signal and transfer speed to my garage security camera no more random disconnect.

yo just for the record those aren't decibels - they're dBm: decibel-milliwatts, which are measured relative to 1mW (ie 1mW is 0dBm)

great content man, who would even buy this for $70??

Old video but relevant. I had a cheap wifi camera with an internal antenna that I put in my garage that could barely get a signal. I then bought a new camera with two external antennas. And it made no difference. In fact the old cheapie actually had slightly better reception.

thanks for the help

you should do a distance test, compare distances per the regular vs high gain. Because the claim is the work at further ranges horizontally. Also can you then recommend good antennas that do actually work better then standard ones?

It also helps to not have your home router inbetween your TV(giant metal plane with current running through it) and bookshelf(solid wooden pillar). --Put it somewhere high, out in the open!!!

After laughing for so long at your satire videos my mind was in "bull****" mode but this is really spot on. I was considering replacing the factory antennas on my Nighthawk R7300 with high gain ones but after this and actually using the included powerline Ethernet adapter I'm just going to save the money.

totally worked! :D

This antenna best use for extend the range of "5g" network "only". If you know, normally 5g network coverage is shorter than the 2.4g. You have to place the router on a higher ground and away from any possible interference equipment/walls. I am using it.

it can make a difference depending on the total gain and how direct you are at the antenna direction, and how close you are as well. and also, yes how powerful the router is, its settings, the frequency, the provider, how good your phone or computer is, the data plan and even the dins server speed. using a 15 db gain antenna, 3 inches from the router and modem, high end hardware, high end settings, high end everything and double it, i would say it would be much faster, is it a 3 db gain or 6. using anything higher then 9 db gain and you will see a difference like 12 and 15 db gain

Actually the gain antenna will not increase the speed, but will have a longer range. I tested both, the high gain antenna and a WiFi repeater. The wifi repeater will reduce the internet speed to half, and you will lose signal many times and have to reset the repeater more than once in a week. With the high gain antenna i have signal in rooms where there was not internet at all. Maybe the walls will reduce the speed a little, but will not be half as happened with the repeater.

you can consider more antennas? Like archer c60 router has 4 to 2.4 ghz and two antennas for 5 Ghz. Is there number make it better?

0:54 No, you *can* change it (depending on your AP's software) -- but it's limited by law.

I think this would be more intended to reach further on a horizontal plane as apposed to increasing the speed. So you should get a stronger signal further away than you wouod with the regular antenna. But then you need to factor in the cost of these vs a repeater.

This reminds me of your old troll videos, the reason why I subbed to you

I would imagine you would see the most benefit from high gain antennas at a further range, but also match antenna on each device. Your phone may see benefit on download at a further range, but upload will drop off with that range unless you have a matching high gain antenna on the phone.

Joe, does beam forming work? also, does it need a compatible phone or any AC WiFi chip works?

Hey, nice job, I am an extra class amateur radio licensee and Electrical Engineer, you did a great job explaining antenna gain and your testing mythology and analysis was top notch. One of your better videos.

I like you, you are trustworthy =)

Could we get a "making of" video about how you forged some of the results in your old fake videos? I think seeing that process might be interesting.

What is the best router to buy? Will I need to get a different antennas? I watch your videos to get faster internet speeds and faster wifi speeds, which I plan doing. Any suggestions for a mac user would be great. Thanks again for your videos. Kris

Hi thanks for all your help.. Do you know How I can extend the range the AT&T TL7912 DECT 6.0 It a wireless headset that works from the At&t base phone in my office. I get about 80 feet range but I need another 20 feet. Thanks

is there a way to make a stronger signal through a "powered antenna" not sure if that would be the term to be used or even a if you can get a better cell signal to the hub through the antenna ports?

Thio is there a way to increase a routers dBm? my router gets a low signal because at&t antennas are far away where i live

I know this was to see if it helped in your apartment, but you should have tested it at the max range of the stock antenna...where performance starts to drop off.

I love new style a lot, go on and make real review video

You should test the range coverage of that antennas. I think you just test its speed and not how long does the both antennas cover the whole area.. Test both of it in a bit far from the router and see the diff. Theres no difference when testing same router with both the signal strength of the two antennas near the router..

So if i slap 2 of these on a usb antenna as a replacement for the small original ones would i receive better signal?

I think 35 ft through few walls is a pretty weak test. You'd want to try and push outside the normal range of the network, where these should show the most benefit if any.

You are the best in my life

@thioJoe can you comment or provide a comparison data (actual data in ft?) but on any range increases with upgrading to higher range antennas?

Can't you just wrap them in duct tape and get free internet? ;)

I PLOVE TIIS CHANNEL

In Which Joe Shows Off His Really Good Internet For 6 And A Half Minutes

Was wondering if there was a simple way to boost the signal on a router with an internal antenna.

hey thiojoe were did you get your light standard for your philips bolbs

thx 4 the vid

tnx bro love you

hey bro... which camera do you use?

what about high gain dongle for receiving WiFi? How do they work? Is it the same; just flattening the out going signal? Probably not worth it. In this case thank you for saving me a few bucks.

I'm looking for one for the PCI adapter on the computer with a cable to mount up higher where it's not obstucted.