Luxul's Pro-WAV 100 booster promises to whip your home WiFi into shape

Maybe we suck at WiFi, maybe the internet hates us, but for whatever reason we've always found our wireless home internet connection to be one of the most consistently unreliable aspects of our digital life. Luxul hopes to help with that with its new Pro-WAV 100, a ceiling-mounted signal booster that works with your existing router to extend coverage by a promised 400% or more. The device can apparently cover an area up to 10,000 square feet, using "patented WiFi signal boosting technology" and some "advanced circular polarity signal capability" called Clear-WAV. We're pretty sure they made that second one up in the press release just to sound fancy, and there's no word on price or availability, but we're intrigued.

[Via eHomeUpgrade]

[Tom Robertson @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:40AM]

Sounds too good to be true. I bet it doesn't work that effectively though...

[muzhik @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:18PM]

i have 2k sq ft home, my wifi router is on one side of the house, my lot is 9k sq ft, i have coverage all around my house/lot plus some of my neighbors use my wifi as well (share the love), so just get bigger antennas for your router and you should be "OK"

[Chris @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:45AM]

"We're pretty sure they made that second one up in the press release just to sound fancy,"

Engadget is critical of a product not made by Apple? Who would have thought. Maybe if it was called the iPro-WAV 100 you would have thought it was the greatest thing ever...

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:20PM]

In related news, retards who bring Apple into non-Apple topics generate a feedback loop of stupid.

[andres @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:30PM]

i assume a ground loop of stupid would just destroy the earth

[Chad @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:48AM]

Ever since I switched to a Buffalo router with a built in amplifier, I haven't had any problems with my home wi-fi.

[rcappo @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:49AM]

Will it whip my neighbor's wi-fi connection into shape? It looks like I need to run some power up to the attic...

[classicX @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:52AM]

Nice, but who wants that ugly thing on their ceiling?

[konshuss @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:12AM]

people who aren't queer eye for straight guy about their ceiling? people who aren't that put off by having a smoke detector?

[v3xx @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:17PM]

@konshuss

wow seriously, who looks at the roof all day.

[O2 @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:29PM]

@v3xx
Apparently, classicX does.

[Adam Moore @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:57AM]

Now what they need is to add a smoke detector to it and let it plug in to where a current smoke detector is to replace it. Wouldn't need to run power. They could even attach a light to it. And have it replace a ceiling light.

[SimonRichards @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:36AM]

Do people have smoke detectors on mains power? Everyone I know has ones that use 9v batteries. :-/

[CraigJ @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:49AM]

yes.

http://www.detectorsandalarms.com/wire-intype-2.aspx

[CrackedButter @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:57AM]

If it is cheap enough I wouldn't mind owning one. Sure the house is fully covered with no problems but I live next door (literally with no space in between) to my Uni which doesn't have wifi. It would be great if it could penetrate all those walls so I can study in the library without having to run home or use the dirty slow uni computers while researching.

[Chad @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:19AM]

Get an amplified Buffalo router and put a fat antenna on it. I use my wifi a few hundred meters away through two buildings no problem. Total cost, about $150 USD.

[Randy @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:44AM]

Assuming you're using a router with a removable antenna, Use a "Can-tenna". ThinkGeek sells them or you could make your own.

[WIll @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:04AM]

Man the guys at Engadget must have big houses... My place is a good size (3 floors) and my linksys/cisco router covers the whole place plus the garage with no issues; and the router is in the basement.

[David @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:08AM]

These have been available for nearly 6 months. I just installed the Pro-Wav 200 in a commercial environment and it works fairly well, but not well enough for the price (considering it is just an amp and and antenna, NO router or AP)
http://www.wirelessnetworkproducts.com/index.asp?PageAction=PRODSEARCH&txtSearch=pro-wav&btnSearch=GO&Page=1

[Mike @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:19AM]

You guys realize that 10000 square feet is only a circle of with a radius of 57 feet. My wireless router is about 40 feet from my computer as it is.

[william @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:19PM]

Yep. Depressing. Isn't it? It's more like 56.4 feet radius but who's counting? (well , other than me :P )

[Jeff @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:45AM]

Luxul's AMP's are very powerful, but with out an AP or Bridge... these will be highly unstable if not unusable. I'm sure they would be fine for browsing the internet, but watching video's will cause you get caught in constant buffering modes or get dropped connections and then have to re-authenticate to your network. If you are wanting to increase your coverage in your home network, their AMP's and Antenna's are great (but expensive) and you can connect them to any access point that has removable antenna's. That is, provided you buy the correct cable connectors for your access point. We used to use Luxul and Renasis AMP's for WiFi installations in hotels, when I used to work for LodgeNet StayOnline (http://www.stayonline.net/). If you have a spare AP or Bridge that you wanna put in there, you will definitely see a difference. If not then you'll probably get really bad signal cross talk.

[THJ @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:07PM]

Haha, I'm running IT for a conference in a hotel that has Lodgenet. The WiFi is crap (then again, it is free wifi, so everyone and their cousin is on it), and the hotel has NO WIRED CONNECTIONS! So... instead of 15 laptops and 3 printers (two 4250s and a WCP 65) all networked together, I've got 1 laptop connected to 1 4250, and I'm playing wack-a-mole trying to keep the laptops from disconnecting from the hotel wifi. My users are not happy.

So, anyway, how 'bout dem Gophers?

[fischju @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:13PM]

Can I use this to more easily steal my neighbor's wifi? He was pissed after I uploaded DD-WRT firmware and boosted his antenna power so I could get a better signal.

[Tom @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:33PM]

Circular polarization is nothing new, and it certainly isn't made up. It just isn't used very often because the antennas are difficult to design and manufacture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_polarization

Most people here would probably be better served by a standalone Luxul amplifier, which takes whatever your AP puts out and amplifies it to the 1 watt legal limit. Considering most APs put out 100-200mW at most, this is a huge increase in power.

[phanbouy @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:19PM]

now whip it
into shape
shape it up
get straight
go forward
move ahead
try to detect it
it's not too late
to whip it
whip it good

[Idlemind @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:32PM]

...Smells like..... CANCER!

[andres @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:32PM]

citation needed

[linuxamp @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:54PM]

How can anyone "promise" a range increase? Aren't all signals subject to interference? What if I live under electrical cables, next to a power plant, and between an airport and radio station and the device is in a shielded server room while I'm trying to use WiFi in the kitchen. Can this thing still give me a promised 400% or more as promised? Then again if I had that much RF bombardment I think WiFi range is the least of my problems.