Put simply, it helps provide better Wi-Fi in thick-walled hotels, rural AirBnbs, and anywhere else that radio waves fear to tread. With a top cover that extends out to act as an antenna but folds down for better portability, this adapter boosts your signal to the point where you can detect networks up up to 200 feet away. It’s not the smallest you’ll find, but still fits easily in a laptop sleeve or day bag, and the extra size is put to very good use. This compact dual-band device is 4.7 inches long and 1.8 inches wide, and weighs just 2.4 ounces. That’s why we’ve chosen the Netgear AC1900 as our top overall USB Wi-Fi adapter pick for travelers.
#Difference between wifi booster and extender portable
It needs to be durable and easily portable as well: bulky, flimsy accessories are no use to anyone on the road. Best Overall: Netgear AC1900Įxtended range and stronger, faster connections are the most important aspects of any Wi-Fi booster that you’re going to travel with, but they aren’t the only ones. They’ll all give you an improved connection, but in general the bigger the antenna, the better your signal will be. This type of Wi-Fi booster is typically quite a bit smaller than the standalone versions, but even then, there’s a bit of a trade-off between the size of the gadget and the wireless range you can expect to get out of it. If your laptop only has USB C sockets, you’ll need an adapter like this as well. That said, if you’re running Windows, you can use Connectify Hotspot to share your boosted connection with other devices as well.Īlmost every model we’ve found is still using the older USB-A plug. USB Wi-Fi range extenders plug into a laptop and are designed to improve the connection for that computer only. Best for RV & Campervan Owners: Alfa Camp Kit 2 Best for Maximum Range: Techkey Wireless USB Best for Minimalists: Glam Hobby OURLINK AC600 The only thing that would kick that up is if everyone is using the wired connection, since you have only a single line from your switch back to the modem.
Wires don't suffer the traffic problems WiFi does, and typically they're not so bothered by things like microwave ovens. If you have a desktop or any sort of immobile station, an internet enabled TV, a desk with a laptop dock, whatever, WIRE IT IN. As you walk out of range of one AP, you walk into range of the other, you remain connected and your laptop can't tell the difference and doesn't care.īut your wired connections are ideal. Since your distance is so great, and so insulated from one another, you can have two antennas that connect you to your home network. So repeaters SUCK, and are a last ditch effort. The more WiFi you have the more turn taking everyone has to do, the slower everyone goes.
All WiFi devices, whether they're on the same network or not, all using the same frequencies, because there's only one electromagnetic spectrum, all have to TAKE TURNS talking, or no device can understand any of the messages. Ever play with walkie-talkies and tried to listen to two people talking at once? You hear them both at the same time. WiFi is FM radio, and it uses a 2.4-2.44 GHz band. And that list is in order from the highest frequencies down to the lowest. These are names we give to different parts of the same spectrum. It has gamma rays, xrays, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, microwaves, and radio waves. We have this thing called the electromagnetic spectrum, and there's only one. The booster, though, in the middle, is close enough to both, so its radio signal does reach the router strong enough to be picked up. The radio signal from the source, your laptop, doesn't make it all the way to the router, the signal gets absorbed by the walls and scattered in the atmosphere to where it's so weak the router doesn't pick it up. So an extender/booster is a WiFi device that connects to your home network and it listens for any and all WiFi network traffic on that network, it takes that message, and sends it again.