Hawking Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Dish Adapter - HWU8DD - Connect your Laptop or Desktop to your Home Wireless Network and the Internet with Ease!

Adapter improved my reception 3x's over my other external adapter. I'm running Windows XP 2 and occasionally the adapter needs resync'd with the computer. You have to pay attention that you don't overturn the antenna. It's better that you turn the unit rather than turning just the parabolic. The led's are helpful to give you a visual signal level The plastic is sorta cheap. If the unit is operating but does not receive simply take it apart and check that the little gold connector from the parabolic to the main board didn't fall off. If it does simply plug it back in.
 
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The product has high performance in receiving unsecured web sites while I'm working. The dish is parabolic and I moved it around to see if it actually changes the reception. It does! It's much better than the wireless antenna built into my laptop. The blue led's on the unit help to see your signal levels too. The entire unit is plastic and pretty well made. I left it on my dashboard in the sun for several days. Nothing major happened but the heat caused the dish not to turn. I would recommend you don't do this. The reception wasn't affected. Overall, I pick up signals from I could never reach before, some from several blocks away. The unit comes with software on CD. The instructions on the CD are much informative than the paper manual. Great value, great reception.
 
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My laptop's reception improved by a lot.
 
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This Wi-Fi adaptor works much better than my laptops built in wireless card. However, for the price I have used other much cheaper USB corded Wi-Fi adaptors that worked just as well.
 
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I have a wireless router in my den that my desktop computer is connected to. I use my laptop in the living room. The walls here are concrete so I got a very weak signal with the laptops built in wireless connection. I would get 1 or 2 bars and sometime I lost the signal altogether. Now I have 4 bars. The only problem was I had to disable the laptops wireless adaptor and had to just install the hawking driver. When I tried to install the full hawking software I could'nt get a connection so I let windows do it's thing.
 
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Works good, I like it!
 
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i can 2 more bars from signal compared to Linksys G.
 
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My wife and I are dry camping in the parking lot of a hospital in New Hampshire for 3 weeks while our son is undergoing a bone marrow transplant. The Hawking Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Dish Adapter is providing the only way for us to get internet access while inside the motor home far out in the parking lot. We just point it toward the hospital and we get a good strong signal. The performance is no different than whe we are inside the hospital on a wireless laptop in my son's room. This product has exceeded my expectations and I would highly recommend it. It works!!
 
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This little unit has the look of a Robbie The Robot accessory, but it works pretty well. It strengthened what previously had been an unusable "N" wireless signal from about 150 yds out. It also found & identified several other signals I never knew were out there. It was also pretty easy to set up. I'm satisfied with the purchase. Don't plan to use this item to grab a signal that can be broadcast by another wireless access point. I phoned Hawking's tech support center to see if this was possible. After 2 calls & a bit of a wait, I got a German sounding techie who just scoffed, did his best to make me feel like a rube & said it was "not possible."
 
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Got this to replace a long-range antenna for a desktop that just wasn't doing the job - trying to connect to wireless from the basement, two floors up and all the way to the back of the house. Plus, through plaster walls. Well, this little antenna did the trick. Strong signal, good reception, works like being next to the router. It even pulls in networks around the neighborhood. Highly recommend.
 
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The adapter seems to work OK. It is not very directional: I can rotate the dish 180 degrees with very little change in signal strength. Since gain is inversely related to angle, this means that the dish has only a minimal amount of gain. That's probably because the size of the dish is small compared to the wavelength of the WiFi signals. A bigger dish would have more gain and would work better. Also, the dish rotates only a little over 180 degrees, and if you position the base of the adapter so you can see the LED's, then the dish will be pointed toward you, plus or minus 90 degrees. (In other words, if the adapter is facing you, the dish can be aimed from "over your left shoulder" to "over your right shoulder.") That seems pretty dumb. Why would I want to be transmitting the WiFi signals through my body? Besides, won't my body will attenuate signals in that frequency range? It seems to me it would be much better if the dish's pivot range was 180 degrees AWAY FROM the LED's in the base, so I would be transmitting away from my body. Finally, the operating menu is too small, so it is often impossible to read all the information about the adapter one is connecting to. There's no way to maximize the menu, or to scroll. And there's no way to click on the "Signal Strength" column to sort the available connections in order of signal strength. Furthermore, there's no option to click to temporarily TURN OFF the connection, if you want to do so. In conclusion: disappointing gain, dumb physical design, and disappointing software; not what I expected from the Hawking brand. I can't help thinking I'd be better with a Pringles "cantenna."
 
