The thing about those wifi extenders is that, if my memory servers me correctly (which is iffey at my stage of life), they cut the signal strength in half.
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WiFi signal booster for shed work shop.
- Thread starter HarryJM
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2019
- Messages
- 6,526
That's easy for that price.
I have a Dell XPS13 running Linux out in the shop. It's been there since Turkey Week.
Only 8GB of RAM though. . .
It's a hand-me-down from my Son.
Funny how that works out, (20) years ago he was getting my graphics workstation(s) hand-me-downs for gaming.
Now it's reversed. . .
I put the following extender in the garage. Garage is detached from the house by ~12', location from the laptop to Asus router was less than 25', and yet I had poor connections -too much metal.
Had 5x5 when I put it in last fall. then this spring the signal dropped. I have it stung up in the corner closest to the house so this spring I started leaving the side door open, well it's metal clad and the extender is blocked by it. -DUH.
I should have, in hindsight, strung CAT6 when I put in Honey's spa and ran a new feed to the shop sub-panel. Double -DUH
Amazon.com: Wifi Range Extender,300Mbps Wireless-N WiFi Repeater/ Router With Dual External Antennas and 360 Degree WiFi Coverage: Computers & Accessories
Buy Wifi Range Extender, 300Mbps Wireless-N WiFi Repeater/ Router With Dual External Antennas and 360 Degree WiFi Coverage: Repeaters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchaseswww.amazon.com
I've never had luck with anything called a WiFi Extender, really need to either upgrade the existing network hardware or run a wire in my experience. FYI, most Cat 5 network cable is actually Cat 6 just labeled differently and available at a lower cost. So unless your building a verified gig network, and know how to terminate to Cat 6 standards Cat 5 e should be fine.
john
Not the strength, the speed though. They can't transmit and receive at the same time, so they have to receive a packet, transmit and repeat. It's much better to run wire or use a dedicated radio for the long link, wired to a normal AP for clients.
Or, maybe what you're doing doesn't need the speed and it's not worth the cost of 3 radios. Just depends on what you need.
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2014
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- 3,590
Yeah, I know. But I had two 1000' spools of CAT6 left over from a project back in 2010.
They needed to see that it was 'CAT6' on the sheath and verified Gig. Only got used for the projectors, everything else went WiFi a couple of months after completion. The whole gigabit installation was never really used.
Gave one spool to a Boy's Camp for them to wire their place up and I'm still pecking away at the other spool...
This low cost extender I have has performed really well. I am totally surprised actually. Never had any luck with others.
But I'll take it as a success.
I don't feel like crawling under the porch again, which has less than 18" in places and is damp and cobweb-y, just to string a cable. Alas, I should have done it before. Hind-sight is always 20-20.
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- Apr 28, 2014
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Yep - they do. But at 72Mbps on the low side and 256+ on the high side (door closed), I'll take it. That's plenty to stream music and transfer files from my server.
If one needs more than that, string a cable or spend the $$$ on mesh.
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
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- 591
I used an old satellite TV dish (with the arm) and mounted a cheap wifi dongle with a long USB cable in a clear Tupperware container where the old LNB was and pointed it toward my house and have great wifi. Shop is only about 40-50 feet from the house. It also picks up almost every house around the neighbor hood (to bad I don't have their passwords
). My shop is a metal building so had to drill a hole for the USB cable but works great and was free - I already had everything I used.
). My shop is a metal building so had to drill a hole for the USB cable but works great and was free - I already had everything I used.
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- Apr 23, 2018
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- 6,532
A wireless access point in the shop connected to a hard line is by far the fastest and most reliable way to go. You can buy direct burial rated CAT6 cable so you can sew it like a row of beans in a shallow slip trench to your shop. Use CAT6 shielded cable with one end terminated as CAT5, and you've got yourself an RF shield for clean signal. I would have gone with a range extender, but the steel building is like a Faraday cage. So now I have 4 routers on my home network, and I dominate the RF spectrum on my block.
Well based on matthewsx and 7milesup recommendations I purchased a Ubiquiti Nanostation M2. It was easy to setup and now I have great reception in my shed. I also decided to buy one of those mini pc and purchased the below. I had an extra Dell 19" monitor and extra keyboard and mouse and just set everything up in my shed - life is good!
Beelink MII-V Mini PC,
Quad Core Intel Celeron N3450 4GB LPDDR4/ 128GB SSD,
Windows 10 Ultra-Thin Mini Computer with Fan，HDMI/VGA Ports,
4K HD,
2.4G/5G Dual WiFi,
Gigabit Ethernet,
BT 4.0
Beelink MII-V Mini PC,
Quad Core Intel Celeron N3450 4GB LPDDR4/ 128GB SSD,
Windows 10 Ultra-Thin Mini Computer with Fan，HDMI/VGA Ports,
4K HD,
2.4G/5G Dual WiFi,
Gigabit Ethernet,
BT 4.0
I did the same thing, had WIFI in the house and an extender that worked ok other than having to switch WIFI networks when i moved around. Went with the Google Nest system, base in the living room, point in the basement, point in the bedroom nearest the outbuilding and one in the outbuilding in that 75' range. Works great for the whole house and out into the yard.