Wifi Extender

So looking for some suggestions to get better wifi signal in the garage. Its only about 80-100 feet from the house by with several walls between the router and the garage the signal is quite weak. I could use a directional extender or a good 360 extension might be nice to also boost the signal at the fire pit and patio. What have you guys had good success with? I will need something I can put in the storage room as I don't want something on the exterior of the house so it will have one interior wall between itself and the router(unless it is hard wired) and will still have one exterior wall between itself and the garage.

Thanks
Jeremy

Was looking for something like this and found this zombie post searching. Has anyone had any luck with wi-fi extenders? I have a big brick house with one inch plaster walls, and I can't even get a signal through the whole house. The cable guy was out last week looking at a TV issue but mentioned these as a way to improve the signal. I guess the boost it through the 110 AC wiring.

Anyone using a setup like this? I would like to get it out to the garage too, which is 50 feet from the house and also made of brick.

Thank you.

-Geoff

My buddy has the 110ac adapter setup and says it works well. His house was built in 1898, and the master bedroom is up in the attic on the 3rd floor, router is down on the 1st.

With the kids in virtual school last year, and my wife and I working from home, I picked up a Synology router. They have an integrated controller for their mesh adapters. I also work from the attic in our 2018 built home (also 3 floors up), and with the router on the 1st floor, mesh extender on the 2nd, I've had no connectivity issues and genuinely like the router and software for it. The Synology is more pricey than the 110 extenders, obviously.

Bury a cable running out to your garage and put up an additional access point. More work with having to bury it, less cost assuming you can bury it on your own and WAY better signal strength and quality that you'll never have to worry about again.

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Originally Posted by RyeLou

Bury a cable running out to your garage and put up an additional access point. More work with having to bury it, less cost assuming you can bury it on your own and WAY better signal strength and quality that you'll never have to worry about again.

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That was the plan, I already had dug a trench, for the electrical, but the apprentice guy filled it in before i had a chance to run any additional wires (I wanted to run cold water too for hand washing). And at this point, I really don't want to dig another trench. When I moved in they put down a bunch of "Fill" dirt, and I needed a pick-axe to get through it. Not fun!

I never really needed wifi out there, but I figured if it worked through the power lines it would just be easy.

-Geoff

Ethernet home run between the house and garage with an AP in the garage is best. But yes, you either need to trench, or have existing conduit you could pull low voltage through.

Big step down, but workable, would be an Ethernet power bridge (a/k/a Powerline adapter). Idea would be to use the THHN between your house and garage to carry Ethernet.

Also hit and miss would be some form of mesh wireless setup with one mesh device in the house that's placed as close to the garage as possible, and one on the garage placed as close to the house as possible. You could also get external mesh devices/antennas.

Gosh, I wish I knew what you guys were talking about. I have a long ranch home and my WIFI is pretty bad at the far end of the home and in my garage.

I would like to know, In Plain English, what I can buy and use? I want something simple that works...

grr

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Originally Posted by grr456

Gosh, I wish I knew what you guys were talking about. I have a long ranch home and my WIFI is pretty bad at the far end of the home and in my garage.

I would like to know, In Plain English, what I can buy and use? I want something simple that works...

grr

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You need the same thing I do, but I don't know what that is yet either! I probably just need to go to Micro Center and find some 20 year old kid and let him tell me what to buy....

-Geoff

I will tell you - I have the Synology router (this one) on the 1st floor, with an extender on the 2nd floor (this extender). I live on acreage, very flat open land, and I can get a signal (weak, but it connects) on my phone out at my barn 400' away.

For your yard, Geoff, that really may be powerful enough to get out to the garage. $200 router, and you can add extenders later at $140/ea if needed.

Are the routers that much more powerful? I updated my WiFi a few years ago - and my Asus is rated for the same coverage as yours. I think I need something separate, not looking to start from scratch.

-Geoff

Interesting to see this topic rise up again.
I have my router in the basement, basically because that is where the cable was brought in to the house.
I've been thinking to experiment and put it in the attic, only issue is, then it is all wireless and once it's set up, it's in there.
Curious if the coverage would be better for the house there though rather than bottom's up....

Edit - Ok, maybe not the best idea for more than the reasons I mentioned above...

Attachment 87057

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Originally Posted by Atrus

I will tell you - I have the Synology router (this one) on the 1st floor, with an extender on the 2nd floor (this extender). I live on acreage, very flat open land, and I can get a signal (weak, but it connects) on my phone out at my barn 400' away.

For your yard, Geoff, that really may be powerful enough to get out to the garage. $200 router, and you can add extenders later at $140/ea if needed.

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So now lets say I have these in my hands - Now what do we need to do to hook it up? Does this replace my existing WOW Router or does this work in conjunction with it?

I'm not a super tech guy or anything, just sharing the experience I had. Prior to this I had the first gen Google Mesh system, and it started giving me a lot of grief. I switched to this and noticed it was far more powerful and remediated a lot of our issues.

As far as your WOW router, I assume it's an integrated modem/router? You'd need to leave it there to function as a modem, but you could turn off (or ignore) that wifi network, plug a different router into the WOW box, and then run everything off that wireless network.

If I were in your shoes and mostly happy with what I have, I'd consider the AC adapter setup. I don't think they are very expensive. It may not work amazingly well if you have large bandwidth requirements, but for general usage it could/should work. Like I mentioned, my buddy is in IT and uses one at his place and seems happy with it. He works remotely and is on Google Meets all day with it.

Again, I am not anywhere near an expert on any of this.

My wife stuck eero wifi transmitters all around out house. I have one on my detached block garage as well (about 60' from the main router) they daisy link to each other to extend coverage.

I redid my house and ran CAT6 to all of the rooms to plug in my TVs etc, this freed up a bit of bandwidth. In the process, I ran a CAT6 cable to my garage and hooked up my old WiFi router then configured it to be a repeater. It isn't great but it gives me WiFi throughout my entire garage and yard. My current modem/router is located in my basement due to having old plaster walls, so this give the best overall WiFi coverage throughout the house but wouldn't travel (or give a strong enough signal) to my garage.

See if the manufacturer of your router makes any sort of mesh kit and go with that. I would try to avoid running ethernet outside in case of a lightning strike. Fiber with two fiber-to-RJ45 converters (one each side) would do the job.

My networking equipment is in my basement, on one end of the house. On the 2nd floor I have another Asus router (wired) that is used with their AiMesh system to act as an access point. Works pretty well for me and I have coverage throughout the 26xx sq ft house and outside.

I also ran cat 6 to all rooms before moving in and have one run up in the attic for a POE access point (when I switch over to Ubiquiti equipment). I thought about installing the future POE AP in the attic but I do not know if that will be the best for it (since its un-conditioned space). I will probably just install it on the hallway ceiling which won't look so bad, IMO.

Edit: Photo of the rack.

https://i.ibb.co/HqDjGg9/IMG-3173.jpg

I ended up getting a WiFi repeater for $65 at Microcenter. I could have spent a lot more for a mesh network, but really this was all I needed. Probably won't work in the garage, but the house is covered. The guy advised against using the stuff that runs the Wi-Fi through your outlets too, said they always had signal issues.

-Geoff