Two Ways To Extend Wi-Fi RangeTwo Ways To Extend Wi-Fi Range

Hands-On: Netgear RangeMax 240

Installing Netgear’s RangeMax 240 equipment was fairly mundane -- it took all of the 20 minutes that Netgear claimed it would. However, getting all of the interoperability factors in line took significantly longer.

For example, the RangeMax 240 PC Card wouldn’t talk to my Belkin Wireless G Plus MIMO router, even though they both share some aspects of MIMO. On the other hand, the Belkin Wireless G Plus MIMO network interface card in a nearby desktop system refused to chat with the Netgear RangeMax 240 router. Nor would the Hawking Technologies USB dish I replaced it with or the integrated Intel Pro NIC in my Dell Inspiron laptop. In the end, only those systems that were wired to the router -- and my laptop, once the Netgear RangeMax 240 PC Card had been installed -- worked as they should.

But when it worked, RangeMax was quite impressive. The indicated transmission speed was 96Mbs with an occasional meander up to 108Mbs and the signal strength typically sat at the high 80 to low 90 percent range. One hundred feet posed no problem for communications. In fact, 150 feet was doable until my neighbor poked his head out of his house to ask what I was doing on his property.

Consequentially, however, the NetGear RangeMax 240 router and NIC could see my neighbor’s Apple network and my neighbor’s neighbor’s Linksys network as well. Of course, that also means those networks can see the RangeMax. Netgear provides both WPA and WEP security protocols and, given the range enhancement, this isn’t one of those times when you’d want to ignore setting up access protection. (It’s a simple process with the software installation wizards.)

Aside from interoperability issues with other brands, only one significant problem cropped up. The router defaulted to channel 6, which is the same one that my immediate neighbor uses. It’s a programmable setting but changing it to channel 1 (used by the Belkin gear the RangeMax replaced), crashed communications and they couldn’t be re-established until the channel value was reset to “Auto,”

Bottom Line

If you’re looking to firm up your network communications speed, Hawking Technologies’ High Gain USB Wireless-G Dish has its uses. Specifically, if your existing NIC has a stub antenna and is located in a difficult location, Hawking's dish will help.

Netgear’s RangeMax 240, on the other hand, is remarkable in every way that counts –speed and distance -- but it comes at a price. First and foremost, there’s little guarantee that it will be compatible with the 802.11n standard that is likely to be approved this year.

Then there’s a matter of expense. You’ll need to buy both the router and PC Card or NIC to get the system to work. And you certainly can’t afford to ignore security protocols once you open up your network to access form a greater distance.