Draytek 2820n Wireless Range

mogli1990(OcUK) · 10 Sep 2010 at 20:27

Hi everyone

I have a Draytek 2820n that came with 3 x 3db (or maybe 2db) antennas. Draytek manufacture 5db antennas to extend the range of their routers. They sell a pack of 3 of these.

However, I've seen many 9db antennas (omni-directional like the Draytek and original ones).

Basically, do these 9db antennas really work and are they better than the 5db or even the original 3db ones? Does anybody have any experience of using these high-gain antennas?

I'd really like to replace the 3 antennas with 9db ones, but I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing first. (Basically my house is an old large one with thick, solid walls and my signal can't reach all areas of the house, it only gives a very weak signal in some areas which keeps dropping out, so I'd like these antennas just to solidify those boundary areas.)

Thanks!

kg648 · 10 Sep 2010 at 20:37

they work, but i must admit its not *that* much better.

And it is useless for large thick old houses

mogli1990(OcUK) · 10 Sep 2010 at 20:38

Thanks for your reply

Could you just let me know which router you had and which antennas you tried?

Thanks again!

Duke · 10 Sep 2010 at 20:56

I've swapped out the antennas on different makes and it does help a little but don't expect to double the range or anything. Generally I noticed it increased coverage by one bar in Windows.

Go for the 9dbi ones, just double check they fit. I'm pretty sure Draytek use the standard SMA connector.

RomeoS · 10 Sep 2010 at 21:02

Sometimes interference from other routers operating in the same channel can have adverse effects, have you tried using the built-in AP scanning feature to find a non-congested channel?

As for the 9db antenna's, going by past experience, I found them to give a small increase in range but nothing major if you have thick walls. Don't get me wrong, they do work but your mileage will vary.

mogli1990(OcUK) · 10 Sep 2010 at 21:04

Thanks for your replies guys

I think I'll go for the 9db ones in that case because I'm already getting 2-3 bars, at 27mbps, I just need it that bit more solid

Edit: Also I pinged the router 1000 times from the command line on the computer that has the weak reception and it returned the following:

Minimum: 0ms
Average: 2ms
Maximum: about 460ms

Total sent: 1000 packets
Total received: 996 packets
Total lost: 4 packets

So I'm guessing the connection is pretty stable, it just needs that bit more.