BearExtender n3 grabs WiFi from afar

We've seen a few WiFi extenders in our day, but the BearExtender n3 has a few critical advantages over the rest: it's cheap, effective, and, uh, legal. The $45 external WiFi adapter for Macs was developed by Roland Saekow, a Berkeley grad who wanted access to the campus "Airbears" network from wherever he was -- and it seems to do the trick, as TUAW's informal testing revealed stronger signals and higher throughput when using the BearExtender over internal WiFI. Sure, it's a little bulky, but that just makes you look hardcore, right?

[rederikus Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:04PM]

What's a Mac?

[One Love Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:47PM]

@rederikus: "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun."

[rederikus Posted Jan 18th 2010 2:07PM]

@One Love

Thanks, I KNEW it was not a computer.

Interestingly the fanboiz have downranked my comment.

[zangetsu2 Posted Jan 18th 2010 2:44PM]

@rederikus
Not just the fanboys. I'm a PC. And I downranked you.

[letstakeawalk Posted Jan 18th 2010 2:50PM]

@rederikus

The original "Macs":

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/

(all in fun...)

[Happy Owl Posted Jan 18th 2010 3:07PM]

@rederikus

A "Mac" is a special type of idiot detector. If the target replies "What is a Mac?" the device makes a note that it has found an idiot.

[manofchao5 Posted Jan 18th 2010 8:03PM]

wow for once the people with windows get the short end of the stick i dont mind but i dont like
i actually hit the source page and i was hoping to see how much it costs
oh well when he gets enough sales he might port for windows

[It Prints Money Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:05PM]

That'll make my MacBook look like a Zack Morris cell phone.

[SeanR Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:11PM]

@fatslug But the article said it seems to actually work...

[MoonWalkerCTE Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:12PM]

@fatslug

Talk for yourself

[LanMark Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:17PM]

Not surprised that someone came out with this for Macs.. they always have terrible internal antennas.

[Trevor Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:17PM]

As mentioned on TUAW comments, it is not an extender. It is a USB WiFi device that substitutes for the MAC built in WiFi. It is more powerful with a larger antenna, but that does not make it an extender. This distinction may be lost of it's target market however.

[trevr Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:26PM]

@Trevor

so YOU'RE the one who beat me to our name! do you know what life's been like for me missing an "o"????

[garydahlsoldyouarockfor395 Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:55PM]

@trevr

Yeah, I feel your pain .. "Bob" was taken when I signed up, so I settled for this one.

[Trevor Posted Jan 18th 2010 4:59PM]

@trevr

Could be worse. I've been to some places where our name is pronounced "Treva" or even more commonly "Travis".

Yeah, that's not the same name people!

And don't call me Surely...

[kozjegyzo Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:18PM]

Cool, wouldn't mind something like this for PC as well...

[The Dead Marxist Trio Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:29PM]

@kozjegyzo http://www.hfield.com/the-wi-fire/

It only does wireless G, but it does let you get networks further away than normal, even compared pci solutions that aren't stuck inside the case.

Does this bearextender do wireless n?

[gonzalo Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:22PM]

i need something like that for my touch, without the usb, just a extender. it does exist?

[Myst3ry Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:26PM]

Is that a BearExtender n3 you've got there?... or are you just happy to see me? ;)

[pk Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:26PM]

Berkeley FTW

[Zatx Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:31PM]

Oh man.. did Engadget miss that Bearextenders stole their logo? Normally they are all over this kind of thing!

[Zatx Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:33PM]

http://www.bearextender.com/rw_common/themes/bearextender_v2/images/header.png

[John H Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:48PM]

GO BEARS!!

[xconan Posted Jan 18th 2010 4:14PM]

bruins??? better yet go trojans

[John H Posted Jan 18th 2010 6:37PM]

@xconan

UCLA ripped off Cal's colors, mascot, and fight song almost verbatim in all 3 cases. And not that Cal's football season was particularly great this year, but USC had a HORRENDOUS season which probably won't be much better next year now that Pete Carroll is leaving to go (back) to the NFL.

So like I said, GO BEARS!!

[James Posted Jan 19th 2010 12:47AM]

@John H

Go Cougs...I know we suck at sports.

[Brokinarrow Posted Jan 19th 2010 11:12AM]

@John H Daaa bears

[RCAQ Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:55PM]

Such a beautiful "thing" - oh, well -
who the heck would carry around a huge bearextender ?

anyway, Chuck Norris can grab your WiFi signals while sitting in South Korea...^^

[chodaboy19 Posted Jan 18th 2010 2:30PM]

What campus is that? CU?

[zangetsu2 Posted Jan 18th 2010 2:47PM]

@chodaboy19
Berkeley, on the north side of Memorial Glade.

