Which Laptop Antenna for 3rd N antenna?

[tilhasbb]

Hello,

I've been told this is the place to go for wireless questions
I have a Dell XPS M1330 with Intel 4965AGN wireless card but since I have the LED screen I do not have the 3rd Antenna connected to my card.

I am looking to buy another antenna for my laptop to take advantage of mimo.

My two questions are
1) Does any laptop antenna work? Like the one below?
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Tyco-Universal-Wireless-Laptop-Antenna-Mini-PCI-U-FL_W0QQitemZ270296914912QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCOMP_HN_Network_Adapters?hash=item270296914912&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1215|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318#ebayphotohosting


2) Where would I place my 3rd antenna? I am assuming the 1st and 2nd are on each corner of my screen, so do I place the 3rd one on the center bottom of the screen?

3) Is it worth upgrade to the new Intel 5300 wireless card? Does it do 40Mhz at 2.4Ghz?


Thanks in advance

 

[thiggins]

1) For a dual-band card, you need a dual-band antenna. I can't tell whether the antenna you linked to is dual-band

2) You would have to experiment. My guess is that it wouldn't matter much where you put it

3) The Intel 5300 WiFi Link AGN does allow 40 MHz channel bandwidth in 2.4 GHz. We are now using it as our standard wireless test client, with only two antennas connected.

I wouldn't worry too much about having a third antenna. You will still see a throughput improvement in 40 MHz channel mode with only two antennas. Three antennas are required only for three-stream draft 11n. All current designs are 2 stream at most.

 

[tilhasbb]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

1) How would I know if the two current antennas I have are dual band?
What do I look for to tell if its dual band?


2) How come with a DIR-655 at point blank range with no security I am unable to go faster than 2.7Megs/sec with my 4965 card...

Do I need the 3rd antenna or upgrade to 5300?


3) Tyco Elecw f-1 94v-0?? how do I know if those are 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz... most of the ones on ebay are those model. I cant find any data sheets or such. but the sellers tell me they are dual band...

4) Is the 802.11a 5Ghz same antenna as the 802.11n 5Ghz antenna?

 

[thiggins]

1) How would I know if the two current antennas I have are dual band?
What do I look for to tell if its dual band?

If you have a dual-band card, you have dual-band antennas.

2) How come with a DIR-655 at point blank range with no security I am unable to go faster than 2.7Megs/sec with my 4965 card...Do I need the 3rd antenna or upgrade to 5300?

Could be many reasons for the low throughput. See 5 Ways To Fix Slow 802.11n Speed. A third antenna is not the key to higher throughput.

3) Tyco Elecw f-1 94v-0?? how do I know if those are 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz... most of the ones on ebay are those model. I cant find any data sheets or such. but the sellers tell me they are dual band...

Only way to know before you buy is to look at the spec or rely on the seller's description.

4) Is the 802.11a 5Ghz same antenna as the 802.11n 5Ghz antenna?

Yes.

 

[tilhasbb]

Thanks for the guide that was very informative.

When I did my test I was using my friends DIR-655. I was the only one connected at 2 meters. With channel bonding at 2.4Ghz. I was unable to receive more than 2.7Megs/sec. Checking the guide I remember disabling the security which gave me a boost from 2.4Megs/sec with WEP.
I tested the speed by sending a file to a networked computer and looking at Windows 7 detail transfer speed.

From the guide, I should reinvest my money to upgrade all my wireless devices to N before getting an N router.

 

[thiggins]

First are you quoting speeds in Megabits/second or Megabytes/second? You need to be precise and clear when quoting speeds because there is an 8x difference. If you are quoting file transfer speeds from Windows, then you are probably quoting Megabytes/sec. Multiply by 8 to get Megabits/sec.

Enabling WEP in most all draft 11n routers will knock you down to 802.11g speeds, which are about 24 Mbits/second maximum (or 3 Mbytes/sec). Only WPA2/AES will give you minimal throughput reduction.

You will get throughput reduction with a mix of draft 11n and 11g clients associated to the same draft 11n router only when both clients are active simultaneously.

 

[tilhasbb]

I am saying Megabytes/second. What would be real world speeds be for draft-n?
If i am getting about 18megabytes/sec from my G anywhere in my house. what would I expect out of N?

The main reason I want to upgrade is that I have 32Megabytes/sec Internet connection and I always have to connect to a LAN wire to achieve higher speeds.

 

[thiggins]

802.11g is incapable of delivering 18 MBytes/sec of throughput. That would be 144 Mbits/sec. 802.11g has a maximum raw data rate of 54 Mbits/sec.

Typical maximum data rates for 802.11g and draft 11n can be found in the attached table.

 

[tilhasbb]

Wow so I am peaking my G speed.

In the kitchen Windows 7 tells me signal is very good. Posted signal strength from router


http://www.dslreports.com/im/66544193/48726.png
18213/1393 kbps

My internet is 32 Mbits/second
My maximum G connection is 18 Mbits/second

Thanks thiggins, I am going to be shopping for n gear now

 

[tilhasbb]

Just got my 3rd antenna. I installed it behind the screen above right in center.

Would adding a 3rd antenna increase signal strength (range) in G ?

 

[thiggins]

Would adding a 3rd antenna increase signal strength (range) in G ?

No. And it doesn't in draft 11n either. The benefit is slightly higher throughput.

 

[claenjoy]

Hi ,
thanks for post,
but I m bit confuse about the right position of the antenna ,
to understand how to get the max performance :
I have post a link with a picture with some example :
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/797/ms9f.jpg

could you tell me which position antenna is the better ?
LCD 1, 2,3 or 4 ?

and also the antenna they should be on the bottom or top of back of the back screen ?
thanks a lot