Wireless Router Signal Booster Spotlight: Hawking HSB1
There ay be moments when you find that your wireless router's performance does not fully suit your needs. You may want it to cover more distance or to provide a greater speed (remember, the wireless performance decreases with the distance from the router and with the number of obstacles the radio waves have to go through. For example, your signal strength and speed will always be greater at 3ft from the wireless router rather than 30ft away, separated by a concrete wall). This is where wireless router signal boosters come into play. Their role is to increase range and throughput of your wireless router, to boost their performance. Hawking HSB1 is a wireless router signal booster, which uses 500mV amplifiers with filters to not only increase the signal's range, but also the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiving end. Hawking states that their product, HSB1, raises the 2.4GHz router's broadcast signal by up to 20bB. The Hawking HSB1 is compatible with both 802.11b and 802.11g standards (however, you should be aware of the fact that Hawking HSB1 is not compatible with the older 5GHz 802.11a standard). It is a very easy to set up wireless router signal booster, as all you have to do is to connect it to the router's antenna and select the desired amplifier value (you can chose from three values: 100mW, 200mW or 500mW). In tests performed in the lab, the Hawking HSB1 wireless router signal booster managed to extend the router's emitting range with 25 feet. At a distance of 200ft, the speed of the wireless network was of about 14,5Mbs (up from 4Mbs measured without the booster). The router's broadcast signal was increased by 15dB at a distance of 100ft (it is indeed lower than the advertised value of 20dB, but it is a noticeable improvement nonetheless). The signal-to-noise level has also witnessed an important improvement, from 5dB to 21dB. The Hawking HSB1 wireless router signal booster was tested with routers belonging to three major manufacturers (Hawking, Linksys and Compex) and it showed similar improvements of the signal's qualities in all tests performed. The Hawking HSB1 wireless router signal booster comes together with everything you need to set it up in no time (the power adaptor, an 18 inch SMA antenna cable, as well as an adaptor for access points with TNC connectors). HSB1 is sold by its manufacturer with a two year warranty period, similar to other wireless networking hardware devices. This means that it is guaranteed to work perfectly for at least as long as your wireless router and adaptors. What comes as a surprise is the limited amount of information about its configuration and setting up that comes together with the wireless router signal booster. There is little information about this product on their website as well, but they have a phone support line open from 8AM to 5PM every weekday if you have any problems with this device. |
