WiFi coverage

[dubdoc]

My garage is about 4 feet from the house, but my W1Fi router is at the other end of the house. If I stand at the end of the garage nearest the house, my tablet works in the garage, At the back of the garage, no joy. Is there a range extender I can get for my Android tablet or for my WiFi router?

 

[In The Doghouse]

Can you move the router to the center of the house or something?

 

[My Old Tools]

I put in the Google mesh system. 3 nodes in the house and one in the shop 50 feet away. Long house. Works great.

 

[P0234]

Have you tried just raising your router up a bit? Often times putting it on top of a bookshelf will help a lot.

If you can't move it, there are lots of range extending options. From as simple as a repeater to an expensive mesh system.

 

[dubdoc]

Can you move the router to the center of the house or something?

No, sorry, should have mentioned that. Router is immovable.

 

[u2slow]

When I realized no signal would penetrate my shop wall, I ran a cat5e out there. Then put my old wifi router on it for a separate wireless network.

 

[Negen]

Get a second WiFi router and a directional and a couple omni directional antennas mount them on the roof and run second router in repeater mode connected to house router.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[DC73]

I had a similar situation. My new shop was about 8' from the house but the existing house Wi-Fi signal just wasn't quite good enough for the shop. I didn't have a good way to run ethernet cable to the shop.

I picked up a Ubiquity outdoor rated Access Point. Mounted it under the eave of the house nearest the shop. Hardwired it to the existing router which was fairly easy through my attic.

Now I have good Wi-Fi in the shop and on the patio. The only issue I have is that my new cell phone really holds onto the house Wi-Fi signal too well so it doesn't always automatically switch to the shop Wi-Fi. But, it's a fairly quick manual change if need be.

DC

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Lots of threads on this subject....

run some cat5e or 6 to the shop and install an access point.

 

[Showkey]

Or ditch the old router and go with Mesh system that has base and enough satellites to completely cover the desired area with little or no compromises in coverage and band width........full band width and set up is done in 15 minutes start to finish.

 

[dogdog]

Yea Run some Cat5/6 and run another AP or a Mesh...
If you wanted to play around with antennas you can get a matching sector panel antenna... dependents on your router's connectors ......They do sell them commercially, not just some pringle/coffee can. But that is 1/2 chance without expensive equipment to measure and tune things.

Terrawave is one of them...

L-com also have a omni directional one 15DBI

 

[jeepxj]

Lots of threads on this subject....

run some cat5e or 6 to the shop and install an access point.

they are coming in faster and faster.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

No, sorry, should have mentioned that. Router is immovable.

what brand and model router do you have?

Yea Run some Cat5/6 and run another AP or a Mesh...
If you wanted to play around with antennas you can get a matching sector panel antenna... dependents on your router's connectors ......They do sell them commercially, not just some pringle/coffee can. But that is 1/2 chance without expensive equipment to measure and tune things.

Terrawave is one of them...

L-com also have a omni directional one 15DBI

some routers do not have external antennas

 

[dogdog]

what brand and model router do you have?



some routers do not have external antennas

True... especially the verizon's newer fancy thang.

and OP needs to come out of hiding and give a bit more info

if it is me now... I would have just get the mesh kit and pull some cat5/6 cables... but I did collect all those L-com and TerraWave and a sector panel antenna off ebay that suppriseingly worked really well 12DBI... the guy had the test data off some fancy $30K machine or what not sweep the whole range of frequencies and gains...

 

[gungatim]

I run hacked routers, you can change the signal transmission power significantly. I was using a pair of range extenders (similar to mesh but cheaper) but now run a single router. they are usually around 36 mW but you can run them up to 251mW...

 

[u2slow]

Seems difficult to believe its 'too hard' to run cable. Before wifi, the phone and cable companies used to staple cat5 and coax up and down the side of your house. In and out in a couple hours.

Sure, there's cleaner/stealthier ways to do, but that's all it needs to be to get you up and running.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Seems difficult to believe its 'too hard' to run cable. Before wifi, the phone and cable companies used to staple cat5 and coax up and down the side of your house. In and out in a couple hours.

Sure, there's cleaner/stealthier ways to do, but that's all it needs to be to get you up and running.

People dont want that anymore. They dont want ugly cables. They want nice aestetical looking buildings.

You should see all the requests i get to cable 2 story houses and they want all the wires hidden... aint gonna happen.

 

[dcg9381]

Mesh network - wireless backhaul, it's like "wired" network without the wires (easiest way to explain it).
Other options:
1) Run a wire, setup an access point.
2) Use a directional antenna - Ubiquiti has great options
3) Try tuning your existing network - 2.4GHZ has better penetration, make sure frequency spread is right and that it's not trying to step over any other existing networks.

 

[gungatim]

^^ for #3 get a wifi analyzer app for your phone. turn it on and you will see all broadcast networks, their channel, and strength.

2.4 ghz is a band, not a specific frequency, within that band are specific channels. use one that is not already jammed with other users.

5ghz is also a band, and not the same as "5G" LTE. more channels, less distance.