Wi-fi reception improved!

[Dentist76]

My friends, I made a research and found out that the antenna for the A500 Iconia has to be "ipex u.fl antenna" and I looked at ebay for something like that.
I bought this eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices For just USD 3,32 now my wi-fi reception is way better!! And the price was including free international shipping ! I didn't remove the old antenna and good thing is I didn't do any soldering; just plugged in the the new antenna.
Now I'm much more happy with my A500

 

[chismay]

could you maybe write us a guide with a video or photo's ? think it would be greatly appreciated and probably stickied to the top if you do

 

[pagdodd]

hmm, i would be very interested in this.

I am having problems trying to use Onlive but the signal drops out too often :-/

 

[Dentist76]

hmm, i would be very interested in this.

I am having problems trying to use Onlive but the signal drops out too often :-/

Mine was the same. But I got much better connection. And the installation was really easy. I watched the video on youtube about how to dissamble tablet and the rest was very easy.

 

[harshkey]

hey Dentist76,

Which connector did you use for connecting ipex u.fl antenna?. I cannot find any empty connectors to connect it to...please let me know asap. Thank you.

 

[Dentist76]

hey Dentist76,

Which connector did you use for connecting ipex u.fl antenna?. I cannot find any empty connectors to connect it to...please let me know asap. Thank you.

connect it to the place where the default antenna is connected. unplug the old one and connect the new antenna.

 

[harshkey]

Thanks for the reply..once i opened the back cover, there are a couple of connectors with different numbers...which one do i connect the antenna to?

 

[Dentist76]

Here is the video for disassembling A500 Iconia.
At video time 01:37 you can see which cable to unplug.

 

[DARKSUN]

What video!? hmm i cant see it

 

[harshkey]

No link to the video...Cant see the video either.

 

[Dentist76]

Sorry about it. I forgot to add the link. Here you go:
how to assembly and disassembly of acer a500 tablet - YouTube

 

[Dentist76]

I hope the video helped.

 

[emagin]

Is this vid for JUST the antenna install?
It's a massive amount of work.
Or is there a section we focus on?

How long did it take you roughly to do the install?

 

[kenji57]

Maybe this will help to make it clearer;
This is the antenna
Cracking Open the Acer Iconia Tab A500: Compal WLAN antenna (DC33000UK20) | 47 of 68

Here's its' location in the case, you can see it on the left side near the top of picture
Cracking Open the Acer Iconia Tab A500: Inside | 15 of 68

I haven't done it myself, cos I don't have wifi problems, but it looks straightforward. You can see the cable from the antenna runs back to a connector (top middle under yellow transparent plastic strip)

 

[CMDRMOORE]

Did you plug in the new antenna to a second jack on the wireless card or do you disconnect the antenna that is in the tablet?
Where do you mount the news antenna, so that the case can be closed?

Thank you

 

[Dentist76]

Did you plug in the new antenna to a second jack on the wireless card or do you disconnect the antenna that is in the tablet?
Where do you mount the news antenna, so that the case can be closed?

Thank you

I unplugged the old one and plugged in the new one. I put the antenna to the side where there is no camera.

 

[emagin]

@Kenji57 This is most helpful, thank you!
@Dentist76 Did you do any tests with old vs. new antenna to see what difference in reception you get?
Thanks

 

[Dentist76]

@Kenji57 This is most helpful, thank you!
@Dentist76 Did you do any tests with old vs. new antenna to see what difference in reception you get?
Thanks

Sure, now the reception is way better.
Minimum 1 line better than before.

 

[Dentist76]

Today I was really sruprised about the strength of my wifi reception!
This antenna really works cool !