How to extend home wifi signal using Coke Can for free (with realtime data log)

I'm living in a two storey house and I always have problem with my wireless connection whenever I'm working upstairs.There is a way we can enhance our home wireless router range with some small can coke hack. In this post I'll be sharing how to do this trick.

I will use the exact same location for my laptop for this purpose and will share the wireless reading from my machine. In Linux, we can see our wireless signal strength by using "watch" command. "watch" execute program periodically and will give output on the screen.By default it will give 2 sec return time interval. we can change this using command below .

watch --internal 0.5 cat /proc/net/wireless #returning 0.5 sec time interval

My home is using Netgear Wifi router and with this project,I'm using Aztech WL230USB Wireless card

Below are the things that you need to do this trick,

Figure 1: Item needed for this trick

1. A can
2. Scissor
3 .knife
4.Glove

Skill level : primary school :-)

Steps

1. Clean the can
2. Cut the bottom of the can

Figure 2 : Coke can without bottom

3. Cut 3/4 vertically from sideways on top of the can (make sure the can tio is facing upward)

4. Use scissor to cut the can. Stretch the can open

Figure 3 : Stretch the can

5. plug out the tip of the can
6. Install it to your modem.

Figure 4 : Install the can to your router

7. Check your machine and re direct the coke can to face the location that you want the range to be at . The final position of the router in my house is as below.