If you've got a poor signal, chances are you're either pretty far from the carrier tower or something is preventing you from getting a good signal where you would otherwise have good coverage. If you have a desktop system located on the floor underneath your desk, and your modem is located in a USB port on it - that is absolutely the worst place for signal. Extend the modem by using a USB extension cable and get it up in a window.

1. TOO FAR
A little background on how your aircard gets it's signal - it has a small internal antenna inside. Small is the key word here - it's not going to be sufficient to receive that great of a signal in low coverage areas. However, aircards have connectors where you can plug in external antennas. (Note that, while very rarely, some aircards do NOT have external antenna ports. If you're with Millenicom, you're unlikely to have one that doesn't!)

There are several types of external antennas that might help you; the type of antenna you might need depends on your situation.

• Directional antenna: This is a type of antenna that will focus the RF energy at a specific point or area that you aim it at. This is great if you are far away from your tower. (Our local EVDO expert, Jim_in_VA, has a post on his blog that outlines the different types of directional antennas. »evdotips.blogspot.com/20 ··· nas.html)


• Omni-directional antenna (or simply an Omni antenna): This is ideal if you will be constantly be moving from place-to-place - for example, if you're a semi-truck driver that would like internet on-the-go.

There are many places you can buy EVDO antennas.

»www.3gstore.com/ (has mostly omni antennas)
»www.wpsantennas.com/

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