[WC066 Posted Jan 18th 2010 2:35PM]

And that girl is cute!

[enex Posted Jan 18th 2010 5:45PM]

@WC066

dude she looks 12 years old

[HotDog Posted Jan 18th 2010 5:49PM]

@WC066

Gesshhh, no need to wet your pants.

[badbob001 Posted Jan 18th 2010 11:06PM]

@WC066 Here is another photo of her:
http://www.bearextender.com/files/bearextendern3-memorial-glade-ucberkeley.jpg

[possum5 Posted Jan 18th 2010 2:49PM]

there is something vaugely phallic about the girl looking at the unit in the upright position in her lap with a huge grin on her face as she reaches for it with both hands...

[possum5 Posted Jan 18th 2010 2:56PM]

@possum5
in my defense they used the word hardcore so that may be what tripped my brain into that mode...

[macslut Posted Jan 18th 2010 3:07PM]

I have one of these and it works really well. It's a lot smaller than it looks in the photo (small girl with 13" MacBook). It's incredibly easy to use. I carry it in my bag and have been really impressed with with its ability to get good connections when I couldn't even see the hotspot on my Mac or PC. It's saved me $$$ and time by allowing me to connect to open hotspots and not having to relocate to do so...like when I'm on my boat.

I highly recommend this product for anyone who would benefit from more range...however take this with a grain of salt that I haven't tried any other competitive products, just the built in wifi on my Macs, PCs, and phones.

And yes, it's not an extender, it's a full USB driven wifi device which also means it would work with a computer that didn't have built-in wifi or where the built-in wifi was broken.

One real bummer about the device is that there's no way of setting the MAC address on it. This sucks in multiple ways. One, you can't use your iPhone's MAC to connect with this at Starbucks for free and more legitimately, you might find yourself paying to connect somewhere and then realizing you need to use this device for a better connection, and being forced to pay again to do so since the network sees you as a new computer because of the different MAC.

[Philip Han Posted Jan 18th 2010 4:28PM]

@macslut You must have some faulty Network settings my friend.

If you have AT&T DSL at home then you can just login on to AT&T wifi networks for free.

[macslut Posted Jan 18th 2010 11:30PM]

@Philip Han

"You must have some faulty Network settings my friend."

I'm not sure why you say that. I get good connectivity with my MacBook Pro and my other computers. However with the BearExtender n3, I'm getting phenomenal connectivity, often connecting just fine when I'm in a room full of people telling me that there's no wifi around.

"If you have AT&T DSL at home then you can just login on to AT&T wifi networks for free."

I don't because other than that particular feature, AT&T DSL really sucks compared to other options in my area. However, with the n3, I can be out on my boat and be connected to a Starbucks, except for the fact that I can't spoof the MAC address to that of my iPhone.

[3studiog Posted Jan 18th 2010 4:27PM]

best solution ever is to break urself out of jail & tether via BT or USB.

[Philip Han Posted Jan 18th 2010 4:31PM]

Just in case anybody cares... I bought a WiFi adapter called "Alfa AWUS036H" which is 1000mW and comes with a 9dBi antenna for $35 on Amazon from DBROTH who I think is the guy and company Rokland mentioned in this article.

For all I care, $35 is cheaper, the Alfa more powerful but it probably looks a bit uglier...

[Peteman100 Posted Jan 18th 2010 5:41PM]

Go Bears!

[d3sc3nd3ncy Posted Jan 18th 2010 5:51PM]

It looks happy to see her.

[MrLinux Posted Jan 18th 2010 7:30PM]

I swear that thick antenna makes it look like the MAC is giving everyone the finger..

[Mr Blurrycam Posted Jan 18th 2010 7:51PM]

Doubles as a dildo.

[zilla Posted Jan 18th 2010 8:00PM]

What would be the PC laptop equivalent to this BearExtender?

[colinet Posted Jan 18th 2010 11:47PM]

I bought one because neither the top Netgear or an Apple Time Capsule would give as much as one bar in my office which is a massive 40 feet from my house. Now got a full 5 bars. It's brilliant - got it set up on my old dual G5 powermac to extend the network to my dual quad core power mac and macbook pro.
5 stars for 5 bars!!

[Lowest Ranks Posted Jan 19th 2010 12:15AM]

she's seems happy to see that long, black rod

[yrag Posted Jan 19th 2010 3:06AM]

To Philip Han:

Thanks for the tip man!

[bobAcrossThePond Posted Jan 19th 2010 4:23AM]

Alfa AWUS050NH Wireless USB High-Power Adapter 802.11N
with a 14dbi aerial

£25.96

plus 'yum -y install macchanger'