quicky
Latest
The BearExtender n3 gives you more Wi-Fi range at a low cost
It's not often that I've come across a product that works perfectly, does exactly what it says it will, costs a lot less than its closest competitor and provides a real and salient difference in my computing experience. The US$44.97 BearExtender n3 does just that. Roland Saekow, a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, realized that the 'Airbears' campus network wasn't complete enough to allow students to connect from all parts of the large campus, so he developed an external Wi-Fi receiver that can boost the range of a standard Airport-equipped laptop by up to 200%. He partnered with Jason Opdyke of Rokland Technologies and brought his extender to market this past December. I was interested in taking a look, since my home network (comprised of a Time Capsule and several Airport Express units) still leaves a section of my house where I can't get a decent Wi-Fi signal, no matter what I try. I've been told that the only way to solve this is to run RJ-45 cable all around the outside of my house, and get a second router. Doing this would be ugly, inconvenient and expensive, so when I heard about the BearExtender n3, I had to find out if this would do the trick and vanquish my Wi-Fi-challenged rooms problem. Within ten minutes of opening the box I found that it did solve my issues, and in further testing I became even more impressed.
