Need to boost laptop WIFI

catbear

Hi guys, I wonder if you could help.
I travel a good deal abroad and a common problem I experience is hotels saying they have wifi but then it's usually down in the lobby or it's very weak which is very frustrating when you have work stuff you need to do without distraction or worrying that a weak signal won't allow email etc...

Is there any kind of handy laptop wifi booster, I've tried googling this but all I'm getting is stuff to extend the router range at home. My laptop works fine at home so it's not the problem.
It's a macbook pro btw.
Any help would be appreciated, plus I'm in dublin tomorrow so I can pick something up there if there anyone has any suggestions.

mordeith

The issue is at source so I doubt there's anything you can do.

ED E

Stay at better hotels.

catbear

mordeith wrote: »

The issue is at source so I doubt there's anything you can do.

Well very often their WiFi works fine in lobby but is patchy in the room so it's a range issue. I just want to boost my laptop range so i don't have to use uncomfortable lobbies for work.

Apogee

You could disable in the internal wifi on the laptop, and use an external USB wifi dongle with a decent antenna. You could also use a USB extension lead to re-position the wifi dongle for best reception.

Something like this or equivalent:
http://www.amazon.com/Alfa-Long-Range-Dual-Band-Wireless-External/dp/B00MX57AO4/ref=pd_sim_147_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=0AX7R5QX0DFNYWDCX6SW

or
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN722N-Wireless-Adapter-External/dp/B002SZEOLG

catbear

ED E wrote: »

Stay at better hotels.

Unfortunately the countries I travel in a hotel with any WiFi is a good hotel!

catbear

Apogee wrote: »

You could disable in the internal wifi on the laptop, and use an external USB wifi dongle with a decent antenna. You could also use a USB extension lead to re-position the wifi dongle for best reception.

Something like this or equivalent:
http://www.amazon.com/Alfa-Long-Range-Dual-Band-Wireless-External/dp/B00MX57AO4/ref=pd_sim_147_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=0AX7R5QX0DFNYWDCX6SW

or
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN722N-Wireless-Adapter-External/dp/B002SZEOLG

Thanks, that's helpful, I'll research these options.

Overheal

Apple's Airport Express is designed to do a lot of things, like act as a router; functionally you plug in to the ethernet port in your room and now you have a private access point. Not all hotel servers will permit it though, which in some cases is under scrutiny (Hotels in USA got a lot of FCC flak for not only blocking access point functions but actively dampening wifi signals not belonging to the hotel, including personal hotspots). As you said though sometimes that can't be avoided.

ASUS also has a similar option: http://www.amazon.com/802-11b-Portable-Wireless-Router-WL-330N/dp/B007GFYHPG/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1438382029&sr=1-2&keywords=asus+travel+router