Boosting Wireless Internet Speeds?

[87RB30VL]

Ok so basically I live in a suburb that's bordering on the bush, i.e. the next suburb is in the scrubs so my phone and broadband reception isn't exactly good, but when I'm outside it's pretty decent and lets me play WoW, watch youtube at a decent speed etc, but inside it's absolutely shocking at the best of times.

Is there any way to boost usb dongle broadband? I've seen those Dongle Antennas you can buy, does anyone know if they are worth it? I've tried changing my settings to UMTS only, but half the time my broadband seems to change to all these random ones, like HSPDA, GSM or some crap, even though it's set just to UMTS.
I've also tried the "pot trick" where you put the dongle in a cooking pot to boost the speed, but it seems to make it more **** than not being in the pot lol. I also use a USB cable to try to stick the dongle in crazy positions for the best reception, but it rarely works. In our old house, which was closer to civilization, I got pretty good speeds, so I guess it could just be my area? My mobile has pretty dodgy reception, and both mobile and broadband are on Virgin.

According to SpeedTest.net, here's my results from inside the house with 1 bar of signal:

And this is outside, with 3 bars of reception on a fine, clear skied day:

So yeah, I'm not really keen on sitting outside all the time when I want to use the net, and I'd prefer to boost my speed from inside the house if I can.

Maybe I can run a cable up to the roof from inside my house, and attach it to the dongle so when I use the net, it's sticking out of the roof & that way I'll have good speeds inside the house

Or I could just get normal wired net....

 

[Trayner]

Have you got a tin or tiled roof ?

 

[wraith]

You might find being Virgin the reception isn't as good as say Telstra. You might be able to get an external antenna. Don't go changing settings because it sounds like you don't know what your doing if I'm honest.

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

You may have to get a proper wireless modem and run an external antenna. We have the Telstra one and because we have a tin roof the signal strength inside was pretty average. I put an external antenna on top of the roof and ran the cable down to the modem. High signal at all times now, but after 7pm the speed is slow because of all the net traffic. We live in a spot that has 3-4000 people but ony 100 ADLS slots in the exchange so we have to go wireless.

 

[87RB30VL]

Have you got a tin or tiled roof ?

We have a tiled roof.

You might find being Virgin the reception isn't as good as say Telstra. You might be able to get an external antenna. Don't go changing settings because it sounds like you don't know what your doing if I'm honest.

I know the basics with the settings, but there's not much I can really mess with, the settings for the dongle are pretty slim, only a few options really. Yeah I might look into the antennas while I'm at the shops today, anything that could possibly help reception would be good enough lol.

You may have to get a proper wireless modem and run an external antenna. We have the Telstra one and because we have a tin roof the signal strength inside was pretty average. I put an external antenna on top of the roof and ran the cable down to the modem. High signal at all times now, but after 7pm the speed is slow because of all the net traffic. We live in a spot that has 3-4000 people but ony 100 ADLS slots in the exchange so we have to go wireless.

Ah true, I'll look into that at the shops, too. I'd get wired internet, but it's too much of a hassle since we are only renting, and our lease is up soon and we don't know if we are staying or not. I guess if we choose to stay, we might have to ditch the dongle for better wireless.


Cheers for the replies!

 

[ephect]

Get urself an external antenna, we are using one at work for a 1person site, works well, and that is optus, as no other carrier gets reception out there unless u have ur tongue to the left and foot pointing right.

U'll find a good spot to use it in, when moving it around the room, generally next to a window.

 

[NV-MY-VT]

http://www.instructables.com/image/...irectional-antenna-fix-from-Aluminium-can.jpg

Combine that with a USB extension lead and you've got an full scale antenna.

 

[Full Spectrum]

I think your problem is Virgin. they like so many others use the optus network. you can't help but think to many eggs in the one basket.