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forbigpicture

Please stand by.......
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Messages
6,729
Location
West by God Virginia
I'm sure some of you have the same problem I have...trying to receive
a strong wi-fi signal in your detached garage or buildings....
In the house I have a dual plane router and it provides the needs of the house.
The garage siding is refrigeration panels (2in styrofoam wrapped in metal
and tongue and groove ) 6in studded and ins. and sheeted walls) very
weak signal...where I need the reception is probably 100-120 feet from
router in the house....I have read up some on building your own bridge
with a couple of old routers but I just don't fully understand it. Running
a hard line is really not an option at this time....just looking for a reasonable
(cheap) solution. has anyone used a wi-fi extender? also garage is on
separate elec. service....Thanks in advance for your input...
 
I use an Netgear extender & love it! A family member lives about 200+ ft from me & the extender gives me the same speed they get, FOR FREE! [cl

Toad
 
Glad you asked that question. Am facing similar issues. I'm new to the wireless stuff so I'm clueless right now...Inside the tin roofed log house it's good...outside, not so much! Barn is 100 yards from house and nothing down there...
 
Make you a deflector antenna out of an aluminum pie plate and aim it where you want the signal to go.

I can use my wifi out in the yard, even across the street at my pa in law's house. Matter of fact, he uses mine instead of getting his own, but he's not on very much.
 
the basic inexpensive router is designed to be a master, typically you can't use two routers, but the Bridge (like Toad) said can be a slave and will connect to your existing wifi and create another wifi.


For Smallfoot
If your shop is really out of range and is connected to the House's electrical you can use a dlink PLC (power line carrier) this will connect your LAN to the an electrical outlet and you can then use the corresponding receiver to connect to an outlet in the shop and this will give you a copper hardline to the shop. Dlink should be around $50, there is one from Trendnet for $30 (I've never tried it)

http://us.dlink.com/us/en/home-solutions/connect/powerline.html
 
Cheap extenders are everywhere. I picked good one up at Best Buy for $100 & a cheaper one on daBay for $35. I just wanted to see how the cheap one would work. It worked really well for a part of our house that had a weak signal.

BoB
 
In each of these cases, I'm pretty sure that the issue is the metal siding, inside metal paneling, or roof. I'm not able to recommend a certain device, but you need an outside antenna on the building where the metal is, then run cable through to the device inside. (I guess this is the same principle of those who line their hats or caps w/ aluminum foil to stop the gov'ment from messing with their mind.....) They make pairs of antennas to do this, too. Then you just run cable up to the antennas from the inside connection at both ends, and you have a wireless connection. (You do need, line of sight, however. Even trees or just leaves can mess with the signal.)

Ubiquity makes a good antenna, but it takes a bit of programming set up to get them talking to each other.)
 
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Thanks for all the info guy's... I'm thinking like Neto said the signal is not the
problem it's all the metal.....I can take my lap top out in the yard to the farthest point and use it like inside the house, but when inside the garage...
nope....sooooo would I need 2 ant. like Dr. C suggested or would the one
do the job? Thanks again guy's...[S[S:D
 
Thanks for all the info guy's... I'm thinking like Neto said the signal is not the
problem it's all the metal.....I can take my lap top out in the yard to the farthest point and use it like inside the house, but when inside the garage...
nope....sooooo would I need 2 ant. like Dr. C suggested or would the one
do the job? Thanks again guy's...[S[S:D

It would seem that one would do the job, but I wouldn't know how to configure it. I have set up pairs to talk to each other before, but maybe Dr C can explain how to set up a single. (There is a company that sells an already configured pair of Ubiquity antennas that they call the GhostBridge. You just connect each end and point them at each other, and you're up & running. Bit pricy, though.) Maybe a single would be a different type than what I'm thinking of, or you just set the IP Address in the same range? I don't know.
 
I used a usb wifi adapter.
Mounted a weather proof, plastic electric box on the outside of the shop, put the wifi adapter in the box, drilled a hole through the wall and ran a powered USB cable to the computer.

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I use a POWERLINE BRIDGE. Look them up on Amazon. They route the signal through your house AC lines.

If you try it, buy something you can return.
It isn't guaranteed to work - the distance and interference from other running electrical equipment can kill the signal.

My pole barn is a signal killer and is about 50 ft from my aluminum sided house. I was going to run CAT5 out there, but then you have to deal with ground issues and the possibility of a lightning strike.

This goes through about 100ft of wire, three breaker boxes and 2 outlets. I pay for 50M internet, it usually speed tests at about 40M, and out at my shop it's anywhere from 1.5M-15M speeds. The speed all depends on what else I have on in the shop. It's good enough for streaming music and surfing. I don't watch movies or anything.
 
I used a usb wifi adapter.
Mounted a weather proof, plastic electric box on the outside of the shop, put the wifi adapter in the box, drilled a hole through the wall and ran a powered USB cable to the computer.

attachment.php

Think I'll do that in my shop too, thanks! [cl

EVZ
 
I used a usb wifi adapter.
Mounted a weather proof, plastic electric box on the outside of the shop, put the wifi adapter in the box, drilled a hole through the wall and ran a powered USB cable to the computer.

attachment.php

OI.... wifi adapter or extender? I like the idea, just want to make sure I'm
getting the right thing....
 
....I can take my lap top out in the yard to the farthest point and use it like inside the house, but when inside the garage...
nope....

My issue exactly.

Like I said, I'm sure ONE external antennae would work for me. Just a simple weatherproof antennae mounted and plumbed to the exterior, usb connected to my laptop.

.
 
Thanks for all the ideas guys! That powerline set-up is probably my best solution. My barn is a full 100 yards from my router. It is, however, wired with the same service as the house. I ran my own underground feed down there so I think that would be my best bet. Looks like the cost is less than 100 bucks...

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powe...591&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=powerline+DHP-200AV

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powe...591&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=powerline+DHP-200AV

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Powe...591&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=powerline+DHP-200AV

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Powe...591&sr=8-4-fkmr0&keywords=powerline+DHP-200AV
 
FBP
Here's where my wifi hot spot is. It's inside the house, in the window closest to the front of the house and above the aluminum window screen. The aluminum window screen will act as a shield and cut down the signal strength.
The other outside box, on the pole, is a Wilson signal booster for my cell phones.
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