Re: External antenna for N900?
 

Yeah you can always get repeaters but that;s a costly alternative.

Re: External antenna for N900?
 

Hah. In very strong signal areas - i.e. almost never - the performance is not hugely different, but in weak areas the N900 far outstrips my iDevices in terms of throughput, even without being clipped to a frying pan :p

As for the latest iDevice, I thought this was pretty funny
http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploa...enna-decal.jpg

Re: External antenna for N900?
 

I can imagine a phone cover that inductively couples with the internal antennas to provide cover mounted elements that protrude outward. Someone threw out a 4dbM gain requirement for coupling to matter, but if this coupling is to avoid hands absorbing signal, simply moving the effective surface of the antenna out from under your hand might be good enough to avoid this.

Re: External antenna for N900?
 

I bought and tried ion energy nanoguard chip (http://www.air-boom.com/nanoguard.htm) on the back of n900 cover. I didn't stick it just simply put my n900 on top of it. It did increase signal but not greatly. In my case up to 2 bars. I also compared the signal with or without nanoguard several times. Using it improve the signal slightly and the heat when using 3.5g internet was also reduced as advertised .

However, i decided not to put it on my n900. Why? It's quite ugly on the phone and thick (not like a thin signal booster sticker) and only work best on naked n900 without external casing. I happen to use otterbox casing, so it doesn't go along together well. If i use pouch maybe i will consider using it.

Re: External antenna for N900?
 

Aw man i used otterbox as well :(
Can't we put it on the inner part of the case? You know so that it won't make the phone too thick?
If you open the back case, there's rubber layer that can be removed, perhaps you could make a hole on that rubber layer and put the sticker in there?

btw do you know any other similar product like this?

Re: External antenna for N900?
 

Maybe it will fit if you remove the rubber in the middle by its width and length + make a square hole (quite big) but the risk of damaging the case is great. It may crack.

The safer way is to use pouch. Naked N900 + nanoguard will fit the pouch perfectly. However, the downside is N900 may look little bit ugly.

Alternative product would be signal booster sticker. This one is really thin as paper. You put it near the inner antenna of the phone. I did try this on my previous 5800 Express Music. It makes the phone hotter and hang/restart quite often. I wouldn't recommend this.

Re: External antenna for N900?
 

Thanks, but after some googling, i found out that signal booster stickers are apparently scam and don't work as they advertised

http://forums.mobiledia.com/topic13.html
http://www.helium.com/items/1185609-...gth-cell-phone

So i don't think it's really going to work, unless there are some major breakthrough.. but i doubt that. If it's that easy to boost signal Apple would have given these stickers instead of free case :D

Re: External antenna for N900?
 

Yea. It's called the placebo effect.

Re: External antenna for N900?
 

Not to mention it leaves some kind of residue mark when it is pulled off.
The real signal booster is the external outdoor antenna like yagi antenna for gsm modem. It can increase up to 35db or more. May be mobile phones should come with dual internal antenna to strengthen the signal

Re: External antenna for N900?
 

I am running into the same problem. My N900 picks no signal at all and I wonder how I can couple external antenna old fashioned way to it. I bought the Wilson DT Pro but no luck. at my location I tried external magnetic mount antenna with another phone I got three bars.