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Boost a Weak 3G Modem Signal, With a Saucepan
modeca writes "Using only commonly available kitchen equipment this guy demonstrates the amazing powers of an ordinary metal pan to boost the 3G reception of his USB modem. It really seems to work, check the right hand side of the graph in the video."
It's not that crazy: cheap antenna boosting (for USB WiFi dongles, Bluetooth, and more) has been elevated to a fine art in New Zealand.
isn't it?
Who knew that tinfoil hats actually _boosted_ reception. It's a government conspiracy I tell you.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
a pantenna.
THL phish sticks
You can find plans for aluminum foil and cardboard reflectors in many places as well. Here's one now!
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/
They work great.
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
New Zeland appears to have been Slashdotted.
GENERATION 667: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation
I'm gonna buy up 10,000 of those pans and sell them on Ebay as a "Hi-tech USB modem booster" for $69.95. That is until IBM patents the pan.
Table-ized A.I.
Between my liking for my wife's prawn crackers and my need for a good 3G signal.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
It works so well that now I can get all the MacGyver episodes.
Table-ized A.I.
Isn't the real value here for wifi hijackers? Why park suspiciously outside the house/cafe with an open wifi node when you can snag it from out of sight?
Why not? I already have a GPS, mini binoculars, a radio scanner, a flash light, an external hard drive, a 20x zoom camera, multiple cables, a AAA/AA battery fast charger, batteries, a USB r/c flight sim controller (Realflight), a Logitec gamepad, a graphics tablet and a laptop in my backpack. I figure if I ever get into trouble and get searched the authorities will already think I'm some sort of hyper-nerd spy anyway. Heck if I didn't have to face the consequences it would be a laugh to catch a plane and cross into the US with my backpack just to see the look on TSA drone's face. Why not add a frypan to the mix? Now if only I could work out a way to fit a kitchen sink in my backpack.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
He is probably located in a wifi-dead spot where singals bouncing off various buildings/objects causes some of them to arrive out of phase and cancel out. By placing the antenna in a pan, the signals are only arriving (mostly) from one direction and the out-of-phase signals are being blocked.
No magic. Just math. He certainly isnt using the pan as a reflector which then would more accurately 'boost' the signal.
Yes, we do. It is akin to a full body version of the Jewish yamacha, which is lined with tinfoil of course.
*facepalm*
...TSA drone's face...
TSA personnel aren't drones. Drones have been much more effective.
THL phish sticks
I'm suspecting that the pot is shielding the modem from a nearby source of interference. There's probably 3G signal arriving from above (e.g., from a tower), and it will certainly be scattered by various objets d'home so that some signal will be available from the vertical. Since the modems typically have rancid selectivity, the source of interference doesn't even have to be in the 3G band -- it could be a Wi-Fi access point, microwave oven, or any number of other things.
I've seen stuff about people using woks and TV satellite dishes to boost signal power, so there's nothing surprising about saucepans doing it too. I'd be interested to see a comparison of these improvised devices with "proper" boosters. Would I be better off saving my money and just rigging up an old wok instead?
http://ihatehate.wordpress.com
I came accross the USB Wifi site by accident a couple years back. I recalled seeing the dim-sum scoops in the local chinese mini-mart up the road, so I went up and bought one (NZ$4.50), and leaned it behind my modem's wireless antenna, then went to my garage sleepout for guests, which previously was out of range. Using NetStumbler, I watched the graph while a friend adjusted the scoop in the house. It went up to a usable "Good/Excellant" signal.
I havent investigated why, but a wire mesh scoop seems better than a sold dish(Engineers will know I am sure).
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
I guarantee they'll be there for hours ignoring the hi-tech and working out the significance of the frying pan.
The approach works equally well with WiMax (clear.com). I am 5 miles from a tower, but get plenty of signal using a simple Al foil reflector. Boost was about 6 dBm.
In response to Verizon's "Map" ads, All AT&T 3G phones now come with a skillet. A new iPhone ad states: "Frying bacon and eggs for breakfast? There's an app for that"
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
...against all expectations on my USB modem using a metal bowl I had lying around (think of a paraboloid with a flat bottom). Boosted download speeds on 3 consecutive tests by 50% (with bowl over without). Also, 3 tests in a row with no bowl showed some variation, but didn't peak at the same speed as with the bowl. Whod've thunk it.
Spraying it down with Pam prevents the radio waves from sticking; worth at least 10 extra Mbps.
Try putting your slashdot rss feed in a pot.
Already knew about this sort of stuff.. Kids these days ..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Maybe the signal strength shown on his computer includes signals reflected from the pan back into the wifi modem.
Just to be sure, I watched the video again. The graph on his computer was measuring download speed in KB/s rather than actual signal strength. Although there's a correlation between the two, I'd tend to agree with the other posters who have postulated that the pot was more likely attenuating interfering signals rather than boosting the desired ones.
This ain't rocket surgery.
What is sad is the trolls and flamebaits have gotten so bad here that you would think that. Sigh...once upon a time Slashdot used to be home to the greatest trolls and flamers in the world bar none. We had guys that spent ages making very intricate and truly vulgar ASCII art, trolls that would go on for three or four pages before they got to the eating poop or incestuous sex, I mean you could really tell they put a lot of heart into it, you know?
Personally I blame digg and the chans. They have lowered the bar on trolling so badly that true artisans of the troll have left the hallowed halls for Slashdot for places where their malevolence and mischief will be appreciated, like working at Comcast, Goldman Sachs, or lobbying congress. It really is a shame, as another great art is slowly suffocated by the "dumbing down" of mass market appeal. The great trolls long past are looking down from under that great bridge in the sky and hanging their heads in shame. Truly a sad end for what was once a noble profession.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.