SilverStone SST-ECWA2-Lite - Mini PCI-E to PCI-E Adapter Card + 2x Dual Band(2.4GHz 2dBi/5GHz 3dBi) MIMO Antenna, support WIFI&Bluetooth Combo Card and 1x USB 2.0 Port

Note this review refers to the WAD17, the dual-band antenna (2.4GHz / 5.2GHz). Not the mini-PCI wireless cards or the other antennas.Firstly this seems to be a branded copy of this somewhat distinctive wireless antenna that you can find many on the 'bay. If you bought a few antennas you probably know you have idea how well they actually work until you try them and God knows what is actually inside. Many are actually single-band pretending to be dual-band.As with all high-gain antennas what you 'gain' in gain (good pun?) you lose in dispersion thus this won't necessarily help in all cases. Also if you deploy on multiple antenna AP/routers/cards with MIMO to keep multiple streams working then you need to replace all with these type otherwise the mis-match in streams projections will kill MIMO and get you better strength but lower throughput. (so I had to buy 3 in total)Also note the AP/router you have is likely tuned for the antennas it comes with; unless like Linksys they provide alternative antennas you cannot be sure how the firmware (the radio firmware not main firmware) will deal with different antennas. If you monitor strength after you change antennas you may see higher variation between high power and low power as the radio calibrates. (so you may need to reduce power)You may actually get better wireless performance by using higher channels (where higher power can be used) or using unlocked firmware that allows changing transmit power. An unlocked Netgear R7000 with original aerials next to an ASUS 68U with 3 of these show similar strength through a few walls. Trying various angling of aerials may also help more than changing them.If the router is in corner try reflectors or flat antennas that project the signal in the 'right place' inside flat/house - rather than everywhere (Omni) like these and thus mostly to your neighbours. Maybe use 2 APs, one horizontally polarised (up aerials) one vertically polarised (down aerials). Or naturally extenders would be the best choice or multiple APs on each level if a house all connected by Ethernet/coax MOCA/powerline.So to summarise make sure you really need them. If you use MIMO then budget for changing all antennas to these not just one. Try other things before changing antennas. If you want bigger meaner looking antennas that do work a bit better too then these don't disappoint...

Warning to those who think this is a WiFi card with full capabilities off the bat. It's not, its an ADAPTER. I did have a great mini PCI-E card to salvage, so this worked out well.Works well enough, if not a bit fiddly to install.