It's been quite good for a few weeks, 2 or 3 bars. But suddenly it reverted to its old poor signal. My friend's NETGEAR is still hanging in a plastic back on the garage wall, on the other side of four brick walls.
How could it have been okay for a while?
The cheapest option seemed to be to buy a 5 or 7 dB high gain antenna. Worth a try. The 7 db just lost the signal altogether from the 3G unit. A borrowed 5 db of the same design did the same. I'm suspicious that despite assurances from several people, the gold pin is not reaching the new connection. The knurled wheel seems to be getting in the way of it going all the way in.
The signal type/frequency is correct for matching the router.
So, I borrowed a socking great external wall unit 50 or 60 cm long, and the wire seemed to make a more satisfactory connection.
all signal.
Is there anything glaringly obvious I'm missing, like having to chant some incantations over the bigger units?
I have an identical router to play around with, and even with it just 50 feet away, the 'better' aerials will kill the signal from that. Just totally bewildered.