Boosting WiFi mobile signal

Hi boys & girls,('')
Does anyone know of a device to improve the WiFi signal of a mobile laptop dongle, mine is a Vodaphone dongle and in most areas we have been the signal is pretty poor.
JB.

jaybee3946 wrote:Hi boys & girls,('')
Does anyone know of a device to improve the WiFi signal of a mobile laptop dongle, mine is a Vodaphone dongle and in most areas we have been the signal is pretty poor.
JB.

Hi JB,

If you put "dongle booster" on Ebay .... a few come up ...... not sure if they are any good .... I've been waiting for a "Guinea-pig" to test them for me ,

Good luck,

Brian

Thanks Brian
It looks like if you are in a poor reception area there is not a lot you can do about it ie if you are not receiving 3g outside you will not receive inside.
Thanks anyway

dont laugh cos it works, got the info originally off another well known forum.

I boost mine by putting a cd on the dongle connection and using the usb lead plugged into the lappy, it acts as part of the antenna.

I dont know what its about those Voda dongles but I could get a rubbish signal but then remove the dongle and then tether the lappy to the phone (using it as a modem) and get a good 3g or H signal.
Having now moved the phone over to O2 im tethering to the phone more and getting 3g most of the time.

roli wrote:dont laugh cos it works, got the info originally off another well known forum.

I boost mine by putting a cd on the dongle connection and using the usb lead plugged into the lappy, it acts as part of the antenna.

I dont know what its about those Voda dongles but I could get a rubbish signal but then remove the dongle and then tether the lappy to the phone (using it as a modem) and get a good 3g or H signal.
Having now moved the phone over to O2 im tethering to the phone more and getting 3g most of the time.

Thanks for that Roger ..... Can't wait to try it out

Brian

How do you tether your phone? I Am with o2, but led to believe that you can't tether with o2, but wouldn't know how to anyway.
Pete

On the Android based phones there is an option in settings to turn on wifi hotspot, ,,,
do this then turn the pc on and let it look for networks.
In the case of my phone it finds HTC WiFi, connect and bingo.
The connection seems more stable and faster than the dongle. Bulldog01's phone works like this as well, in fact thats how i found out about it when Brian lost the use of his voda dongle. It did work for me previously on vodafone as well thats how i could compare signals.,

Since the thread started I have seen a signal booster off ebay where the dongle is pluuged into and the booster plugged into the lappy. It was in a known difficult signal area and I was quite impressed. I cant remember the make but it was just a bit bigger than a cigarette packet and black in colour

Hi JB

If you use an Android (2.3) smartphone you can connect it to your laptop either by tethering it using a usb cable between phone and laptop or using a wireless connection by setting the phone to work as a mobile access point (AP). This latter connection is useful if you want to share your 3G phone connection with up to five other wireless devices at the same time.

Both of these methods are better than using a dongle because you can move your phone around to pick up a stronger signal, as long as you don’t mind using data from your phone plan.

Keith

Thanks for your replies regarding tethering, my HTC is a windows 7 phone with o2, and I can't find the facility, shame really as it could be useful.
Pete

Pete - have a try at this and let us know how you go on, wont give up on you as two of our other members will testify

Option 1 (which I use when away in the sticks - O2 network/HTC Desire)

Settings > Wireless & Networks >
scroll down towards the bottom to Portable Wifi Hotspot > ok > at the top of the page Click on Portable WiFi Hotspot
The first time you do it you will need to enter a password further down the page. Go back now and access the internet and bookmark your favourite ASOF web site

Option 2

Settings > Wireless & Networks > click on WiFi
you should see some small text under wifi saying searching for networks and then connected to XXXXX if there is a freeby available such as McDonalds or O2 shops
Select the next item down in the menu WiFi Settings and you will see any available networks. If I am at home and want the internet through the phone for a particular reason I would use this option as my broadband/landline also happens to be with O2

Hi Roger,
Thank you, I tried both methods yesterday and got nowhere.
But,looking through settings, which I haven't done since the last software update to windows 7.5, I found Internet sharing, so I opened up to find an on off switch and I found (sharing your mobile data connection over WI FI with up to five guests.
Bingo, just need to up my measly data allowance 100MB per month.
Many thanks
Pete