My wifi install

[DTE]

Having read several threads on getting wifi to my shop which is a 220 ft run and being somewhat confused as to all the terms for the equipment I thought I would share what worked for my installation. I had conduit in the ground already from when I built so I got a couple hundred feet of direct burial cat5e cable and a pair of Klein crimpers and some Rj45 ends.
I got the cable pulled, installed the ends and went to WalMart and was hoping they would have a Access point. The store near me only sells Modems and Routers. I bought a Netgear24 router for less than $50.00. Got it plugged up and running and I now have wifi. It has a different name than the wifi in the house but it looks like I can change the name ( I don't know if that would work or not ) my plans are to just leave a laptop in the shop anyways. I will only be running a laptop and a smart Roku tv.

 

[dogdog]

If it is not a mesh system, don't change names... unless you start fiddling with the dBm and hand over functions if your routers have it... Change password and basic security

Second router set it as access point mode and use only the LAN ports.

Third Netgear *****

 

[theoldwizard1]

No techno speak in this video

How to Expand Your Wireless Range Using an Old Router

 

[Denwood]

Just set up WIFI SID (name) and password in your shop exactly the same as your house. Your phone (the only thing likely moving around) will just connect as required.

 

[Metal-Marc]

If it is not a mesh system, don't change names... unless you start fiddling with the dBm and hand over functions if your routers have it...

This.

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

You can change the SSID so both wireless names are the same with the same password. You devices will auto connect to the strongest signal.

I have 5 Apple airports in my house with the same SSID and passwords. Everything auto connects to the strongest signals.

 

[dogdog]

Not really, if you change them to same name. It will connect to first in the list and will not drop the connections till it is too weak of under the dBm defined in the router settings. So if you have the same name and it is not a mesh system, troubleshooting connection issues will be hair pulling. Especially if you are in the fringe area of the routers connection.

 

[TTMotorsports]

Just set up WIFI SID (name) and password in your shop exactly the same as your house. Your phone (the only thing likely moving around) will just connect as required.

I did the same thing in my shop which was approx 350 ft from my house. I ran an ethernet cable out there to its own router with same username and password and never had an issue

 

[Denwood]

DTE has indicated the run is 220 ft., so connection priority will not be a problem. Just use the same SID/password. KISS

 

[TTMotorsports]

also once I went into my steel building no wifi from house. If I opened the shop doors I would get wifi from the house but the signal was weak

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

Not really, if you change them to same name. It will connect to first in the list and will not drop the connections till it is too weak of under the dBm defined in the router settings. So if you have the same name and it is not a mesh system, troubleshooting connection issues will be hair pulling. Especially if you are in the fringe area of the routers connection.

Ok, my personal experience over 8 years says otherwise.

4 people, 12 or so mobile devices, 5500 square foot house over 3 levels. Never had any issues.

 

[Denwood]

Even the commercial stuff I install (ubiquity) which hands off clients between access points does not work exactly as you think. My experience with consumer level APs is there is always a disconnect between what the manufacturer claims and what the devices actually do. Not a surprise really based on all the chip sets and implementations at play.

If you do set a different SID/password in your house, no big deal either. Devices will not necessarily drop a "usable" connection, for a stronger signal, regardless. I just set the same SID/password so the kids and wife don't get confused on the property with what network they should join. Set it the same and let the device sort it. By all means check channels and separate, but honestly I leave it to auto most times with no issues.

 

[dogdog]

Even the commercial stuff I install (ubiquity) which hands off clients between access points does not work exactly as you think. My experience with consumer level APs is there is always a disconnect between what the manufacturer claims and what the devices actually do. Not a surprise really based on all the chip sets and implementations at play.

If you do set a different SID/password in your house, no big deal either. Devices will not necessarily drop a "usable" connection, for a stronger signal, regardless. I just set the same SID/password so the kids and wife don't get confused on the property with what network they should join. Set it the same and let the device sort it. By all means check channels and separate, but honestly I leave it to auto most times with no issues.

That...

Setting a different SSID will help you troubleshoot in case one of them goes wrong. I used to set them all the same, then more neighbors gets wifi, A lot more gets wifi... the space gets jammed. Interference is real. When it started acting weird and not able to hand over, you just don't know which Router is having issues. unless you look into the mac...

