The Wi-Fire from hField Technologies, Inc. is a compact, range-extending USB device that claims to enable you to access a wireless Internet connection from up to 1,000 feet away–three times the range of your internal wireless adapter. It’s priced at $59.00.
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It isn’t an extender, but a wifi card with an antenna. As in if your wifi card is broken, you can use this one instead.
Ok so it obviously doesn’t ‘extend’ the router range. If, to illustrate, the router broadcasts within a radius of 300′, then how, regardless of the size of the antennae, a device could ‘hear’ the signal at 1000′ ?!? My point is if the signal simply dissipates around 300′ from the router, what is to pickup further than that? But again, my comment may just help to show my misunderstanding of the wireless-radio technologies 😉
That all been said, I think I understand the claim, but receive it with a whole lot of doubts…
The confusion comes from the fact that an access point *doesn’t* broadcast within a “radius” – signal drops off over distance, and is eventually overwhelmed by other noise sources, but any distance metric is a function of the antennas on *both* ends. (Of course, try explaining that on a product box in a store…) The radius given is at best a “typical” value based on “average” laptop antennas. With a better antenna at either end (or both), you can get more range; in the extreme case, you run the risk of violating FCC restrictions on the frequency band 🙂
(Ooh, and it works with the linux zd1211rw driver; that alone may make it a good choice for hooking up a DVR at the far end of the house from the access point…)
I have the Wi-Fire and it’s a great long-range adapter! I originally bought it because I wanted to get free WiFi from my school’s network when I lived off campus about three blocks away…then I got one for my dad because he kept asking to borrow it when he traveled for business.
I have a Mac with OS X Leopard. I am a loyal Mac user and am happy to find a gadget that works well with Mac.
Great Success hField!