Hawking USB Wireless Dish Adapter review

Poor wireless reception is a frustrating problem. If it's just one PC that's having trouble, you need to address that computer rather than the entire network, which is where Hawking's USB Wireless Dish Adapter can help.

This adaptor looks like the type of gadget that every 1960s Bond villain would need to take over the world. While wireless adaptors are never going to be attravailable, this is the by far the best-looking one we've seen. It works like a satellite dish, so the dish catches the wireless signal and improves reception. This WiFi adaptor has an 8dBi antenna, whereas the average adaptor ships with a 2dBi connector. It's a directional antenna, which means you have to point it towards your wireless router, amplifying that signal alone. The Wireless Dish has a row of LEDs on the front to show signal quality, so adjusting it for the best signal is easy.

Hawking provides the adaptor with its own client software, which has a signal strength meter. In practice, this is no easier or better than the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration utilities that is built into all versions of Windows XP with Service Pack 2.

In our tests, using a standard 54Mbit/s 802.11g wireless router, we measured throughput at 15.54Mbit/s at close range and 14.32Mbit/s at 10m. These figures are in line with what our Centrino notebook achieved. At 20m, where the notebook failed to work, we recorded throughput of 10.91Mbit/s, which is amazing. This adaptor will work well in houses where wireless reception is poor.

The Wireless Dish Adapter is great value and provides excellent throughput. If you suffer from poor wireless reception and want a USB adaptor, it is ideal. But if you have a wireless PC Card, replacing its aerial with Hawking's 7dBi Directional Antenna (£35 including VAT from www.morecomputers.co.uk) will do the same job for a slightly lower price.