Posted: 10/30/2014 12:57:32 PM EDT
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I need some help on how to get WiFi coverage inside an outbuilding. First off the house and out bldg are metal skinned. The bldg. is about 600ft. from the house. I'm running dual band netgear router that would go halfway. I just bought a netgear AC1200 range extender that boosted my signal to the bldg., and inside IF the door is open. Close the door and I get zero signal. I don't have electricity out there yet, but will in a couple of weeks. Question is; is there an antenna or something I can mount to the out bldg. and have a signal inside? Or how would I fix this problem? I'm not real up on the technical terms so be gentle. 
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| If you have some tool manipulating skills, you can try building a directional waveguide antenna using a 26 oz soup can |
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Look up ubiquity products. Pretty much purpose built to do what you seek. They have a bunch of hardware and it can be a little tough to wade through but it is cheap and works extremely well. I have done exactly what you are looking to do with about $400 worth of gear. http://ubnt.com There are dedicated dealers out there but I just research what I need and buy from amazon |
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Metal skinned on both means you are going to want to look for a pair of facing windows or you will likely have to put the antennas outside. If you are somewhat technically/mechanically inclined, you can roll your own antenna for a huge savings. If not, drop a couple hundred on a repeater with a directional antenna if it is that important to you to get signal out there. |
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Look up ubiquity products. Pretty much purpose built to do what you seek. They have a bunch of hardware and it can be a little tough to wade through but it is cheap and works extremely well. I have done exactly what you are looking to do with about $400 worth of gear. http://ubnt.com There are dedicated dealers out there but I just research what I need and buy from amazon After using every type of wireless router and/or access point you can name, short of the extreme high end (thousands of dollars per device), I settled on Ubiquity. Their produccts are perfect for outbuildings and extending networks, are easy to manage, and I have not rebooted my equipment in over a year. Their support isn't fantastic, but they have user forums that are a wealth of information. Don't use their latest software/firmware (latest-and-greatest always seems to be released with a metric ton of bugs) and you will be GTG. I have on Unifi AP covering a 3000sq ft two-story home (four bars for all devices anywhere in the house), and an Air Wire system connecting a small switch upstairs to the main network downstairs (both locations are were I want to run wired devices, not wireless devices). I am looking at a couple of their newer products to upgrade the Air Wire system. They have a huge range of products that can cover pretty much anything you can throw at it as far as general home/ranch/farm use goes. They have inexpensive products (relatively speaking) for which a 600ft shot (unobstructed line of sight) would be super easy (150mbit on the low end), and have other products with more signal amplification that would get you there if you were shooting through trees. |
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I think a passive repeater would fit your needs. All you would need to test it is an omni-directional antenna (for inside your building) and a directional antenna (probably 15+ dBi of gain) pointed towards your router and coax between the two antennas.
They aren't very common (but are fairly cheap) and would probably only provide you a base line signal with the door closed. Try adding a +15 dBi antenna to the range extender (if possible) as well. |
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I use these for customers that want internet in out buildings. They work great.