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Main internet cable (Comcast) connection is on main floor (colonial home), we can easily get very good wireless connections from anywhere inside or outside the home, EXCEPT the basement, where it is dismal at best, (1.0 at its' worst up to 18 mbps at its' best). After reading recommendations & reviews, I purchased the Hawkins HWU8DD, expecting a half-way decent connection, at least good enough for the kids casual surfing. Was I wrong. The connection went all the way to 54.0 mbps. FYI: The main cable internet line goes through a computer with Vista and the one I hooked up the Hawkings to runs on XP. Set up was virtually painless and completed in less than 5 minutes. I am so impressed!
 
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The Hawking Dish Adapter was installed within ten minutes after I rececived it and worked perfectly. No problems what so ever. I was also pleased the way the product was packed and the short time it took to arrive. You did a good job. Thanks
 
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I live about 500ft from my father-in-law who has a wireless network(netgear 824 router). I was using a netgear wpn111 adapter on my pc. I had very poor signal and when it was on for a while it would get hot and quit. The Hawking has far better signal and stays connected all the time. Buy.com is also a great place to shop.
 
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The Hawking Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Dish Adapter was easy from start to finish. It was easy to install, easy to point and understand where the strongest wi-fi signal was (LEDs right on the device help to position the dish correctly) and easy to use. I plan to replace more of my PCI Wi-fi adapters which are receiving weak signls with this excellent tool!
 
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this unit increased my WIFI reception from 2 bars to 4 bars.
 
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number of connections of old x3 ! But many were very weak signals. But I would still recommend.
 
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It seems to improve the range by about 2X, small portable & light-weight -- also seems a little plasticy (cheap). SW was easy to install, decent user interface, overall - I'm ok w/ the purchase.
 
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This device works as advertised. Modern, quality, notebooks already have excellent duplex antennae, usually mounted around the frame of the screen. Where this shines is when connected to an older notebook without a WLAN or to a desktop needing to reach a weak signal. Much better than the usual USB device.
 
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I was not sure if something like this could actually work. But it dones! Just load the software and the wizard takes care of the rest! Improved the signal enough to save another DSL line. It paid for itself the first month.
 
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My mother has a house next to mine. I bought this to connect her older desktop computer to my wireless network. It was easy to set up, and it exceeded my signal strength expectations. It was a little more than I intended to pay, but it sure works great!
 
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I have an office in my garage. I live in a large home in the country and work from home. However, none of my 3 wireless networks were able to reach my garage office. I found myself facing the need to run yet another cable/network to the garage in order to access the internet. Instead, I tried this inexpensive product and gave it a try. Wow, what can I say. Was able to install the software and get online in around 10 minutes. Problem solved! I am writing this from my office now. Great solution for weak/no signal issues.
 
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this antenna didnt change anything with my wireless reception comparing with my laptop built in wlan card.
 
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we are two neighbors/friends who wanted to share an internet connection (we are students, and must save whenever we can) so one has the wireless router, but because we live in two separate apt. the signal was not too good; you couldn't watch streaming video smoothly and so on. So we got this antenna. The signal is better, that is true. How much better? about 25-30% according to download tests we run. On the other hand, it doesn't pick up more networks then the regular wireless adapters on our laptops, meaning it is not THAT much better. installation was pretty easy. one problem you may encounter is that if you detach the antenna and replug it to a different USB port, you might need to reinstall it again (as with many other USB products)
 
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Wi-fi is tough in our big old house. This adaptor works so well that I bought a second. Best of all, it looks like a prop left over from a sci-fi movie of the 50s.
 
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This wireless modem exceeded my expectations. Where my laptop's wireless modem/antennas received 2 signals, the Hawking modem received 8. The software was easy to install and configure and now I've got wireless access most everywhere I go.
 
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after do much research for a wifi usb adapter i am very satisfied the price was the lowest for a new unit i am using it from a motel to write this this was my first experience with a wifi away from home have used it from motel to motel and and at place where i borrowed some band with from neighbors while visiting easy to operated will pick up many types of routers just what this novis wanted a great toy
 
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The adaptor works better than the average wireless adaptor but the tweaking software doesn't work with vista. I had to go to Hawking's website to download the driver but it only makes the addaptor function with no way to adjust pointing as advertised.
 
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Positive: it really works. Negative: it is made out of plastic and feels like it can break easily. Overall: worth the small investment
 
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