 

[wyliesdiesels]

If it is not a mesh system, don't change names... unless you start fiddling with the dBm and hand over functions if your routers have it... Change password and basic security

Second router set it as access point mode and use only the LAN ports.

Third Netgear *****

Their consumer wireless router products certainly do.

I ran on a nighthawk R7000 for 4yrs and the firmware updates started getting worse and worse. this is because netgear decided to farm out the firmware writing to a third party.

one firmware version had my router rebooting unexpectedly every other day. with kids doing at home learning and zoom calls this became a nightmare

another firmware version had the router telling some of my host devices that the wifi password was wrong despite it being correct. so some of my devices werent able to connect to 2.4Ghz band. but they could connect to 5Ghz band( for those devices that supported it) despite the password being the same on both bands.

their support is trash as well.

mind you this router used to be awesome. The signal strength is certainly awesome but the brains **** big time.

The switches are still good however

 

[u2slow]

Setting a different SSID will help you troubleshoot in case one of them goes wrong. I used to set them all the same, then more neighbors gets wifi, A lot more gets wifi... the space gets jammed. Interference is real. When it started acting weird and not able to hand over, you just don't know which Router is having issues. unless you look into the mac...

Agreed. Two SSIDs for me. Was pulling my hair our before I came to that conclusion.

House and yard are covered by a Ubiquity saucer. My shop is clad in metal and at the end of the yard (old Linksys WRT54GL out there). Wifi switches over smartly when you come and go from the shop.

 

[DTE]

Well I am happy, two differents SSID's (router names?) my wifi is working. I have a laptop that I will leave in the shop so all is well !

 

[dogdog]

Their consumer wireless router products certainly do........

their support is trash as well.

.....

The switches are still good however

More of the tech support is trash. that is pet peeve me to go away from that brand.
I remember the days when DSL, but I can't get an IP lease from the ISP when I got their new router... called their tech support... and they told me to register the product in order to help me.... yea, despite that I read the serial off to him...

Who know....

 

[Git]

I ran on a nighthawk R7000 for 4yrs and the firmware updates started getting worse and worse. this is because netgear decided to farm out the firmware writing to a third party.

Why don't you flash it with DD WRT or Merlin

https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R7000

https://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/asuswrt-merlin-on-netgear-r7000.71108/

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Why don't you flash it with DD WRT or Merlin

https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R7000

https://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/asuswrt-merlin-on-netgear-r7000.71108/

because id rather just upgrade to SD-wan solution like i did and go with something more reliable, manageable, and with more features for a poweruser like myself.

plus i now have LTE backup with instant failover. cant get that in a consumer product. Comcast likes to do maintenance outages without any notice. The LTE failover is real nice

 

[Dancing Bear]

Their consumer wireless router products certainly do.

I ran on a nighthawk R7000 for 4yrs and the firmware updates started getting worse and worse. this is because netgear decided to farm out the firmware writing to a third party.

one firmware version had my router rebooting unexpectedly every other day. with kids doing at home learning and zoom calls this became a nightmare

another firmware version had the router telling some of my host devices that the wifi password was wrong despite it being correct. so some of my devices werent able to connect to 2.4Ghz band. but they could connect to 5Ghz band( for those devices that supported it) despite the password being the same on both bands.

their support is trash as well.

mind you this router used to be awesome. The signal strength is certainly awesome but the brains **** big time.

The switches are still good however

That's odd you had so many issues with the R7000, I'm still running an R7000P as my main router that i've had since 2017 and havent had any of those issues. I suppose the firmware revisions could be different between the two.

 

[lazyriverrat]

Separate wifi and password in the shed around 200' from the house. Not smart enough to do anything different. Has worked so far without any problems. Devices usually switch on their own. Wifi in our area is so stinking slow its not a big deal anyway.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

That's odd you had so many issues with the R7000, I'm still running an R7000P as my main router that i've had since 2017 and havent had any of those issues. I suppose the firmware revisions could be different between the two.

that wasnt even half the issues

the bandwidth usage meter, when turned on, would reduce my throughput down to just below 100Mbps, on a 300Mbps connection

the active devices list was never accurate and when i would change the names on hosts, it wouldnt save them

i could go on and on....

i even tried factoring resetting then updating to latest F/W but still had issues

it just wasnt worth messing with anymore

and im not alone on these issues. you can find many angry users on the netgear forums and elsewhere, describing their issues...