http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-NanoStation-2-4GHz-Indoor-Outdoor/dp/B004EGI3CI/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415283121&sr=1-3&keywords=ubiquiti You can link two of them together in a bridge. Or you could run cat5 in with the electricity and then use these on each end. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002CLKFTG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Fiber is going to cost a lot more once you get media converters and SFP's and tools and connectors. etc. |
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I use these for customers that want internet in out buildings. They work great. http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-NanoStation-2-4GHz-Indoor-Outdoor/dp/B004EGI3CI/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415283121&sr=1-3&keywords=ubiquiti You can link two of them together in a bridge. SNIP Fiber is going to cost a lot more once you get media converters and SFP's and tools and connectors. etc. This looks like what I need, but doesn't it need to be dual band if that's what my router is? (2.4 & 5 GHZ) ETA: Do I also need this one to cover both bands? M5 Nano station I really appreciate all the help. This is pretty new stuff to me. |
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This looks like what I need, but doesn't it need to be dual band if that's what my router is? (2.4 & 5 GHZ) ETA: Do I also need this one to cover both bands? M5 Nano station I really appreciate all the help. This is pretty new stuff to me. Quoted:
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I use these for customers that want internet in out buildings. They work great. http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-NanoStation-2-4GHz-Indoor-Outdoor/dp/B004EGI3CI/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415283121&sr=1-3&keywords=ubiquiti You can link two of them together in a bridge. SNIP Fiber is going to cost a lot more once you get media converters and SFP's and tools and connectors. etc. This looks like what I need, but doesn't it need to be dual band if that's what my router is? (2.4 & 5 GHZ) ETA: Do I also need this one to cover both bands? M5 Nano station I really appreciate all the help. This is pretty new stuff to me. No. With a metal building I would have two of them and make a wifi bridge between the two. You can try just one at first but the metal siding will kill the wifi signal. You run a cat5 wire from your router in the house outside to the place where you want to mount one of the Ubiquiti units. In the out building run a wire from where you want to mount the other unit inside to where you want to put a wireless access point. That way the router in the house will do the routing and you won't be double NAT'd. Use a laptop to configure both units and create a wireless bridge between the two. This can be a bit tricky to set up. Depending on how much experience you have setting up wireless routers. |
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Been running 2 of these for a year now from my house to a barn over a thousand feet away. Works great and was inexpensive. |
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No. With a metal building I would have two of them and make a wifi bridge between the two. You can try just one at first but the metal siding will kill the wifi signal. You run a cat5 wire from your router in the house outside to the place where you want to mount one of the Ubiquiti units. In the out building run a wire from where you want to mount the other unit inside to where you want to put a wireless access point. That way the router in the house will do the routing and you won't be double NAT'd. Use a laptop to configure both units and create a wireless bridge between the two. This can be a bit tricky to set up. Depending on how much experience you have setting up wireless routers. Quoted:
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I use these for customers that want internet in out buildings. They work great. http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-NanoStation-2-4GHz-Indoor-Outdoor/dp/B004EGI3CI/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415283121&sr=1-3&keywords=ubiquiti You can link two of them together in a bridge. SNIP Fiber is going to cost a lot more once you get media converters and SFP's and tools and connectors. etc. This looks like what I need, but doesn't it need to be dual band if that's what my router is? (2.4 & 5 GHZ) ETA: Do I also need this one to cover both bands? M5 Nano station I really appreciate all the help. This is pretty new stuff to me. No. With a metal building I would have two of them and make a wifi bridge between the two. You can try just one at first but the metal siding will kill the wifi signal. You run a cat5 wire from your router in the house outside to the place where you want to mount one of the Ubiquiti units. In the out building run a wire from where you want to mount the other unit inside to where you want to put a wireless access point. That way the router in the house will do the routing and you won't be double NAT'd. Use a laptop to configure both units and create a wireless bridge between the two. This can be a bit tricky to set up. Depending on how much experience you have setting up wireless routers. The link you posted has two in the package. The other one I posted looks to be an add on for the 5 ghz range. Or am I totally missing something? |
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Been running 2 of these for a year now from my house to a barn over a thousand feet away. Works great and was inexpensive. http://www.amazon.com/EnGenius-Technologies-2-4GHz-Wireless-ENH202/dp/B006M1PKWY/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415292097&sr=1-3&keywords=engenius wow! 2 miles!! That's a little more than I want. I'd be supplying all the hayfield's and half the town with WiFi with that one. lol |
