Boost a Weak 3G Modem Signal, With a Saucepan

modeca writes "Using only commonly available kitchen equipment this guy demonstrates the amazing powers of an ordinary metal pan to boost the 3G reception of his USB modem. It really seems to work, check the right hand side of the graph in the video." It's not that crazy: cheap antenna boosting (for USB WiFi dongles, Bluetooth, and more) has been elevated to a fine art in New Zealand.

Hijacking advantage

[macraig]

Isn't the real value here for wifi hijackers? Why park suspiciously outside the house/cafe with an open wifi node when you can snag it from out of sight?

Most likely

[Tehrasha]

He is probably located in a wifi-dead spot where singals bouncing off various buildings/objects causes some of them to arrive out of phase and cancel out. By placing the antenna in a pan, the signals are only arriving (mostly) from one direction and the out-of-phase signals are being blocked.

No magic. Just math. He certainly isnt using the pan as a reflector which then would more accurately 'boost' the signal.

Re:what's going on?

[dtmos]

I'm suspecting that the pot is shielding the modem from a nearby source of interference. There's probably 3G signal arriving from above (e.g., from a tower), and it will certainly be scattered by various objets d'home so that some signal will be available from the vertical. Since the modems typically have rancid selectivity, the source of interference doesn't even have to be in the 3G band -- it could be a Wi-Fi access point, microwave oven, or any number of other things.

Pots and pans ain't nothing new...

[t0p]

I've seen stuff about people using woks [wonderhowto.com] and TV satellite dishes [instructables.com] to boost signal power, so there's nothing surprising about saucepans doing it too. I'd be interested to see a comparison of these improvised devices with "proper" boosters. Would I be better off saving my money and just rigging up an old wok instead?

Re:Moola!

[Tablizer]

Patent the pan before IBM does.

Do you really think *I* can compete with IBM's bribery power?
   

Well that worked....

[skimitar]

...against all expectations on my USB modem using a metal bowl I had lying around (think of a paraboloid with a flat bottom). Boosted download speeds on 3 consecutive tests by 50% (with bowl over without). Also, 3 tests in a row with no bowl showed some variation, but didn't peak at the same speed as with the bowl. Whod've thunk it.

Re:This is

[Anonymous Coward]

Is the hairyfeet name in reference to maybe a little bit of trollishness in your background?