wi-fi dongles

hi there
my laptop (lenovo g530) has an inbuilt wi-fi antenna, if i connect a wi-fi dongle to my laptop will i get a stronger signal than with the inbuilt antenna? I ask this because i currently use my neighbours wi-fi (with his consent, of course) and the signal strength is pretty poor, any advice on this would be appreciated
robbo26

 

It sounds like the in-built antenna is crap.

How far away is your neighbors AP?

 

thanks for the reply, my nieghbour lives over the road, about 30 meters away

 

I was gong to say run a network cable but that probably isn't doable.

Is the signal poor with the dongle?

 

i havn't got a dongle yet, i just wanted to know if i would get a stronger signal if i used one

 

You probably would. Make sure to buy one with a external antenna tho.

 

thanks pclover, i will try that

 

I have one of these CCrane Super USB WiFi Antenna 3 and it works great.

I do govt food surplus distributions for work and a few times a month find myself sitting in the truck for long periods of time between clients. The built-in antenna on my Samsung laptop can just barely pull in open wi-fi like from McDonalds, Starbucks, churches, etc. After I got one of the CCrane antennas the signals that were 1-2 bars are now 3-5 bars.

It is really an external wireless N adapter with a high gain antenna. Comes with a 15 ft USB cable (a 30 foot cable can be purchased as well).

This link is from CCrane, I did a search and found a place selling it for $69 a few months ago. http://www.ccrane.com/antennas/wifi-antennas/super-usb-wifi-antenna-3.aspx#.UChQXEJL5hE .

EDIT- looks like the cheapest price now is $90 on Amazon.

Sam

 

thanks scajjr, how much is $90 in £s

 

http://www.foreignexchange.org.uk/fx-rates/conversion/1/USD/GBP

 

cheers plodr, about 57 quid.