BearExtender PC Long Range 802.11n USB WiFi Booster

BearExtender PC is a device that addresses the number one bane of wireless networking?weak or dropped signals. This device is a wireless signal booster (or extender), but unlike many wireless extenders on the market it works on the client side rather than with a Wi-Fi router.

It's a clever, little device though it has limitations: it only works on the 2.4 GHz band and it drops the connection when it's 100 feet away from the router. It works ideally at 50-100 feet away from the wireless router and at a price of $44.97, fits into most budgets.

What It Is
BearExtender is an 802.11n long-range wireless adapter that works with Windows. The device is based on the company's earlier BearExtender n3 adapter for Macs. BearExtender's genesis arises from ?University of Berkeley students' inability to connect to the campus' wireless network named "AirBears"?hence, the BearExtender name.

The adapter is a small, flattened device with a clip?it ?resembles a miniature access point. That clip is for attaching it to a netbook to laptop. I clipped it to an iPad and the grip was quite loose. The thinner the laptop, notebook, or any other wireless client, the looser BearExtender's grip. It's also not an ideal design to attach to smartphones, though I supposed someone with enough intent could manage.

Not only does BearExtender clip onto a laptop, but it connects via USB from the mini USB port on the device to a USB port on a laptop. If clipping a device which resembles a mini access point doesn't look odd enough, there's an approximately 8-inch long external 2 dBi gain antenna that screws onto the adapter. The antenna is designed in such a way as to bypass interference from a laptop's casing. The entire contraption is sure to elicit a few curious glances in public.

Users can upgrade to a 5 dBi antenna?which is the antenna I used for testing. BearExtender PC combines two proprietary receivers with a 700mW transmitter capable of theoretical throughput speeds of up to 150 Mbps.

Setup
A setup CD is included with the device. The CD contains installation options for Windows 7, Vista, and XP as well as user manuals. I clicked the install option for Windows 7.

A message appeared on-screen before the installation process began that instructed me to only install the Ralink WAN Utility for Windows driver and not the entire software package. Apparently, BearExtender uses Ralink's chipset. Installation was simple, and you are asked to install either the Ralink utility or only the driver during the setup process. Installing Ralink's entire utility could cause some potential conflict with Windows' native wireless management, so users are wisely advised to install only the driver.

The setup instructions advise installing the driver before connecting the extender to the laptop visa USB. Once I connected the USB cable, Windows detected the device right away. Users are further instructed to disable the laptop's built-in wireless adapter.

Next, you connect to your wireless network the way you normally would. I had my connection to the router set to connect automatically which remembers the passphrase. I had to re-enter my WLAN's password once I disabled the native wireless adapter on my laptop and connected to the signal using BearExtender.

BearExtender offers many resources for user assistance if help is needed during setup. The user manual is very well written and there's telephone as well as 24/7 email support.

Performance
I measured performance using two methods at various distances. The first was a rather informal test that noted the number of signal strength bars Windows 7 displayed as I moved away from the room? both before and when I had BearExtender connected. Second, I used Ixia's IxChariot benchmark testing suite to measure throughput with and without BearExtender.

The testing equipment included a HP Elitebook 8440w which uses a 3x3 Intel Centrino 6300 AGN wireless adapter, Netgear's N600 (WNDR3700) Dual-Band Gigabit router, and an HP Proliant ML300 G6 server running Windows 2008 R2 as a second testing endpoint for throughput.

Windows 7 reported a strong, 5 bar wireless signal up until I got to 50 feet away from the router room. Signal strength then dropped to four bars. ?I was down to 4 bars of wireless strength and crawling internet at 100 feet. Beyond 100 feet, I could no longer connect to the SSID.

With BearExtender, Windows 7 reported 5 solid signal bars up until 100 feet. At 100 feet, the signal wavered between 3 and 4 bars, but the signal persisted, albeit with a slow connection. I could still see and connect to my SSID at 150 feet, but Windows was down to 3 bars with and every time I attempted to connect, my connection dropped.

Here are the throughput results from testing with and without BearExtender:

Throughout did not significantly change until I was 75 feet away from the router. As the table shows, at 75 feet, the laptop's built-in wi-fi adapter barely has a connection to the router. That gets a nice boost with BearExtender PC. Although throughput speed is not overwhelming at 75 and particularly at 100 feet, BearExender does manage to lengthen the router's signal and keep the laptop connected to the wireless network. The network became unreachable at 150 feet.

Should You Buy BearExtender?
BearExtender PC can definitely help boost a wireless signal under a few specific conditions: you are only connecting at 2.4 GHz and your signal distance does not exceed 100 feet from a router. Any greater distance than that, are you may still be facing flaky connectivity?although admittedly, I test in a very high RF interference environment.

If it's critical that you boost a wireless signal in a much larger space, best bet is to go with a traditional booster that acts more as a repeater or consider a powerline product like the Editor's Choice winning Netgear Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (XAVB5001) which also extends a home network or Internet connection to dead zones (although not wirelessly).

The best use for BearExtender are smaller spaces with wireless clients that may just need a little extra boost to get wireless to that last bedroom down the hall or into the kitchen. The device's added bonuses are simple setup and affordability. BearExtender PC is a worthy 3 stars as a wireless extender.

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For more ways to boost wireless, check out "10 Ways to Boost Your Wireless Signal

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