NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.

Forum Discussion

Jeff919's avatar
Jeff919
Aspirant
Jul 06, 2021

LB1120 Strong Signal / Poor Speed

I get one bar and download speed of 1mps on the Netgear modem with nothing attached. Putting a booster and Yagi into system the bars jump to 5 and speed drops to .3 Mps. Help!
Thanks Jeff

3 Replies

  • Boosting a poor signal doesn't make it better. Its just amplifies a bad signal and can actually make it worse.

    Adding the Yagi antenna can help it get a better signal but I'd avoid the signal booster. 

    • Jeff919's avatar
      Jeff919
      Aspirant
      Understood. But what defines a “poor” signal other then signal strength and SNR? Are you saying the SNR gets worse using a booster. I would think no one would use them then. Just trying to understand. Thanks.
      • plemans's avatar
        plemans
        Guru

        Not sure how to explain it properly. Basically a booster or amplier just take a signal and increase the strength.If its amplifying a bad signal, it just makes a bad signal worse. 

        Its half the problem when people use things like wireless extenders and put them to far away. they still need to amplify a decent signal or they don't work. 

        Plus you can actually over amplify signals. For example, I've seen people using coax ampliers and over powering the signal. Then its out of spec and bad because its to powerful. 

        so you're kind of caught in a catch-22. You need better signal but amplifying a bad signal can sometimes make it worse. Which is why the antenna's are a good idea. they aren't boosting the signal itself but increasing what signal it does receive as well as what it can send back.