hardwired wifi extenders?

[Greg5OH]

Hello, I would like to have wifi coverage in my garage and shop. I have a CAT6 cable ran from my home's router to the garage, and one from the garage to the shop currently.
My initial thought is to just get 2 cheap wifi routers and link them all via the hardwire.
Can this work in general? Can it be setup all on 1 wifi network name? Or will I need to create 3 separate wifi networks?
And if so...how do I configure the routers to accept this?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Yes you can set them up with the same SSIDs and passwords. Make sure theyre all on different channels though

 

[Greg5OH]

Yes you can set them up with the same SSIDs and passwords. Make sure theyre all on different channels though

Can I wire them in series too via the LAN ports?
home-->garage-->shop

 

[rlitman]

If you want to use a cheap WiFi router as an Access Point, you need to do three things.

1) Do not plug anything into the WAN port on the AP. You will only use the WAN port on your router that is connected to your internet source.
2) Change the IP address of every AP, so that it does not collide with another device on your network, or more importantly your router.
3) Disable DHCP on the AP. You must only have one DHCP server on your network, and it needs to be your gateway router.

As for the LAN ports, every WiFi router I've seen uses the rear ports as an ethernet switch, so yeah, feel free to daisy chain through them.

 

[Greg5OH]

Heck ya thanks guys, all I needed to know

 

[vorpal]

If you want to use a cheap WiFi router as an Access Point, you need to do three things.

1) Do not plug anything into the WAN port on the AP. You will only use the WAN port on your router that is connected to your internet source.
2) Change the IP address of every AP, so that it does not collide with another device on your network, or more importantly your router.
3) Disable DHCP on the AP. You must only have one DHCP server on your network, and it needs to be your gateway router.

As for the LAN ports, every WiFi router I've seen uses the rear ports as an ethernet switch, so yeah, feel free to daisy chain through them.

Solid advice. I tried just using a Asus router hardwired in the garage in WAP mode, signal was horrible. Finally got good garage coverage doing exactly what rlitman outlined:

- use the LAN port, not WAN on the garage router and create a different static network IP, not DHCP
- change the WiFi channel from the house router but keep the SSID and password the same, so wireless devices will connect to the stronger signal moving between house and garage
- mounted the garage router as high up as possible on the wall, improved coverage upstairs and in the opposite corner of the garage.

 

[Negen]

I am a fan of two routers with one in repeater mode. I have Asus routers 68u with Merlin firmware running in repeater mode. Much better than the Asus (mesh ai) method or using those mini WiFi extender things.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[shade]

Why not just get access points instead of even messing with a router.
https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/ceiling-mount-access-point/eap245/

 

[rlitman]

Why not just get access points instead of even messing with a router.
https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/ceiling-mount-access-point/eap245/

You certainly can, and that's what I've switched to, but cheap routers can be found for almost nothing.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I use two identical routers in the house and shop so that if the one in the house fails I can quickly do a changeout for my wife to watch streaming tv and leave me alone while I figure out the rest.

 

[dr3x]

Ubiquiti access points. That's all you need....

 

[walta]

Ubiquiti access points. That's all you need....

+1

Walta

 

[wyliesdiesels]

yeah ubnt APs are great

 

[jeepxj]

another vote for ubnt stuff.

 

[u2slow]

I had a miserable time trying to get two APs to use the same SSID. Part of the difficulty is figuring out which AP your device connects to, and if the handover is complete. When you use two different SSIDs you take out the guesswork. Once your client device has both wifi profiles, it happens automatically anyway.

 

[Showkey]

I had a miserable time trying to get two APs to use the same SSID. Part of the difficulty is figuring out which AP your device connects to, and if the handover is complete. When you use two different SSIDs you take out the guesswork. Once your client device has both wifi profiles, it happens automatically anyway.

Very common

 

[walta]

I had a miserable time trying to get two APs to use the same SSID. Part of the difficulty is figuring out which AP your device connects to, and if the handover is complete. When you use two different SSIDs you take out the guesswork. Once your client device has both wifi profiles, it happens automatically anyway.

When I tried 2 different SSIDs my devices would stay on one SSID for as long as it possibly could and ride that SSID into very poor signal with very slow speeds.

The Ubiquiti does the hand off well before the speed slows.

Walta

 

[Hawke]

I just set my garage laptop to be a Hotspot, and both my phone and tablet connect to it via wifi. Works a treat.

The laptop is connected to the home connection via a cable.

 

[JOE.G]

I Have a ASUS 5300 Router in my home with another one upstairs acting as a Mesh system, I then have a Nano Station hooked to main router which shoots internet 100 FT to my Shop which has a nano staion facing the house one and it connects to a ASUS 3100 which is set as a AP.

ASUS in Access Point mode you can use the LAN or WAN port they all just act as a switch, I guess that is not how others work but ASUS do.

I was getting Signal out in shop when using Mesh mode but it was not that strong.

 

[a_whale]

<deleted>

 

[NickH]

Agree on the Ubiquiti AP's. I have Netgear Orbi mesh wi-fi in the house, I ran Cat6's to the new garage about 40' away and added another Orbi AP for seamless coverage. Same idea as Ubiquiti, just different brand.

 

[u2slow]

When I tried 2 different SSIDs my devices would stay on one SSID for as long as it possibly could and ride that SSID into very poor signal with very slow speeds.

Having one ssid doesn't eliminate a handover problem - it can still hide the exact problem you describe. That's the troubleshooting headache.

When you use two ssids you explicitly know which you're connected to.

 

[walta]

Having one ssid doesn't eliminate a handover problem - it can still hide the exact problem you describe. That's the troubleshooting headache.

When you use two ssids you explicitly know which you're connected to.

When we had 2 SSIDs the wife was always cussing at her devices. How many times did I ask what network are you on? It was hell, not one complaint since the Ubiquiti APs went online.

Walta

 

[BigNuge]

I run Google mesh. Insanely easy setup, no SSID/IP/figuring out workarounds. No cables except the one into the AP.

System runs speed tests daily (you can look up the results on the app). It’ll tell you if one pod needs a reposition/adjusting to optimize. I have a total of 4 pods, one of which is in my shop (45’ away from the house). Very fast speeds in the shop, no dead zones. It’s the first system in 20 years that “just works”.


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