Will this wifi booster work?

Question

can someone please tell me if this wifi booster will work. Also will it work with vista?

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-11g-Wireless-2-4G-WiFi-WI-FI-LAN-Internal-Antenna_W0QQitemZ150287397888QQihZ005QQcategoryZ45002QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Answer 1

That's not a booser/range-extender, it's just a USB wireless adapter.

Put your wireless router as high up as you can and as far from electrical and metal things as you can, that'll give you the best coverage.  Try to put it in the middle of where you expect to be (usually the middle of the house).  If you have 2.4GHz cordless phones you may want to replace them with 5.8GHz, 900MHz, or the new DECT6.0 phones that won't cause interference.  Also, wireless video senders, or wireless cameras that run on 2.4GHz should be set to the farthest channel from your router (e.g. set video sender to 1 or A and put the router on channel 11).  Channels 1, 6, and 11 are preferable because they don't "overlap" with each other.

A few routers support replacing the antennas with either directional or high-gain antennas, sometimes that works, sometimes not.  I've found it's usually hard to find out if the replacment antenna will be comptible though.

If you really need more range after positioning your router as best you can, some companies sell "WiFi Repeaters" that re-transmit the information stronger to boost the signal.  If you can run wires to (or near) the location where you have weak signal, get an "Access Point" or a router that can be configured as an access point (a second router would cause problems) and set it to the same SSID (name) and Encryption key (security) - then computers will pick whichever is strongest.

I suppose you could always try making one of these, it will decrease the range on one side but increase range wherever it's pointed.  I was able to get from 60 up to 85 percent in my basement.  For free...well ok, a sheet of cooking foil, some glue, and cardstock or photopaper...it's worth a try!

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/tem...

Even if it doesn't help, it sure looks cool :)

Answer 2

I doubt very well, its 10$ and off brand.  doesnt list vista as compatible, it is very outdated as it can only handle wep encryption...

Dont buy it.