Comment on Wi-Fi Extender, Long-Range, Suggestions?
irotsoma@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 days ago
Is there lime of site between the main building and the target building or is the middle building blocking line of site? If there is line of site then directional antennas are your best bet. Problem with most access points and range extenders is they’re designed to broadcast and receive in all directions. With a directional antenna you concentrate the power and reduce the likelihood of interference.
vimmiewimmie@slrpnk.net 1 day ago
There is a line of sight, which is only slightly obstructed by very thin bushes/branches. Someone posted about some TP-Link type brand of bridges with a range in multiple miles; so much further than is needed but would certainly do the job. Though, I saw some single devices from the same brand, OMA…something?, with stated ranges of 300-600 ft.
So, as long as; the very sparse branches don’t impede that range much; I can place it outside or it reaches through the external wall of the house AND the external wall of the small desired building; then I may get away with just the one additional device and the original device (if the Google pod doesn’t fight the use of a non-google extender as it’s link to the main network, which I suppose isn’t a guarantee).
I’ve informed her the network speed at the secondary building would be slower than inside the house after linking through each connection, but the desire to keep it simple for her and whoever she has come by to troubleshoot it in the future is more of a preference for her.
After talking with her today she is also not interested in drilling holes in any walls. So, confirmation there.
irotsoma@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
Could you mount the antennas, or even just one of them, externally? That may improve performance. A small parabolic antenna a few inches wide or a purpose made building to building bridging kit only needs a small mounting surface with a few screws, and as for the wire you might not need to drill a hole, though properly patched that’s not a big deal either, but instead use an existing hole by removing old, unused phone or cable wire.
Alternatively, is there a window facing in the correct direction? Signals penetrate glass way better than all of the siding, insulation, drywall, etc in an external wall. Remember there’s way more material than an internal wall to penetrate. And if you have aluminum siding or certain kinds of insulation, it may not work at all. The tree branches may or may not be an issue depending on how thick they are, if they are branches with lots of leaves, the types of leaves, the density of the wood, etc. But the exterior wall penetration means it’s literally not line of site (you can’t visually see from one antenna to the other), so the rated ranges are moot and may or may not work reliably.