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The link you posted has two in the package. The other one I posted looks to be an add on for the 5 ghz range. Or am I totally missing something? Quoted:
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I use these for customers that want internet in out buildings. They work great. http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-NanoStation-2-4GHz-Indoor-Outdoor/dp/B004EGI3CI/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415283121&sr=1-3&keywords=ubiquiti You can link two of them together in a bridge. SNIP Fiber is going to cost a lot more once you get media converters and SFP's and tools and connectors. etc. This looks like what I need, but doesn't it need to be dual band if that's what my router is? (2.4 & 5 GHZ) ETA: Do I also need this one to cover both bands? M5 Nano station I really appreciate all the help. This is pretty new stuff to me. No. With a metal building I would have two of them and make a wifi bridge between the two. You can try just one at first but the metal siding will kill the wifi signal. You run a cat5 wire from your router in the house outside to the place where you want to mount one of the Ubiquiti units. In the out building run a wire from where you want to mount the other unit inside to where you want to put a wireless access point. That way the router in the house will do the routing and you won't be double NAT'd. Use a laptop to configure both units and create a wireless bridge between the two. This can be a bit tricky to set up. Depending on how much experience you have setting up wireless routers. The link you posted has two in the package. The other one I posted looks to be an add on for the 5 ghz range. Or am I totally missing something? The one I posted has one in the package. So does the one you posted. Don't go by the picture. The one you posted has longer range. |
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Quoted: wow! 2 miles!! That's a little more than I want. I'd be supplying all the hayfield's and half the town with WiFi with that one. lol Quoted: Quoted: Been running 2 of these for a year now from my house to a barn over a thousand feet away. Works great and was inexpensive. http://www.amazon.com/EnGenius-Technologies-2-4GHz-Wireless-ENH202/dp/B006M1PKWY/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415292097&sr=1-3&keywords=engenius wow! 2 miles!! That's a little more than I want. I'd be supplying all the hayfield's and half the town with WiFi with that one. lol  That is their range if you have 2 pointing at each other. That range is only as good as the other wifi devices ability to send the signal back. You can't get 2 miles using the wifi on your cell phone.
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Sounds like the start of a good business model now doesn't it?
That is their range if you have 2 pointing at each other. That range is only as good as the other wifi devices ability to send the signal back. You can't get 2 miles using the wifi on your cell phone. Quoted:
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Been running 2 of these for a year now from my house to a barn over a thousand feet away. Works great and was inexpensive. http://www.amazon.com/EnGenius-Technologies-2-4GHz-Wireless-ENH202/dp/B006M1PKWY/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415292097&sr=1-3&keywords=engenius wow! 2 miles!! That's a little more than I want. I'd be supplying all the hayfield's and half the town with WiFi with that one. lol
That is their range if you have 2 pointing at each other. That range is only as good as the other wifi devices ability to send the signal back. You can't get 2 miles using the wifi on your cell phone. A couple of hams using WRT54G's have a 40 mile link active. The WRT54G's are rated at 52 mW (they'll actually push another 1.5 dB). Good antennas can make up for a lot…two 24 dB antennas for example. |
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Are the 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz refering to different frequencies? I'm getting a little hung up on that. My Netgear extender operates both. Do I want to have two bridges? One for each freq? 2.4/5 refers to the frequency of operation. Usually you'll only need one. 2.4 GHz will go further on the same power than 5 GHz will however with 802.11n, using 2.4 GHz will be about half the speed of 5. GHz. Do you really need 100 Mbps WLAN or will 54 Mbps do it? That's just an example and not actual speeds, can't quite remember n speeds off the top of my head. |
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http://community.ubnt.com/t5/tkb/communitypage http://community.ubnt.com/t5/tkb/communitypage
Go here for good info. Makes it stupid easy. |
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Power line adapters won't work from one building to another. Quoted:
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Have you thought about power line adapters? I use a set in my home and have had zero problems with them. Power line adapters won't work from one building to another. I assumed he was running power from the house to the out building, my mistake. However, if he is they will work through a breaker box. Mine do |
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I assumed he was running power from the house to the out building, my mistake. However, if he is they will work through a breaker box. Mine do Quoted:
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Have you thought about power line adapters? I use a set in my home and have had zero problems with them. Power line adapters won't work from one building to another. I assumed he was running power from the house to the out building, my mistake. However, if he is they will work through a breaker box. Mine do Two separate meters. Separate lines from the transformer. |