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WiFi Extender to Shop

DanH

DanH

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VAF has smart folks for every subject. Help me out please.

I want to move an extra TV to my shop, and internet access would be nice too. Trouble is, the shop is a bit too far away for a direct connection to my router. Plus there is line-of-sight foliage in the summer.

Obviously I can have the power company drop a new line, but it would be around $60 per month. I'm more inclined toward a one-time cost, notably a WiFi repeater, which as I understand it, would be a device hard wired to my existing router, and mounted on the side of the house facing the shop.

Ok brain trust, it's about 250 feet, with trees. Will it work? What should I install?

162 Dogwood Ridge.jpg
 
I have something from Ubiquiti. I do not understand it well. Maybe ubiquity unifi? Line of sight good aim needed, gets me wifi into my metal building.
 
I have Ubiquiti shooting 500ft thru Pinetree foliage to its own receiver outside on the other end and then Cat 5 to inside router antenna. I have never tried any TV streaming but the wifi comes thru just fine and picks up the security camera too. Sender plugs into router via Cat 5 and shoots thru inside window, easy to set up. Its the only way my phone can get reception inside an all-metal Butler Building.
 
N40ES said:
I have Ubiquiti shooting 500ft thru Pinetree foliage to its own receiver outside on the other end and then Cat 5 to inside router antenna. I have never tried any TV streaming but the wifi comes thru just fine and picks up the security camera too. Sender plugs into router via Cat 5 and shoots thru inside window, easy to set up. Its the only way my phone can get reception inside an all-metal Butler Building.
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A third vote for Unifi (Ubiquiti) gear. I have a Nano Loco wireless mounted to the shop and the house, and have had a flawless connection for years. Runs everything in the shop - ipad, sonos, door sensors, security cameras, etc. This is old gear so I don't know what the current hardware is.

I am not an IT guy and when I first installed all the Unifi stuff (probably 6-7 years ago) I found it quite finicky and hard to deal with. In the last few years it has been easy and hands off. We also use Unifi stuff at our off grid cabin with Starlink for security cams, etc
 
I use the Verizon home internet box in the hangar, cellular but works well (about 300 MB download), built in WiFi 20/month.
Figs
 
I use a much older version of this to connect the hangar to the home internet. Two of these boxes, one in the house fed with an Ethernet cable from the main router, placing this box in the basement closest to the hangar. That box is configured as a WIFI portal. The second box in the hangar as a WIFI range extender (taking the link from the box in the basement).

I use these in the hangar for WIFI, and for connecting my TIVO boxes to watch TV as well as stream in the hangar.

Carl
 
250’ is a long distance for wireless. I would think a hardline Ethernet cable would be your best bet. You only have to stick the shovel in 500 times for an underground line. ,’)

From my ham radio days , perhaps a tuned yagi antenna on the transmit and receive antennas pointed at each other might be a possibility.
 
Have you considered a mesh router? One parent node in the closest corner of the house and a child node in the closest corner of the shop. My shop is a bit over 150' between buildings and it works for me. The nodes only need to overlap to make it work. I put there nodes in the house (1 parent and 2 child) and 2 child nodes in the shop. Pretty much get wifi everywhere, now.
 
Webb said:
250’ is a long distance for wireless. I would think a hardline Ethernet cable would be your best bet. You only have to stick the shovel in 500 times for an underground line. ,’)

From my ham radio days , perhaps a tuned yagi antenna on the transmit and receive antennas pointed at each other might be a possibility.
Click to expand...
You can do it even easier with a edger for a wire that small!
 
Hi Dan,

I set up a link just like that between my house and my mom's house about 350ft away. I cut down a few branches to have mostly a clear line of sight, but if you're working at a shorter distance, you may get away without pruning anything.

On the 'local' side, I have a Ubiquity AC Mesh Pro.
At the 'remote' site, I have a Ubiquity AC Mesh (mainly because it was easier to mount) with an upgraded directional antenna. This is connected to a 'normal' router inside mom's house that acts as the indoor access point.

Also, don't forget to add Surge Suppressors at both ends and make sure to ground them properly.

