WiFi extender vs powerline vs moving the D7000

[Luke Ferrari]

Hi there,

Apologies firstly for the rambling title: I've purchased NG's D7000 to replace my ISP's excuse for a router & unfortunately, with my house filled with solid walls, it hasn't delivered the all-encompassing network I was hoping. I really would appreciate some worldly experience before making any more purchases.

I need to extend the network coverage by 100ft into the garden so my wife can keep an eye on our 6 month old on the monitor whilst gardening (she's driving me nuts). I'm not convinced that any current wifi extender will guarantee this & my conveniently-placed shed's electrical supply is isolated behind it's own RCBO, so I don't think a PLA will do the job either.

There's no way I can move our router close enough to the garden to do cover this, so any advice is most welcome. Thanks in advance from a noob.

 

[System Error Message]

The powerline AV1200 does a lot better than the AV500 but it is much more expensive. Cheapest way is to wire an ethernet cable to an AP. See about getting one from a shop which you can return it to if it doesnt work.

Another way is to do wifi extending properly which isnt by placing an AP and hope it connects with wifi rather by having a dedicated wifi bridge using directional antennas. It requires a lot of APs for it to work.
[Router]----[AP])))))(((([AP]----((([AP])))
-- ethernet, )))((( directional bridge, ((())) omni directional wifi.

A lot of inexperienced will say that my advice is unnecessary but it provides the best range, performance and results and is actually the correct way to extend wifi without using wires rather than just placing an extender and using those omni antennas and the same radio to bridge and distribute wifi. For best results you will want to hard mount the AP and antenna for the bridging so it cant be moved and be misaligned.

Wireless AC has good range if it is from a good platform. The netgear R7000, asus AC3200 for example. Again, make sure you buy it from a place that lets you return it if it doesnt work out for you.

 

[Luke Ferrari]

Thanks System Error Message... even if your screen name did initially make me think that my post had failed .

AV1200s are doable, but I would still need wireless coverage of the garden, so presumably I would still need to add a wireless AP to it?

Just to clarify, in your diagram: --- means wired & )))((( means wireless? Having had a quick look on Google Shopping, Google is either confused between wifi boosters and bridges or returning ridiculously expensive bridges... Do you have any suggestions?

Also, would it possible to use a PLA at the phone jack in order to place the D7000 (R7000 with built-in VDSL) in the kitchen, which would potentially cover all needs and would this degrade signal strength/speed/distance in any way?

Thanks again.

 

[thiggins]

If you home has thick / masonry walls, you should try to get the AP onto an outside wall.
If you can't run Ethernet to the location near the garden area, then try AV2 Homeplug to get an Ethernet jack there.

Use an EnGenius combo antenna / AP like this.

 

[sfx2000]

Go with ethernet if you can - PowerLine, even HP AV2 will add quite a bit of latency, about 4x that of an ethernet connection.. on my measurements - 500 uSec compared to 2 mSec on AV1200

 

[System Error Message]

When using powerline you attach an AP to the other side. There are powerlines with wifi but i wouldnt recommend them, that internal RF design and antenna may not be great for range.

)))((( means wifi but using directional antenna, just to indicate a dedicated link between 2 APs. APs can have multiple radios 2.4 Ghz and Ghz but they share the same antenna so you cant have the same AP being both bridge and distributing wifi. A directional antenna is usually looks like a vertical beam or a dish that concentrates wifi in 1 direction whereas omni antennas distribute wifi all around and look like your everyday cylindrical antennas.

If ethernet isnt a solution and powerline doesnt work than this is your only solution. To make it simple you dont need 3 or 4 channel 5Ghz AC radios, even 2 channel links are enough as the more channels the more antennas and the more of a pain it would be to have to align all those antennas. The cheap way is with using a router like the AC1900 and attaching directionals whereas ubiquiti's outdoor wifi with dishes is much more expensive but they at least come as a pair with all the accessories but use only 1 channel so have a link speed of 450Mb/s. This was shown in one of linustechtips video of him trying to bridge his office internet to his home so he could enjoy faster internet. Its like what @thiggins suggested for your bridge, get a pair of those and put an AP on the other end connected via ethernet, and your router at the other end.

A wifi bridge is just any 2 APs that use directional antennas. You can get the AP and antennas seperately, align them and set up the bridge.

 

[pege63]

This was shown in one of linustechtips video of him trying to bridge his office internet to his home so he could enjoy faster internet. Its like what @thiggins suggested for your bridge, get a pair of those and put an AP on the other end connected via ethernet, and your router at the other end.

A wifi bridge is just any 2 APs that use directional antennas. You can get the AP and antennas seperately, align them and set up the bridge.

Can you link to the linustechtips video off him trying to bridge his office internet to his home so he could enjoy faster internet?

 

[System Error Message]

 

[Luke Ferrari]

Thanks a lot guys. That video is great too! Update: at present, we've got an electrician at the house doing some wiring & he's agreed to refurb an old out-of-order plug socket that's on the outside our extension, pointing towards the garden. Now all I need to do is decide what to plug in there. It's tempting to find a weather-proof PLA with combined/separate wireless AP, but I'll wait for the electrician to finish his bit first (unfortunately he's not too clued up on home networking either). Cheers again.