A Simple WiFi Question or Two

[Bib Overalls]

We have been using Direct TV for our cable TV and just started using a fiber optic service from our electric coop (Empower). We are slowly weaning ourselves off of Direct TV as we enable our TVs for streaming service.


My shop is a metal building that is best described as a wifi dead zone. Out in the shop I have a "dumb" TV. It is wired into the Direct TV cable network with coax.

My goal is TV and phone connectivity. My plan is along these lines.

Option 1. Buy a RoKo with an Eathernet port and plug in. TV but no phone.

Or.

Option 2. Run the new Eathernet cable to a internet access point like this one
NETGEAR WAC104 Dual Band Wireless AC1200 Access Point.
Enable the TV with a base model Roku.

My question is "Will this system work and provide me with streaming video and cell phone connectivity? Is there a cheaper alternative? Is there another way to get this result at a lower cost?

NOTE: I did a search and pulled up 275 threads but of the ten or so that I opened I could not find any one that talked to my problem.

 

[Showkey]

Option 2 will get you streaming video, email, internet.........but not necessarily cell phone calling. Most cell phones have WiFi calling capabilities but the cell providers often do not support the feature. This varies by location and Cell service providers. Even by phone as some APPLE phones and iPad will receive cell calls And FaceTime calls when connected to WiFi. Also very depended on the setting of each device.

As far as the shop........ it’s wire or WiFi as for getting internet and streaming service out there. Each has their merits, compromises and cost. As with option 2 cell calling using cell service is a separate issue.

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

Do you have ethernet in the shop? If not, then how are you doing option 1?

You need to have ethernet in the shop. With that, you can add a ethernet switch and have a WIFI access point and use a cell phone from any major cell phone provider. Almost all major carriers support cellular over WIFI. You mentioned cheap, you can pick up a wireless access point for $20 or so.


If you don't have ethernet at the shop, you can use your existing coax (since you will not be using coax for TV). You can use a coax to ethernet adapter that will support gigabit speeds. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MRV4WA1/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[dcg9381]

I have a metal building. Our wifi router is mounted high on the inside wall, around 16'. It's both 2.4 Ghz and 5 GHz. I should note that I have 8 Wi-Fi cameras that all operate on 2.4G.

The 2.4G band "goes farther" - meaning the signal is better away from the router. But it's slow - it's really too slow to reliably transfer 720P video... At least with the cameras that I have.

The 5G band attenuates (drops off) faster. Just outside of the shop (through the metal sheet), literally maybe 20' away from the router, many of my devices read the signal strength as "fair".

I fixed it:
I run wired CAT6 to the devices that I can get to that need to do video. This includes any video device inside the building. This leaves enough bandwith for me to do 5G video (tablets, phone, etc)...

IF I wanted more WIFI "range" - I'd move to a mesh network, which helps drop the saturation.

 

[jlv03]

You could reuse the existing DirecTV coax to handle communications, using either MoCa or DeCa.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AYMGPIO/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Git]

You could reuse the existing DirecTV coax to handle communications, using either MoCa or DeCa.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AYMGPIO/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I was also going to suggest this

This is probably your easiest/cheapest solution. You will have a wired ethernet connection in your shop. If you want to stick with hard-wired connections - just buy a simple unmanaged 5 port switch for less than $20. This would allow you to plug in up to 4 wired connections. If you also want WiFi, then instead of the switch, buy an access point or you can sometimes set up an old router as an access point.

The next step up would be to just run a couple Cat6 cables out there, but I think you will find you will get decent speeds from the coax/ethernet converters

Somone will come along and suggest unifi products - I will leave it to them to tell you about them...

 

[wyliesdiesels]

We have been using Direct TV for our cable TV and just started using a fiber optic service from our electric coop (Empower). We are slowly weaning ourselves off of Direct TV as we enable our TVs for streaming service.


My shop is a metal building that is best described as a wifi dead zone. Out in the shop I have a "dumb" TV. It is wired into the Direct TV cable network with coax.

My goal is TV and phone connectivity. My plan is along these lines.

Option 1. Buy a RoKo with an Eathernet port and plug in. TV but no phone.

Or.

Option 2. Run the new Eathernet cable to a internet access point like this one
NETGEAR WAC104 Dual Band Wireless AC1200 Access Point.
Enable the TV with a base model Roku.

My question is "Will this system work and provide me with streaming video and cell phone connectivity? Is there a cheaper alternative? Is there another way to get this result at a lower cost?

NOTE: I did a search and pulled up 275 threads but of the ten or so that I opened I could not find any one that talked to my problem.

First off, you need to get a network connection to the shop. There is 2 ways of doing this- hardwired via copper or fiber ethernet, or wireless point 2 point using 2 radios.

Once youve done that, you can set a switch and access point in the shop.

Option 2 will get you streaming video, email, internet.........but not necessarily cell phone calling. Most cell phones have WiFi calling capabilities but the cell providers often do not support the feature. This varies by location and Cell service providers. Even by phone as some APPLE phones and iPad will receive cell calls And FaceTime calls when connected to WiFi. Also very depended on the setting of each device.

As far as the shop........ it’s wire or WiFi as for getting internet and streaming service out there. Each has their merits, compromises and cost. As with option 2 cell calling using cell service is a separate issue.

Not sure where you came up with this but i have seen wifi calling working on all major carriers- AT&T (whom I have), Verizon, Tmobile and sprint. Most of the rest of the carriers out there are not true carriers, they are MVNO- mobile virtual network operators. Cricket, boost mobile and H2o wireless to name a few. They do not own the infrastructure and just resell air time bought in bulk from the carriers. They have no choice whether to support wifi calling or not.

As to apple phones and facetime, that is something entirely different from cellular voice calls/wifi calling and is ran through apple servers. iPhone 6 and newer actively supports wifi calling. iPhone 5 has the hardware capability but carriers and apple wont turn it on.