The Unifi stuff is a little more involved than your typical consumer networking gear, but it has been rock solid for the last two years. Let me know if you need help setting this up.
 
Webb said:
250’ is a long distance for wireless. I would think a hardline Ethernet cable would be your best bet. You only have to stick the shovel in 500 times for an underground line. ,’)

From my ham radio days , perhaps a tuned yagi antenna on the transmit and receive antennas pointed at each other might be a possibility.
Click to expand...

250’ of cable for lighting to strike in the ground. I’d run fiber or two radios.

I use a ubiquiti nano beams at my house to my barn with 0 complaints.
 
rocketbob said:
My hangar is 400ft from house with trees in the way. I have two of these, zip tied to downspouts:


Good for 70mbps. Zero problems over five years of use.

They're hardwired to separate wifi routers on either side.
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I have a similar setup as this. Except my TP-Link has both 2.4 and 5.0HZ built in. You will need an additional router in your shop. It works great for streaming TV and internet.
 
We use Ubiquiti Device bridge pro. Across the runway, with a repeater halfway because there are other hangars in the way, so not a straight shot. Over a mile. Been using their products for several years. Daily streaming, browsing, chart updates, etc, and 300MB up and down. Have NEVER had downtime. The fuel pumps had daily internet outages but ours is consistently up. They are both PoE powered, and only need a powered Ethernet connection to work. There are more powerful repeaters on our network but that would be plenty for your needs.

Mesh, and more powerful WIFI access points do not compare.

Have lots more details, so feel free to PM me if any questions.
 
Any simple wireless bridge will work for what you want. Can get on Amazon for pretty cheap. You’ll need a router on each side to connect to your current WiFi, and to provide an access point in your hangar.
This is the one I’m using for my hangar access. $65
 

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Webb said:
250’ is a long distance for wireless. I would think a hardline Ethernet cable would be your best bet. You only have to stick the shovel in 500 times for an underground line. ,’)

From my ham radio days , perhaps a tuned yagi antenna on the transmit and receive antennas pointed at each other might be a possibility.
Click to expand...
Please read about the ubiquiti wireless bridges mentioned here. 250 ft is a very short distance…
 
rocketbob said:
My hangar is 400ft from house with trees in the way. I have two of these, zip tied to downspouts:


Good for 70mbps. Zero problems over five years of use.

They're hardwired to separate wifi routers on either side.
Click to expand...
Two decades ago, I had something similar setup with WiFi amp, directional antennas, and routers at my old hangar on the west coast. Signal was across the airport more than 150 yards.
 
agoins said:
250’ of cable for lighting to strike in the ground. I’d run fiber or two radios.
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Lightning surge suppressors (gas discharge) are inexpensive ($10-20) and available for rj45/cat 5 applications. Put one on each side of the line. Not too long ago we all held a phone receiver to our ear and it was connected to 100’s of miles of outdoor cable, most of which was not buried, but placed up high on grounded poles just asking to be hit by lightning. We solved this issue over a century ago.
 
While it would be simple, inexpensive and require little work to do it with wireless; at that distance the reliability and speed may be suspect. Although my shop is only 120 feet from my back door, the distance from my modem and router in my home to my router in my shop was roughly 310'. I opted to buy 400 feet of fiber optic cable and run it though my home, underground, up through the attic of my shop and then to a router. The result has been fantastic. I have the same speed and reliability in my shop as I do in my home. What did I do with the extra 90' of fiber optic cable? Just coiled it up the attic of my shop. With fiber optic, an extra 90' is nothing.

Expensive? No. Simple? Yes. Easy? Absolutely not. However, depending on how deep you think you need to go, the cable can be vibrated into the ground or a trencher can be used to go a few inches (6 - 12) down. On the other hand, if you have concrete, asphalt, or gravel (etc.) that can certainly be a challenge. I haven't looked lately, but I'm thinking you could pick up the cable with connectors already on the ends for a couple hundred bucks.

Ultimately, wireless = easy, and could be done with little effort, and "may" work just fine. Fiber optic = harder, but a sure solution with no loss in performance.

