Official blog of Chetan Thaker

In the new age of computer networking, the most basic things that people have switched to is Wireless internet (Wifi).

People say that once you get hooked on to Wifi, it is quite difficult to get off the addiction of trying to search for a wifi network around.

Now that I have moved to a new house (2 storeyed penthouse) in New Bombay, the very first thing I did after subscribing for an internet connection was to put together a Wireless access point.

I have bought quite a few gadgets that support wifi. The wifi-enabled devices at home I have are:
1. My Nokia E71
2. My Dell Latitude D620 laptop
3. Dad’s Lenovo C300 laptop
4. Mom’s Dell Latitude D620 laptop
5. My new gift to dad – A Blackberry 8520
6. Mom and sister’s iPod Touch 2G 8GB

The general problem with Internet connections these days are that the ISP guys pull a wire from outside the window and you are forced to keep your router/modem right next to it. i.e. No wifi connection throughout the house.

I searched quite a bit on the internet on extending the wireless signals right from stock additional antennaes, buying a new router to be added as an access point, upgrading my router firmware to DD-WRT or Tomato with a high amount of risk of bricking my router, etc.

I was in no mood to buy such expensive devices just to get the extra strength, so I thought of a DIY (Do It Yourself) method, which is EXTREMELY cheap, components can be found easily in the house, etc and WORKS wonders!

This DIY method for wifi booster DOES work, and the signal strength from the opposite corner of the house went up from 40% to 90%

The trick is to bounce off the wireless signals inside the house instead of letting the router send out signals out of the window (quite literally!)

Feel free to drop in your comments if you find it useful

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There are 2 parts to the Wifi booster. One is the reflector surface (wedding card with tin foil on it) and the other makes the parabolic shape (the template)

What you need:

1. Old wedding card

2. Glue

3. Pair of scissors and a cutter blade (be careful while handling)

4. The will to DIY!

The How-To:

Download the template by clicking on this link

Print it out (I prefer increasing the size to 200% of the original) – Make sure you do NOT mess up the aspect ratio of the image

Glue it to the back of a thin (flexible) cardboard (I prefer an old wedding invitation card)

Trim the cardboard

Cut out the slots pointed out

Glue tin foil to the back of the reflector surface (Aluminium foil) – Ask your mom, she should have some in stock in the kitchen. Keep it under the bed for a while to let it dry (I prefer 2 layers of tin foil)

Use more glue to stick the curve the reflector surface to the parabolic template