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Separate wifi and password in the shed around 200' from the house. Not smart enough to do anything different. Has worked so far without any problems. Devices usually switch on their own. Wifi in our area is so stinking slow its not a big deal anyway.

you mean the internet is slow? the wifi connection will be fast between AP and host...

 

[bannerd]

I would look into UBNT, for about 5 years we use to supply wifi down the road to several farms as there was no lines down that road. We were able to use the electrical poles for a rental fee but the farmers put there own poles in to cut costs. I forget the name of the outdoor AP model but it was ran by a harbor freight solar panel and battery. Never had issues, all of that went back to an OpenBSD router and supplied many of them internet. The length of that was roughly over a mile. Since then the fiber company received a grant and ran the fiber down the road but that system is still running.. 100% idle. I was going to take it down but since I have a few game camera that hook to wifi I left it up.

 

[Denwood]

that wasnt even half the issues

the bandwidth usage meter, when turned on, would reduce my throughput down to just below 100Mbps, on a 300Mbps connection

the active devices list was never accurate and when i would change the names on hosts, it wouldnt save them

i could go on and on....

i even tried factoring resetting then updating to latest F/W but still had issues

it just wasnt worth messing with anymore

and im not alone on these issues. you can find many angry users on the netgear forums and elsewhere, describing their issues...

With the EX7000, the newer firmware features (like SID integration and auto selection between 2.4 and 5Ghz) never worked correctly. Turned them all off. I just use a couple TPlink RE650 in AP mode at home now. Both EX7000s are gone. The TPs are simple and have a single gigabit port so you can actually see the increased AC 2600 throughput for the newer iphones etc.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I would look into UBNT, for about 5 years we use to supply wifi down the road to several farms as there was no lines down that road. We were able to use the electrical poles for a rental fee but the farmers put there own poles in to cut costs. I forget the name of the outdoor AP model but it was ran by a harbor freight solar panel and battery. Never had issues, all of that went back to an OpenBSD router and supplied many of them internet. The length of that was roughly over a mile. Since then the fiber company received a grant and ran the fiber down the road but that system is still running.. 100% idle. I was going to take it down but since I have a few game camera that hook to wifi I left it up.

yes UBNT radios are great

 

[Dancing Bear]

that wasnt even half the issues

the bandwidth usage meter, when turned on, would reduce my throughput down to just below 100Mbps, on a 300Mbps connection

I did have this same problem as you, and I found out why. When you enable the bandwidth usage meter, it also enables the QoS inside of the Nighthawk routers as well, which i found to be less than good. I have a 400Mbps connection, and it roughly halved my bandwidth with that meter on.

I know that QoS will lower a connection speed, but I was disappointed in the Nighthawk's lack of adjustment on the QoS settings, in fact there's nothing you can adjust at all. It's either on or off.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I did have this same problem as you, and I found out why. When you enable the bandwidth usage meter, it also enables the QoS inside of the Nighthawk routers as well, which i found to be less than good. I have a 400Mbps connection, and it roughly halved my bandwidth with that meter on.

I know that QoS will lower a connection speed, but I was disappointed in the Nighthawk's lack of adjustment on the QoS settings, in fact there's nothing you can adjust at all. It's either on or off.

I bought a peplink balance 20x which has a 900Mbps stateful firewall throughput with QOS on. It also has a traffic meter. I have no issues getting speed test results in the 720Mbps range with my 600Mbps comcast service...

sayonara netgear nighthawk

 

[dr3x]

Why don't you just throw in a couple of Unifi Access Points in the house and garage; you can have wall/celing mounted, even in wall mounted at a jack, and remotely powered and you'll never have to worry about SSID and configurations all but one time? As described above, they all handoff the same, so should work seamlessly.

if you want, you can buy the Ubiquiti Dream Machine as the main router, and it will run everything, or keep your exisiting router, shutt off its wifi, and use the access points?

that's the KISS principle, IMHO