Laptop hotspot signal booster (Cantenna)

[Paul123]

I'm thinking of buying a Cantenna wi-fi signal seeker/booster for use with my laptop while in ports of call making it easier to seek out and use hotspots for e-mailing and surfing the net free of charge. Does anyone have any experience of using this booster system and if so what system configuration and how was it? I understand that you need an external wi-fi card attached to the cantenna even if you already have an internal one in your laptop. Any comments?

[Cloud9 Bob]

I'm thinking of buying a Cantenna wi-fi signal seeker/booster for use with my laptop while in ports of call making it easier to seek out and use hotspots for e-mailing and surfing the net free of charge. Does anyone have any experience of using this booster system and if so what system configuration and how was it? I understand that you need an external wi-fi card attached to the cantenna even if you already have an internal one in your laptop. Any comments?

 

Unless you were going to sit on a balcony and search for hotspots, I would think the cantenna would be awfully cumbersome to lug off the ship, (as well as make you a center of attention). Internet cafe's only cost a couple of dollars an hour and won't bulk you down with equipment to carry while in port. Yes you would need a separate wireless card that accepts an external antenna. You could also look into this if your laptop is an older model:

 

http://www.hawkingtech.com/support/details.php?CatID=32&FamID=60&ProdID=219

 

It only has half the gain of a cantenna, but it's a lot less bulky.

[Paul123]

Unless you were going to sit on a balcony and search for hotspots, I would think the cantenna would be awfully cumbersome to lug off the ship, (as well as make you a center of attention). Internet cafe's only cost a couple of dollars an hour and won't bulk you down with equipment to carry while in port. Yes you would need a separate wireless card that accepts an external antenna. You could also look into this if your laptop is an older model:

 

http://www.hawkingtech.com/support/details.php?CatID=32&FamID=60&ProdID=219

 

It only has half the gain of a cantenna, but it's a lot less bulky.

 

Once again Cloud9 Bob thanks for the advise.