Router/AP Antennas

[dlockers]

Hi folks,

Multi external antennas on routers/APs - do they actually do anything? Should they be in a specific orientation to your needs/to each other?

 

[dlockers]

Multiple antennas are what allow multiple spatial streams / MIMO to work, in order to deliver higher throughput

Additionally you may also have separate antennas for sending vs receiving, to further split things up and allow more throughput

So do they all need to be pointing in the same orientation to be effective? Or is it a trade off/balance?

What?

You see the sticks that come out of the head of butterfly?

Yes and yes.

But it hugely depends on the antennas being used.

For example you've got omni-directional antennas which are required to be in a specific orientation, or you've got patch/sector antennas which have specific beamwidths.

Hmm... so I must read the manual .

 

[dlockers]

Just a TP Link Archer C80.

The reason I ask, is in the room next door, I have a plinth heater that has been whinging about poor WiFi. Literally just above it, is a TP Link Mesh booster. So, slightly annoyed it has two APs next door, I almost bunged the plinth heater up the garden.

However, I've tilted one of the antennas down towards the floor and it seems to connect perfectly now.

Myth busted!

(the physical experiment was carried out in parallel to this theoretical question thread).

 

[dlockers]

Thanks, great contributions to the thread.