Best Long Range WiFi Antenna

So you’ve moved into your new place and are happy with all the internet equipment you have and suddenly you realise that your signal doesn’t reach all corners and the signal is just shy a few feet. Frustrating, but you don’t have to suddenly go out and buy another router. It could be a pricy affair – of course, that is your prerogative, but an easier option would be to buy the best long range wifi antenna, that would give a boost to your range and coverage without shelling out big bucks.

If you are looking to be connected to your home network even when you’re busy tinkering in the garage or when you’re over at your next door neighbour’s place, then you should consider getting a long range wifi antenna so that you always remain connected.

Why You Should Consider Buying The Best Long Range Wifi Antenna

They are great for:

How Does a Long Range Wifi Antenna Work

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To understand how a long range wifi antenna works, you should understand that your router is like a music system and your antennas the speaker system which broadcast your music. They help to give your network better coverage and range – the better ones you buy, the better music quality you will receive at a distance.

Different Types of Long Range Wifi Antennas

Directional Antennas:

Depending on how you set up your network, these are great for multi point systems or even simple point to point systems. To put it simply, if you want your signal to reach another location, this is what we would recommend you buy. This is great for large coverage distance, as they focus the signal in one particular direction. They however, don’t offer as wide a coverage area as Omni-directional antennas. In this category, you find flat panel, yagi and parabolic antennas.

Omni-Directional Antennas:

This is a base antenna that is great when you want one main signal to be broadcasted to devices such as your computers or wireless printers etc. However, we must point out if you only want to go from point to point, you should not get an Omni-directional antenna, and consider a directional one. These offer 360 degree coverage, so are great for smaller spaces like homes or small offices.

If you’re one of those people who want great connectivity without being glued to your router, you should consider buying the best long range wifi antenna from the list we will recommend below. You should check that your antenna have these features.

What Features Should A Long Range Wifi Antenna Have

Bigger is not necessarily better:

You determine what is more effective for you –the higher the dBi, the better your signal. However, the length and dBi determine what kind of coverage or signal strength you receive. An example would be of a 2 dBi which would be great for covering short ranges, whereas a 9 dBi antenna is great for longer distances. So what is better for you depends on what you want out of your antenna.

Dual band antenna:

Do you need an antenna that can work in both frequencies – 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

1. TP-Link EAP110-Outdoor Long Range WiFi Antenna

Best Long Range WiFi Antenna (Editor's Choice)

Sometimes simplicity is key to better connectivity. The TP-Link EAP110 Outdoor antenna is great if you’re looking for better coverage. It comes equipped with 300Mbps wifi and 2x2 MIMO technology which help to strengthen stable wireless coverage. It has two high gain omnidirectional antennas, which are reputed to really boost your coverage, even outdoors.

Of course, the BlueGadgetTooth team doesn’t blindly take anyone at their word when it comes to internet equipment, and decided to test it out for our reviews. This performed the best out of our list of best long range wifi antennas.

Performance

There were obstacles and walls between the router and the connected client, when we were standing in our garden. We could see that it was around 275 feet from our router, and we got a great strong signal. In fact, we kept testing the strength for another 200 feet before it became weak. In our eyes, this is a clear sure shot winner.

Now you don’t necessarily have to sit on the edge of your home to be connected, but it’s nice to know that no matter where you are in a 200 meter radius, you’re covered. Perhaps we could connectivity beyond that, but trespassing onto our neighbour’s property in the name of research wouldn’t have gone down well.

Installation

The installation process is fairly simple, with the easy mount design making it a breeze in installing it on any wall, and the design also allows it to seamlessly blend in with the surroundings. Of course, being an outdoors antenna means that it has to be waterproof in the event of any rains, thunderstorms and the like. We had fun throwing water just to see if it weathered our manmade storm, and it passed the test.

You can also do a lot more with the Auranet Management System. Manage your traffic, upgrade or reboot your network, monitor stats and more.

2. TP-Link TL-ANT2414A Outdoor Directional Antenna

TP-Link introduces another great contender for the title of best long range wifi antenna, and this comes very close. If you’re looking to get connectivity, even at large distances, like a mile away (all in perfect tested conditions), then this is your best bet.

Performance

You have so many options – from connecting it to your router if there is an existing antenna port, or even to simply act as a wireless bridge within your private network. If you are looking for an antenna that can extend your signal both indoors and outdoors, you can simply connect it to your router and voila – you’ve got signal where you didn’t before.

Installation

It is easy to mount on a wall or pole via the brackets. We wanted connectivity in our shed, which was a ways away from our router. Just because you like to tinker around the shed, while building things, doesn’t mean you have to lose out on being connected and knowing what’s happening with work or friends. This is a great antenna to pick up distant APs or signals.

Design

The design itself is simple and sleek, the white colour making it look classy, instead of being a black blot on your wall or surface. When we tested this out, we found that the throughput was improved, with us picking up the wireless signal from our house even from a distance of 300 feet.

3. Card King KW-3016N Long Range Indoor Outdoor WiFi Antenna

If you’re looking to get rid of dead spots and poor connectivity in your home, or you want connectivity to a building outdoors, like a shed or garage located at a distance from your main home, then this may be a good option. You don’t have to get another connection just to be connected when you’re 200+ feet away from your router. Most routers don’t beam their wireless signal to cover large distances, but buying the Card King KS-3016N is a recommended option if you’re looking for the best long range wifi antenna.

The High gain antenna and the high power chipset really do give your network that much needed boost while CCA and MIMO technology give your signal stability, even over large distances. The 20 dBi antenna gives better and wider wifi coverage.

It is most definitely waterproof and can weather any storm, as we realised a day after we installed it, we had quite a torrential downpour.

Now we got super strong signal strength even in our workshop that was located 150 feet away from the router. You may need to install a few drivers before attaching it to your computer’s USB ports, but once you do, it should be quickly and easily recognized.

All in all, we had no hiccups with this product. In fact, we could now pick up over 100 APs whereas before we could only detect 15.

Final Words

It is not unusual for your router to fail in reaching all spots in your home. If you have recently moved into a bigger home, or have decided that you want to build something in your workshop over the weekends, or just want to be able to stay connected even when you’re far away from your router, you should get one of the best long range wifi antennas recommended in this guide.

Buying another AP, router or even getting another connection just to be connected hundreds of feet from your home should not be your first solution. Often, people overlook the power and importance of antennas and this is by far, the cheapest and best option when it comes to giving your home network that added boost for better coverage.