Solution to extend wifi to approx. 80/100m - rural area

[tgl]

And a big warning sticker NOT to look into the telescope when the remote end was powered on.

Hah ... I remember in said ancient undergrad days, the department's laser lab had a pithy sign: "Warning: do not look into laser with remaining eye."

 

[Ceros_X]

Hej everyone, after receiving a couple years back some brilliant advice on how to upgrade my wifi in our city house I am now returning for some advice on another topic.

We have a farmhouse in a rural area deep down in the Belgian Ardennes and recently I’ve built a tree house about halfway down the field toward the forest. Basically we had the garden and field area leading up to that point covered with wifi by using an old Asus RTN66u with some hack on it (can’t remember exactly but I believe it’s set to 400mW using merlin firmware). As an extra I’ve put longer tplink antennas on it but it’s not reliably reaching the treehouse.
There is no wat to get out there with cabling so I have to make do with whatever I can put on the outside of the main house.
Does anyone have tips on what kind of equipment could be used? The reason I mention ‘rural area’ is the fact that there are no other wifi signals present on that location, it’s rather secluded.
Any advice is welcome! Thans in advance

This gentlmen does 1000ft with power only on one side.

 

[L&LD]

Yes, that is my experience too with WiFi. If the router has better RF, it is better for all client devices within its range.

This is contrary to what most here say. (That the client needs to be 'boosted' too, not just the router).

A great example of this, thanks for the link.

 

[Tech9]

This gentlmen does 1000ft with power only on one side.

Yes, with high-gain antenna. Nothing unusual. The antenna works both ways Tx/Rx. This is how NanoStation works in AP mode and covers greater distance. The guy with 17dBi antenna has to stay in the beam though. This antenna doesn't cover the entire field 1000ft away.

 

[drinkingbird]

Yes, that is my experience too with WiFi. If the router has better RF, it is better for all client devices within its range.

This is contrary to what most here say. (That the client needs to be 'boosted' too, not just the router).

A great example of this, thanks for the link.

RF power, RF quality, antenna gain are all different things. Jacking up the power alone isn't going to do much (having the AP a bit higher than the clients makes sense, but if you take it too far you introduce more noise and defeat the purpose). Higher gain antenna will help both directions, as long as you're in the now narrower coverage area. A better radio (with better noise filtering/rejection and less noise output) will help both directions too. So it isn't really contrary to when many will say you have to boost the power on both ends, this case is more about gain than radio power.

 

[SeriousFamily]

from reading the first post you mention no way for cables? why no cables?

I still think your best option is run a power cable along with network cable and cheap accesspoint at the treehouse.

 

[drinkingbird]

from reading the first post you mention no way for cables? why no cables?

I still think your best option is run a power cable along with network cable and cheap accesspoint at the treehouse.

An expensive solution, especially if you have it done correctly by an electrician.

A directional AP pointed at the treehouse is probably going to work fine. If not, the other option would be an Ecoflow or Anker power station with solar panel to recharge it, and hang an AP off that. That'll run between $200 and $400 depending on capacity of the power center and size of the solar panel you choose (and assumes there is enough sunlight to charge it). Or bring it inside after each use and recharge it.

 

[ueevii]

As to the solar panels, OP might have a look at our product (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BNC1VZWR/?tag=snbforums-20). It has a built-in 30W 30AH battery, which can be charged, and supports 12V DC output for wireless bridge kit and out cams!

 

[Steve23]

I used to do this years ago on my property with an ultra-cheap Edimax AP/range extender (<$20 at the time) and a directional antenna that was approx 5-inches square (not quite 13cm). That easily reached 200 feet through my garage wall - the antenna wasn't even outside (I didn't test farther away).

I'd still go single-band (2.4GHz has better range than 5GHz anyway), low-cost, (something like a TP-Link EAP110-Outdoor or EAP225-Outdoor if you want a bit more) and find a directional Wifi antenna. Wavlink also makes a low-cost 2.4GHz AP, so there are options.*

Those recommendations aside, this shouldn't be much of a challenge. There are a variety of low-cost, high-power APs out there these days. Directional antennas are available too. With a directional antenna, you may even be able to lower the AP's xmit/receive power, prolonging the radio's life. Unless you're partial to a 'pro-sumer' or business-scale solution, I'd keep it reasonable.

That's my opinion, of course. Have fun!

* One reason I mentioned the TP-Link device (I use an EAP110-Outdoor now to reach my outdoor shop) is that it has a nice firmware feature to block connected clients' access to the LAN (guest network, if you will) with just one click so I don't even need to isolate it another way. Note that the EAP110-Outdoor is strictly an AP. It does NOT support other modes such as router, etc. It doesn't even have a DHCP server so IP addresses (including its own) are issued by the router that it is connected to. This makes the one-click isolation feature even more appealing from a simplicity-of-setup perspective.

EDIT:
...then I watched the video in post #22 above. A very workable solution for basic connectivity. Remember also, the AP has two antenna ports. I'll leave it at that.

 

[drinkingbird]

If N speeds (either 2.4 or 5ghz) are enough, TP Link has some directional N APs for $30 to $50 looks like Lenovo is clearing them out. They do have AC versions for under $100 too.