Bad WiFi reception

Bad WiFi reception is one of the most common annoyances these days. Especially in residential areas where every house has at least 1 access point and each family is working hard to fill the ether with their own signals. A quick fix can solve this problem relatively easy by using an empty beer can (a soda can also works).

The aluminum of an empty beer can enhance the WiFi-signal significantly. You could buy an expensive repeater, but a beer can is immensely cheaper (and is more fun to get too). Our good friend youtube shows us this instructional video.

Step by step

1. Go to the supermarket
2. Buy (at least) 1 can of beer (a premium brand will do better than some random cheap brand)
3. Empty the can (don’t throw the beer in the sink at all times! Drinking is the preferred method!)
4. Clean the inside of the can by flushing it with some water
5. you will need a knife or scissors to open up the can and some material to fix the empty can to your router
6. Remove the lid, used to open the can
7. Cut off the bottom of the can
8. Cut off the top of the can, leaving a small piece near the old drinking opening
9. Cut the can from top to bottom at the opposite side from the drinking opening
10. Carefully bend the metal so it (sort of) looks like a satellite dish
11. Place the brand new dish shaped beer can on your access point, by sticking the antenna through the old drinking opening
12. Fix the “dish” so it doesn’t fall off

This little trick should enhance the signal strength by a factor 2 or 3. This only works for access points equipped with an external antenna. For antenna-less models you could try creating a somewhat larger dish and placing the whole access point on the bigger dish, but I don’t guarantee this works. You could for example use a keg, but I doubt that you can cut it by using scissors 😉