Wi-Fire by hField Technologies
Rating:
Price: $49.00
System Requirement(s):
» Windows 7, Vista, or XP
» Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5, or 10.4
» Linux (with kernel 2.6.24 and above)
Additional Requirement(s): USB 2.0 Port

Overview:
How many times have you tried taking your laptop outside the house (to the backyard, down the street, to neighbours, etc.) or went to the basement, only to find that your wireless signal is terribly weak or non-existent from that distance at all? The developers at hField Technologies have created a product, the Wi-Fire, which boasts to increase your wireless range up to 300m (1000 feet)!

Unboxing, Package Contents, and First Impressions:
The package contents consisted of the following items:
» English Installation Guide
» French Installation Guide
» Wi-Fire Connection Manager CD
» USB Cable
» Universal Mount
» Wi-Fire Wireless Adapter

Nothing really surprising was included with the product. It was nice to see that a separate manual for English and French were included. The actual product quality was acceptable; nothing special but nothing cheap either. First thing you notice right off the bat is that there is no 802.11n support (Wireless N) and this is because the Wi-Fire operates on a 2.4GHz frequency as opposed to 5GHz frequency. The Wi-Fire however claims to increase range on Wireless G, making it far superior than a Wireless N signal.

Specifications & Features:
As outlined by the developers:
» IEEE 802.11b/g
» 2.4GHz Frequency
» Channels 1-11 for North America
» Channels 1-14 for Rest of World
» Maximum Power of 27+ dBm
» Works with WEP, WPA, and WPA2
» 80 Grams» 102 x 14 (average) x 57 mm
» Range up to 300m or 1000 ft

Configuration & Setup:
Before you can use the physical product, you need to use the CD provided to install necessary drivers and files for your operating system. The software should auto run the setup, but if it does not, simply go to ‘My Computer’, go to your CD/DVD drive, and run the ‘autorun.exe’ application. You are then presented with the following screen. Click ‘Install Wi-Fire HFWFG200’ to proceed with the installation.

Simply follow the simple setup wizard and all the required files will be installed on your system.

Once you are done installing, you will notice a new icon in your system tray and a new shortcut on your desktop. Note: the icon in your system tray will automatically load on system boot.

Your computer now has all the required files to work with Wi-Fire but you still need to connect the USB cable to install the drivers required. Once you have plugged in the device with the USB cable provided, you will see that your drivers will automatically be installed.

If the Wi-Fire is not plugged in, you will see the following message which tells you it is not plugged in.

Check off the ‘Auto-Refresh’ option in the manager and you will see a list of wireless networks Wi-Fire has found. Once you let it scan for wireless networks in your area, you will have to click on the network you wish to connect to and then click connect. Otherwise, you will see ‘Not Connected’ in the manager. Note: if the network has a password, you will need to know that password to access it.

Once you are connected, you will see some detailed information on the network.

If you click on the ‘Advanced’ tab, you will see even more information.

Performance:
Here is a side-by-side comparison using my laptop’s built in wireless utility (not using the Wi-Fire) versus the Wi-Fire’s manager (with using the Wi-Fire). As you can see, the TP-Link signal is nowhere to be seen when I do not use the Wi-Fire. Note: I was about 8m away from the ‘Nincompoop’ SSID (my router) with one wall in between me and the router. Click the image to view full size.

Now I will perform a series of tests. I used the freeware utility ‘Wireless NetViewer’ to give me a clear view of what networks were found with and without using the Wi-Fire. I tested the product in the basement first for 500 seconds. I have the router setup on the second floor of the house, and the basement is two floors under. As you can clearly see below, using the Wi-Fire gave me a better average connection percentage.

I also did a speed test using Speedtest.net with and without the Wi-Fire plugged in. Once again, there was a noticeable difference in speed (upload and download) and ping time when using the Wi-Fire.

Next I tested to see how far I can acquire a signal from. First I tested the Wi-Fire at about ~300m (of course, accounting the house walls and such) I should theoretically get a signal (probably weak), but a signal nonetheless – according to the products claim of up to 300m range. The result without using the Wi-Fire (just my built in wireless card) was:

After I plugged in the Wi-Fire, I got the following:

Clearly my network, ‘Nincompoop’, was not on the list. I was not surprised, because it was kind of a stretch to get a wireless signal from that far. You have to keep in mind that there were houses, cars, trees, and other objects obstructing the signal, so this is understandable. So, now I tested the product at ~200m. The result without using the Wi-Fire (just my built in wireless card) was (click to view full size):

After I plugged in the Wi-Fire, I got the following (click to view full size):

Success! At ~200m away, I can pick up a respectable ~22% average signal. I was impressed to see the signal from this range. The Wi-Fire definitely deserves credit for making my Wireless G network accessible from a range that far.

Overall:
This product definitely surprised me. I can basically get a solid connection anywhere in or around my house without upgrading to a Wireless N router. There was a noticeable difference in performance when using the Wi-Fire over using only the built in wireless adapter that came with my laptop. If you find yourself in areas of the house that have weak signal, or if you are a student on campus in need of a strong wireless signal for internet, the Wi-Fire is a good investment to consider. Keep in mind that the Wi-Fire is a directional antenna. This means that if you adjust the direction it points to, you might be able to pick up more or less wireless signals and get a stronger or weaker signal. A couple minutes of tweaking the direction will result in an optimal direction to make the most out of your wireless signal strength. All you require for the Wi-Fire to work is a USB 2.0 port and one of the compatible operating systems listed above. This means you can even get wireless connectivity on your desktop computers as well!

Rating Breakdown:
Material Quality: 75%
Specifications & Features: 85%
Configuration & Setup: 100%
Performance: 100%
Overall: 90%

Purchase the Wi-Fire Here

We would like to thank the developers of Wi-Fire for providing us their product for this review.

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