Beaming Wi-Fi

[zdozbou]

I've got a barn that's about 200 feet from the house. I'm wanting to have stable internet at the barn, leeching off of the internet at the house. It's across a road, so I can't run a wire over to it.

I'm not really familiar with what kind of equipment I would need to do this. I know wireless network extenders exist, but I know nothing of how they operate. Also, I need a strong connection over there. The barn is made of metal, so I have a hard time getting any type of signal in or out. I'm wondering if there is some kind of way I could put an antenna on the house, and one on the barn, and connect that way?

If anyone has an experience with this, and/or suggestions, I'd much appreciate to hear them! Thanks in advance!

 

[PeteSampras]

i used a wifi extender and a usb antenna to reach extreme distances through concrete/metal.

also, if you do end up with a beam type of deal, you can wrap an antenna in a pringles can and point it at the signal and that makes it super effective.

 

[Nicedreamsbt]

I use a Yagi-Uda antenna to "borrow" some wifi about 50 feet away. The yagi i have sucks and is of cheep quality but I do get 5 bars. I wish i lived in the states because I would of used these guys and IMO you should contact them and they can help you get everything you need. Line of sight from one antenna to the other is going to be the biggest problem. You could prob get away with something cheaper but I am no expert.


24dBi 2.4GHz Outdoor Parabolic Grid

 

[DT]

I've got a barn that's about 200 feet from the house. I'm wanting to have stable internet

Sorry, just need to point out that pun

 

[htw]

Get 1 pro extender and 1 pro access point - not very expensive either.

Amped Wireless High Power Wi-Fi Professional Series Product Family

htw

 

[zdozbou]

That's exactly what I was looking for, htw. Thanks all for the responses!

One question tho, I'm wondering if these devices will work on my network. When I buy a new router, I have to call my ISP and give them the MAC address or I can't get internet access. I see this setup is added after the router, so I assume it would be ok, but I'm not sure? I highly doubt my ISP would be happy with me beaming internet to another location lol.

 

[devestator]

That's exactly what I was looking for, htw. Thanks all for the responses!

One question tho, I'm wondering if these devices will work on my network. When I buy a new router, I have to call my ISP and give them the MAC address or I can't get internet access. I see this setup is added after the router, so I assume it would be ok, but I'm not sure? I highly doubt my ISP would be happy with me beaming internet to another location lol.

Yeah your isp will only see the Mac of the device connected directly to the modem. Assuming based on what you said its not a wifi router / modem as one unit.

So you should not have a problem there.

 

[aspire2008]

Get 1 pro extender and 1 pro access point - not very expensive either.

Amped Wireless High Power Wi-Fi Professional Series Product Family

htw

Not to familiar with networking, but does an access point do the same thing as an extender?

About 2 years ago, i bought 2 same model routers, flashed 1 of them to Tomato and set it up as an access point to boost the signal across the house. Wouldn't that be called an extender in a way? are the words used interchangeably i.e. access point can be an extender

Only downside to all this, from what I read on the Tomato forums, it cuts my bandwidth by 1/2 each time I add an access point.

 

[htw]

Technically, yes - but the idea of an extender is that ONLY the wireless connects both ends, where as any wireless device that allows connections TO it could be considered an 'access point'.

An example would be a huge building, multiple offices, etc, that you wire ethernet all over the place, for both PCs, printers, and ACCESS POINTS - so when you wander around with a wireless device (laptop, etc.), it can get the best signal and be on the same network.

An extender doesn't require that wired connection into the exiting network (at least it shouldn't, to be called that). That makes the extender act not just as a connection between the wireless clients and the wired network (or just the router itself) - i.e., not just an 'access point'.

Access Point: Wired into existing network, accepts wireless connections from clients.
Extender (or Repeater): Not wired into existing network, connects wirelessly with another wireless router/etc., accepts connections from clients.

