Replaced only one antenna on a Netgear n300 wifi extender (WN3000RP) with this Alpha panel antenna. Works well. Now the extender concentrates signal in one direction for longer range pickup, and also has an omni antenna for local wifi connection. The Netgear is being used to pick up an Optimum hot spot 1 mile away (sparse housing, mostly woods) and distribute it in the house. Without the Alfa antenna, disconnects were so frequent that the link didn't work for more than 15 minutes, but now can stream Netflix for an entire movie with no problem. Without this antenna, the Netgear extender always displayed a fair or weak signal (orange or red LED) but now always shows a strong signal (green led). It appears that the side with the word "Alfa" is the send/receive side. This antenna is very popular with RC airplane and helicopter enthusiasts and they always mount it on their controllers with the lettering facing the airplane.
Note: Modifications to the Netgear extender were needed to install an RP-SMA pigtail connector because it does not come with removable antennas.
Update:
Tested this on my desktop PC with a internal WIFI card by Gigabyte. The router in the next room, about 40 feet away with a wall full of bookcases in between. Connecting only to the 2.4Ghz router signal, using two 6dBi dipole dual band antennas, the signal strength was 66% and -60dBm with a speed test average of 70/35 Mbps down/up on a 100/35Mbps internet service. REPLACING ONLY ONE of the two dipole antennas with the Alpha antenna (I only have one) and facing the side with the "ALFA" print facing the router, the signal strength registers 99%, -40dBm with a speed test average of 78/35Mbps. So as you can see, there is over a 10% increase in download speed and the signal strength has increased by 50% and -20 dBi. Amazing for only using one antenna.
Tests with the antenna facing backwards (text away from router) showed a drop in performance. There is some back side leakage, so the farther away from the router the antenna is, the more pronounced the effect of using it backwards will be.
Compare those 2.4Ghz tests with using the same two dual band 6Dbi dipole antennas on the 5Ghz band and the speed tests are 115Mbps down, 35 to 40 Mbps up.
To do your own testing, download freeware program "vistumbler" by Andrew Calcutt. It will list all wifi's in the area and their % and dBm ratings, as well as the mac addy, channel, authentication, and encryption. Very useful for testing antennas.
As you can see,
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Reviews with images
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There isnt many reviews here of people using it for internet. Mostly for drones. I wasnt expecting much, and honestly didnt care less that it was a 7dbi as opposed to a snub stock antennae thats 4-5 dbi. I wanted directional antennae and it certainly is. I am betting that 90% of the 2 stars and under dont understand how directional works. My transmission bout is about 200 feet away from where I wanted this to work. I was receiving a -60 dbi signal with the stock antennae. Workable, but not great and more or less just wanted to filter out interference (hence the directional). Plugging it right in and just ball parking the pointing I connected at -56 dbi. Ok cool, that boost comes from it being a direction and it being slightly stronger. Now I knew it worked so I pointed it a little bit more accurately and settled on -54 dbi. Now dbi works strangely, and you can read all about it other places lol. But short hand version it was a 2-3 dbi upgrade from my old antennae and I got a gain of 6 dbi on signal. That means its exactly what it says it is, a 7dbi antenna. It takes a bit of messing with pointing it for most applications, but it does exactly what it says it does....even the claim of up to 150% signal strength (I laughed at this but low and behold actually got it).The pics ive uploaded is a monitoring utility I use. My network is netgear83. Before and after shots. Youll also notice the list of networks has changed, confirming it is indeed directional.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2017
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2020
I am absolutely thrilled with this product. This is a quality well made antenna with great gain. The SMA port you attach this to will need to have the male pin inside, or you will need and SMA to RP-SMA coupling. The SMA on this product has the receptacle for the male pin, not the pin.. the pin needs to be on your equipment (hope this clears up any confusion) My drone came with no pin for the 5.8ghz FPV video feed, and a pin for 2.4ghz flight control. This is common to prevent antenna mixing. So by default this worked on my Hubsan605a controller for the 2.4ghz flight controller amtenna. This is soo nice they should consider making a 5.8ghz one as well if they dont already have one. Isometrics are imcluded on the back of the factory box
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Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2014
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2022
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2018
