You are rigth, the areal is built in. But you can still improve the reception by putting the modem in the center of a parabolic dish. Use an 5m usb cable and put the modem in with waterprof protection of course. I increased the the signalstrength from 1 to 5 dots.
// Roland from Sweden
I've seen similar improvement.
I set up a small satellite dish on a microphone stand to allow
me scan an area at multiple heights for best reception areas.
I find that even a few inches in any direction can make a difference
when you're on the edge of service.
I've some pictures
here.
The cable goes through the attic into the office in the next room.
Total cable length is 6.8m with no problems.
I've gone from not being even able to use a Vodafone mobile handset
in most parts of the house to a reliable 200k+ link with this.
Once I had the best spot located, I actually replaced the USB modem
with a Nokia 6680 on the window frame in front.
It's less obtrusive in the house, and I
connect to it via bluetooth from the next room.
Sometimes it loses the link, and I put the dish back in front of it,
but once locked on, it tends to keep the signal.
Thanks to everyone for the advice and encouragement
I've found here over the last month. Without it, I might just
have given up on it!
NiallB (Ireland)
