External Antennas>Do I need 3 antennas?

[222fbj]

I have a TPlink TL-WR1043ND on order... it has 3 antennas/ports. I will be moving the antennas 1meter away from the router so I can keep the router/wiring hidden, and put the antenna in a location (above my desk)that I hope will help solve some improve some weak signal spots.

What antenna(s) do I need? The TPLink TL-ANT2403N "3dbi" seems like a logical choice. Or, how about the ANT2408C "8dbi"?

btw - are '3 antenna' routers designed for 'one per (xyx) axis' ?

thanks

 

[stevech]

The 3 antennas are for "MIMO" which is, essentially, transmitting/receiving on antennas separated in space and transmissions separated in time, to try to correct for fading signals due to non-line-of-sight and things moving.

That one meter of coax to move the antennas - 2.4 and more so 5.8GHz are very high frequencies. Coaxial cables at 1m need to be "thick", meaning low loss, where "thick" is 3/8 inch or more in diameter. If you use some cheap skinny coax, like 1/8th inch, the attenuation/losses in the coax, short though they be, are considerable.

I would not move the antennas via coax. I'd reposition the router. Even put it a long distance from the modem, connected by cat5. Put the WIFi router out of sight on top of a book case with something for visual camouflage, or some such.

If you can't do this, then the cure for weak signal spots is to add an Access Point (AP) - which can be a re-purposed old WiFi router. Lots of how-to's on that here in the forum. Connect the AP to the router via cat5 cable if possible, else via HomePlug or MoCA (see that forum).