I’m trying to improve Wi-Fi to my PC upstairs and I’m not sure what kind of antenna I should be looking for.
Ethernet isn’t really an option because it’s my parents’ house and I’m definitely not drilling holes or running cable through walls.
The connection is super hit or miss. Sometimes I can get around 70–90 Mbps, sometimes it drops way lower, and I’m constantly moving the little antennas on the back of my PC just to make it usable.
Would “long range” antennas help here? Or should I be looking for better quality antennas, directional antennas, a bigger base, something else?
I don’t need perfect gigabit speeds. I just want the connection to stop being so annoying.
Antennas might help a little, but don’t expect miracles.
Before dropping cash on new antennas, it’s way smarter to mock everything up in a Wi-Fi planner first. You can use something like NetSpot’s Planning Mode to map out your house and swap different gear virtually. It lets you test different brands, switch between directional and omnidirectional models, and even play around with the tilt angles to see how the signal shifts. This matters because an antenna that works miracles in one house might be completely useless in yours. Testing these setups beforehand is the only real way to know if a new antenna will actually jump the gap between your basement router and your upstairs rig before you waste money on hardware.
Before buying random antennas, check if the house has coax outlets. If there’s cable TV wiring in the walls, MoCA adapters can be a way better solution. You use the existing coax as a wired backhaul and then put an access point upstairs. Powerline is another option, but it’s more hit or miss depending on the electrical wiring. MoCA is usually much more solid if the coax setup is usable.
@GoodAfternoon_sun I didn’t even think about coax. Honestly, I didn’t even know you could use coax like that.