NextG USB-Yagi Plug & Play 11N Long Range WiFi antenna 2200mW

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Price: $124.95 $99.95   

Product Feature

• 2200mW High Power Adjustable Output NextG USB-Yagi WiFi antenna *STRONGEST IN THE MARKT*
• Pull in WiFi signals from the neighborhood and across the street
• Supports Windows 7, VISTA, XP, Linux and Apple MAC OS X 10.5 10.6 10.7 LiON
• Compliant to IEEE 802.11b/g and the latest 802.11n MAX High Speed 300Mbps
• For Linux Users: Tested Monitoring and Injection Mode on Ubuntu 9.04

Product Description

The 007GTi NextG USB-Yagi antenna is designed to connect your desktop computer or laptop easily to any Wireless-B or Wireless-G or Wireless-N network via a USB connection. The award winning TurboTenna Hi-Gain Antenna technology extends the wireless connection up to 4km in an open field. The 18dBi Directional Yagi antenna is driven by the new USB WiFi power amplifier that provides more distance and better speeds than other wireless adapters in the market. This handy antenna delivers a remarkable 2200mW horse power at a top speed of 300Mbps. It works within minutes. Simply plug in the USB cable of the NextG USB-Yagi antenna to the laptop or desktop PC and follow a few simple clicks for CD-ROM driver installation - there is absolutely no need to worry about the cable compatibility issue. Simply faster and more powerful!

NextG USB-Yagi Plug & Play 11N Long Range WiFi antenna 2200mW Review

Let me start by saying that you will simply not find a better higher-gain WiFi antenna at this price. This antenna has so much gain that it is mind-boggling. Like all Yagis, it is highly directional and will 'listen' where you point it. Where I live, my old laptop can pick up 1-3 networks, while my new laptop can pick up 5-6. With this antenna, I can get close to 30 (all at once). If I rotate the antenna around, I will get 30 more in a different direction. Your reception will be roughly line-of-sight. I happen to live where I am surrounded by trees, so it is difficult to 'see out' to neighboring buildings. But, signals bounce off of buildings and objects, so even if you can't see your target, you might find the signal in some random 'hot-spot' reflection point. Of course, this takes a lot of trial & error. And although I have the antenna mounted on my roof, I could still get over 20 networks through the wall while the antenna was hooked up inside.

The antenna itself has a bit of a home-brew feel to it. As one previous reviewer put it, one could probably make one themselves; however, you will never be able to build and tune a system like this for the price that they are asking. It looks somewhat weatherproof, but the USB connection is exposed, so I would not leave it out in the rain. The tripod that comes with it is a little too small; however, I think some of the reviewers are failing to realize that the legs of the tripod extend out an additional segment. This makes it work much better! I am happy that a standard camera tripod mount was used - this lets the user mount it to any standard tripod or camera mount.

The software/driver for this antenna (from Ralink) is not the strongest. The problems will differ depending on your operating system. One irritating thing about the built-in 'site survey' function is that it does not identify the sites with no security. However, if you are using Windows 7, that feature is built in. With XP you are out of luck. Another irritating thing is that the 'site survey' window keeps refreshing as you are searching for a particular site. Every time it refreshes, you lose your place and have to start over. A minor annoyance, but when you are searching for a particular site's signal, it can get frustrating. **update** - get the latest driver from the website - it has a much improved user interface!

I tried this antenna with several different computers:

(1) Old Dell Laptop running XP with USB 1.1: Would never recognize the antenna no matter what I did. This device probably doesn't work with USB 1.1.
(2) Dual-Core Dell Laptop running XP with USB 2.0: Worked perfect. Just hard find the nonsecure sites.
(3) Brand new Sandy Bridge desktop running Windows 7: USB 3.0 ports won't work with this (even though they are supposed to be backward compatible) but USB 2.0 ports will. Windows 7 makes it easy to find the nonsecure sites.

I am currently running this antenna on my roof, using two 30-foot powered USB cables connected in series. By my math, this should not work. If the antenna truly transmits 2.2 watts, it should draw approximately 5 watts total (even the best amplifiers are only ~50% efficient). Each powered USB cable uses a couple of watts as well, so I should be drawing close to 10-12 watts with this setup. But a USB port can only supply 0.5 amps, which at 5 volts translates to about 2.5 watts total. Because of this, I bought a powered USB hub to power the antenna and cables and take the stress off of my desktop's USB port. However, when I run the antenna off of the powered USB hub, it cycles back and forth between connecting and disconnecting, making it totally useless. I bought a particularly expensive USB hub in hopes that I would not have weird problems like this, but it could be that a different hub would produce a different result. All I know is that I am currently powering the antenna and two active cables on my desktop's USB port, and I am afraid that my USB port will soon kick the bucket under this load. Having said that, it is certainly working fine as-is.

In a related point, the USB extension cable that came with it was causing all kinds of problems. If you bought one and are having connectivity issues, I would advise to first change the USB cable, because the one they shipped with mine wasn't working correctly.

In short, this antenna is just great and the problems that I am having with it are very very minor.

** UPDATE ** So, after a few days of use, I have been having a lot of connectivity issues: active connections will suddenly be disconnected, it will have a hard time connecting to signals that are strong, and I often get the message that the "wifi card needs to be re-inserted." The reason? It is getting too hot. The 100 degree weather isn't helping any, but there is a design issue here that causes the antenna to overheat. In short, this antenna is a USB wifi card that is wired to the yagi. Well, the USB portion, which contains all of the circuitry, is wrapped in heat-shrink tape - which covers the ventilation holes. Consequently, the circuitry gets hot and causes all of the connectivity problems that I just described.

So here are some solutions, all of which probably void the warranty:

#1. Basic: remove the heat-shrink tape. Take a knife and cut it off. After doing so, you will uncover some of the ventilation holes that were originally designed into the USB component. This by itself may solve the problem.

#2. For the adventurous: Using a small blade screwdriver or knife, CAREFULLY pry apart the plastic covering on the USB component. This will expose the circuit inside. You might loosely reassemble the plastic pieces in a way that leave a gap, or drill holes in them to increase airflow.

#3. For the real DIY nerd: Upon removing the plastic cover of the USB component, find the largest surface-mount component on the board (has an 'Ralink" logo on it). This is what is generating all of the heat. Using heat sink ADHESIVE, glue a small heat sink on top of the chip. I had a tiny one from a motherboard, but it might be hard to find anything that small. One solution is to use the heatsinks used for south bridge chipsets....search Amazon for 'XBOX heat sink' and you will find some self-adhesive miniature heat sinks that will fit right on this.

Might seem a little extreme, but after altering the USB component, the device became rock-solid stable.

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