On thing is for sure, having Internet service in the shop is almost as good as having electricity!

Good luck!
 
DanH said:
VAF has smart folks for every subject. Help me out please.

I want to move an extra TV to my shop, and internet access would be nice too. Trouble is, the shop is a bit too far away for a direct connection to my router. Plus there is line-of-sight foliage in the summer.

Obviously I can have the power company drop a new line, but it would be around $60 per month. I'm more inclined toward a one-time cost, notably a WiFi repeater, which as I understand it, would be a device hard wired to my existing router, and mounted on the side of the house facing the shop.

Ok brain trust, it's about 250 feet, with trees. Will it work? What should I install?

View attachment 93791
Click to expand...
Dan

I am using a Bridge. Works very good. It is Line of Sight though. Amazon. I have had Lightening to smoke it once though. You will need a wireless router on the shopr end and it is best to hard wire a cat cable from your Modem to the transmitter end at your house.

There is a newer model of this item:​

CPE661 Gigabit Wireless Bridge with Mounts, Dual WiFi Broadcasters, 3KM 5.8GHz Outdoor Point-to-Point WiFi Extender, No Router Needed, Long Range Network Extension for Starlink, Farm, Garage, Barn
CPE661 Gigabit Wireless Bridge with Mounts, Dual WiFi Broadcasters, 3KM 5.8GHz Outdoor Point-to-Point WiFi Extender, No Router Needed, Long Range Network Extension for Starlink, Farm, Garage, Barn
$169.99
(20)
In Stock
 
DanH said:
VAF has smart folks for every subject. Help me out please.

I want to move an extra TV to my shop, and internet access would be nice too. Trouble is, the shop is a bit too far away for a direct connection to my router. Plus there is line-of-sight foliage in the summer.

Obviously I can have the power company drop a new line, but it would be around $60 per month. I'm more inclined toward a one-time cost, notably a WiFi repeater, which as I understand it, would be a device hard wired to my existing router, and mounted on the side of the house facing the shop.

Ok brain trust, it's about 250 feet, with trees. Will it work? What should I install?

View attachment 93791
Click to expand...
Sounds like you need a chainsaw.
 
Thanks guys. I've ordered a pair of Ubiquiti Loco5AC's, and we'll see how it goes.
 
Years ago I tried a Wifi extender (short range within the house) and had nothing but issues. These days, if I tried again, it would be a mesh system.
 
I got one of these less than 2 foot wide parabolic dishes and pointed it at my house wifi router 400 feet away. Works well for my purposes. No trees. Effectively no windows. One brick wall.

 
Another vote for anything ubiquiti... Costs only a little more than your amazon / netgear / tp-link etc... stuff but is "quality" and on the "prosumer" side of things. Hard to beat in terms of robustness, control and performance.
https://www.ui.com/us/en/wifi/bridging for the current line up.
The distance is too big IMHO for standard omnidirectional WIFI extenders etc...
Unless you can add multiple "hops" in a mesh network fashion in between. Based on your image, there is plenty of "nothing" between the two sites however, so you'd need at least power and a pole somewhere.

You really want to have a robust Wifi Bridge with a point-to-point directional antenna setup. Maybe consider getting the previous model/generation to save money. Would still be plenty powerful enough for your requirements.
Also, if it's all your own land, you could consider running an optical fibre in a simple / "low-tech" fashion, and then ethernet switches on each end with SFP modules.
Nothing as robust as wired/fibre. But the WIFI/WiMax Bridge solution is probably easiest to install and most affordable.
good luck!
 
I just went through this and ended up burying a line to the barn. I can plug it in to the router in the house. What do I need at the barn to transmit? I am a technology imbecile….
 
If you search for Crosstalk Communications on YouTube, he does a lot of setup videos to get stuff running. Good luck
 
Another vote for Unifi. Used their gear for a few locations 800' away and another a couple miles away. Both were line of sight though not sure about through a forest.

AirFiber was the stuff. Once you go unifi you never go back.

Alternatively, a relatively cheap fiber switch and a buried fiber line to your shop is the absolute best solution.
 
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