Hope that's more or less clear...

htw

 

[htw]

aspire, after re-reading your last paragraph, sounds like you set up what is known as a WDS (Wireless Distribution System). Maybe you didn't, but here is the difference, I'll throw the other 2 back in here again (and maybe a word or two to clarify, like 'wired'):

Access Point: Connected to an existing wired network, accepts wireless connections from clients, bridges the networks.
Extender (or Repeater): Not connected to any wired network, connects wirelessly with another wireless router/etc., accepts connections from clients, creates a new wireless network for the clients (i.e., not bridged).
WDS: A base station (say, your wireless router), connected wirelessly to 'remote' stations (that will either repeat or bridge), or secondary base stations (that will bridge). I.e., WDS can work like a bridge (so you all look like you're on the same network), or as a repeater (i.e. it has it's own network).

Clear as mud, I know.

If I were him, I'd go with that setup, where (hopefully) he can set each end up with the long cable (power over ethernet) to get line of sight.

The example for the AP pic shows what I mean pretty good IMO:

 

[aspire2008]

Really appreciate you explaining this Htw. I also looked at my router + access point setup and yep its labeled as WDS + Access Point for the wireless.

The setup extended the signal about 300 ft for me, and it was pretty cheap to do ($60 total for both routers). Not sure if that is something your interested in Zdozbou, or maybe someone else that might need it, if you need a really cheap alternative. Its fine for productivity, surfing the web, watching movies, but I wouldn't use it as a reliable method for something such as gaming, especially RTS and FPS games, were each millisecond matters.

 

[devestator]

Really appreciate you explaining this Htw. I also looked at my router + access point setup and yep its labeled as WDS + Access Point for the wireless.

The setup extended the signal about 300 ft for me, and it was pretty cheap to do ($60 total for both routers). Not sure if that is something your interested in Zdozbou, or maybe someone else that might need it, if you need a really cheap alternative. Its fine for productivity, surfing the web, watching movies, but I wouldn't use it as a reliable method for something such as gaming, especially RTS and FPS games, were each millisecond matters.

Most likely it wouldn't work for him if the barn is across a road. When you figure in wall interference and such a standard sub 60 dollar router just isn't going to broadcast a signal far enough for another router to receive it and act as a reliable conduit to the wireless. Those amped wireless devices use really high powered directional antennas to get the signal as far as they do. And they really are directional, if you try to get a signal 5 feet behind them, most of the time you either can't or it's going to suck hehe.

I doubt even a high dollar 300+ dollar router would have the signal power for what he needs. It really depends on just how wide the road is, but if it's a standard 2 lane traffic road, it's probably at least 25 feet wide, plus most places have restrictions against having anything built within 25+ feet of the road. Meaning there is most likely at least 75 feet of open air between his house and the barn.

Even if he had the routers on the outer most walls as close as possible to each other 75 feet is a tall order for a standard router going through walls and such. At it's best a typical wireless N router has ~200 foot of range indoors and maybe 500 to 600 outdoors. This however is theoretical limits with no other factors like wave interference. Any other type of radio waves can interfere, cell phone towers, tv broadcast waves, power lines, etc. Also this theoretical maximum would be the farthest point that you could achieve a beacon signal from the router, you definitely would not be making connections and transferring data at that range.

I would question if you aren't overestimating your 300 foot range increase with your access point. Keep in mind most typically sized houses are only about 52 feet by 52 feet if they were perfectly square. (That is based on the average home size being 2700 sq ft single story). If you lived in a really long double wide trailer, it might be 26 feet wide and 80 feet long. 300 feet is the length of a football field goal line to goal line.

 

[aspire2008]

Well after pulling it up with Google maps and measuring distance, its not 300ft but ~260 ft (not from the access point), but from where the router sits.
I can get a signal from my neighbors driveway, at least that's the farthest I've tried.

I have the access point setup pretty linearly with 2 brick walls to go through + 4 dry walls from rooms. If you look at the image, the brick walls are more of an issue than a path to my neighbors driveway. Keep in mind the bandwidth is half as much though from the access point onwards, and I'm sure the signal I'm picking up at that distance is the one from the access point.

 

[zdozbou]

Good idea with the Google map, I made one to measure the distance mine would need to travel and I was pretty close with the 200ft guess. Comes out to 221ft. There are some trees in the way, but I think the Amped equipment htw linked would probably do the trick.

Thanks again for all the feedback!

 

[Lorekeeper]

I enjoy looking at your roofs personally.

 

[jarori43]

I enjoy looking at your roofs personally.

This made me lol and spit diet coke unto mine selfs shirt.