Enhancing WiFi reception?

[TractorGuy]

It is almost like learning a new language...

Funny at work I am often called to help with hardware problems... because I am available and have great success...

When it comes to software and configuring Corp IT comes out... sometimes it can take weeks for a simple request...

Someone once told me twenty years experience means very little in IT... as it is continuously evolving...

However when a new IT came out with a new printer he took down two floors of the old hospital not knowing anything about 10BASE2... I had to school him the breaking any connection when adding or taking away hardware brings everyone down... it was a strange feeling speaking from a position of knowledge but I do a lot of keeping legacy equipment functional...

ultrarunner,

From previous discussions about boilers, sterilizers, and IT issues it sounds like our careers have taken a similar path although in different atmospheres. Yours being hospital and mine was on the research university side. My primary function was to operate the machine shop and design/fabricate devices that couldn't be purchased. I didn't have enough of that to keep me busy so I also maintained all the equipment and did all the networking. We also did all the printer repairs and maintenance. Our IT staff diverted abut half their calls to me to look into network problems which rarely turned out to be network related. Most of the staff would just call me first to see if I could get them fixed before they called IT to get on the waiting list. When I retired the university was pushing to eliminate any departmental networking and force everyone to use the university's people. They were quoting $300 per drop and rising at the time.

 

[cqaigy2]

How about something as simple as a passive repeater if it is a next door neighbor. One nice yagi near and pointing toward the wi-fi router of the neighbor. some coax between the houses, and a nice yagi inside your house. No electronics, just two beam antennas and some coax. Yagis for 2.4ghz are very small.

Here we go.

One at his house, connected to his WiFi device, the other on your end. Some "routers" don't have the ability to connect an external antenna, but if it does.

 

[SirMaxwell]

i mentioned he would need another router/ap for the wireless side.

double nat is not a issue, nor is triple or quad, he's not doing port forwarding so its a non issue. the nano's can be bridged, but he's better off running in router mode due to compatibility issues with bridge mode.

there are a ton of ways to do it. **** if he's on the same transformer side, he can even do powerline, but i digress

Yep tons of ways to do it.. Double NAT'ing is always a concern when you place a router behind a router. Port forwarding is a way to get around the NAT issue, like sticking to a DMZ if you can't bridge, and on and on. All he needs is to boost what he's got. When I say boost, its mostly from "his" transmit side. Receiving is usually the easy part. So he is best served with a device that transmits at least, or better, than it receives. As the OP doe not wish to or cannot reasonably, change the source, it limits some options. Since he doesn't appear to need to stream video at HD levels, then he can take the speed hit of a repeater. As his signal is weak inside the 'barn', he needs at least an outdoor antenna, or outdoor repeater. Everyone from Cisco, Linksys, EnGenius, D-Link, TP-Link, Ubiguiti, Netgear, Belkin, and on and on have something. But, I digress - I'd say we have all given the OP plenty to think about, consider, and act upon. Perhaps enough to dive deep into the rabbit hole and next find himself on Alibaba.

 

[newbury]

Readls like OP is asking how to get it done with the least expense and no involvement or bothering of his gracious neighbor.

Lots of options. Google, Amazon or eBay WiFi range extender and let your budget decide and the reviews decide.
<snip>

This is his problem, thousands of devices and he's looking for some TBN "been there, done that" advice.

As you will notice, you are getting lots of suggestions, but yet to clarify what you really want to do, or can do. Comes to mind, perhaps you should download a free (or pay if you wish) HeatMap Tool (or APP if you prefer that word). You can get a version for your laptop that will show you all the WiFi in the area, strength, and with a site mapper (heat map) do a quick little site survey of your own and see whats what.

Bottom Line, you may need just an external antenna, maybe a simple WiFi booster at/near neighbor or maybe near you, perhaps an External A/P at neighbor, perhaps a Bridge (device at Neighbor and Device on your side). Remember, any improvement you make on the neighbors side, will be good for him as well. Win-Win.

Grab and app, do a Map, see what you got, oh also the Manufacturer and Model of the existing device.

This assumes all you really want is to attach to your neighbors WiFi, a stronger WiFi signal.

This should have been done first. I've several Android apps that map network strength, "Network Signal Info" is my favorite, "WiFi Analyzer" second. Microsoft gives out WiFiAnalyzer for Windows 10. Just walk around the area and find the best signal strength balanced off the best place to put equipment. For example you might want place a repeater up near the driveway and just run it off a battery source for the few times you are there. Then send the signal down to wherever you want it.

I disagree with

Remember, any improvement you make on the neighbors side, will be good for him as well.

, any hardware added would be a potential maintenance concern.

How about something as simple as a passive repeater if it is a next door neighbor. One nice yagi near and pointing toward the wi-fi router of the neighbor. some coax between the houses, and a nice yagi inside your house. No electronics, just two beam antennas and some coax. Yagis for 2.4ghz are very small.

Did you mean coax between Yagi and the house? If he could just run coax from the neighbors house to his house there would be no problem.

Lol - yea you gotta keep up. I started with my first computer build in 1976, a Sinclair computer kit. Bag of parts, you assemble and program. Been on a computer every day since, from main frames to the introduction of the PC. But I digress...........

Lets clarify something,

1) You want WiFi for your laptop, maybe WiFi for a smartphone?
2) You have access to clean WiFi, just outside your Barn, and spotty WiFi, inside Barn?
3) You have 120VAC at the Barn?
4) You want to minimize interaction with neighbor?
5) This is very low use and perhaps even a bit temporary

If all are yes, do yourself a favor, find a repeater/booster/extender, at least 1W, Omni Directional Antennas, outdoor IP65 rating.

Many good companies. Available from 50 bucks to 1000 bucks. You decide. Me I figure about 100 bucks. Plus an Ethernet cable.
I think you can look through the Internet and find ratings as well as any of us, just be careful, its a deep rabbit hole.

Good Luck.

Any strong contenders? I think Ubiquiti is a great brand. But as you write it is a deep rabbit hole and the OP has lots of other stuff he does in his 26 hour day.

Another point is that if there is much vegetation he might need to drop to 900Mhz.

 

[SirMaxwell]

Readls like OP is asking how to get it done with the least expense and no involvement or bothering of his gracious neighbor.

This is his problem, thousands of devices and he's looking for some TBN "been there, done that" advice.



This should have been done first. I've several Android apps that map network strength, "Network Signal Info" is my favorite, "WiFi Analyzer" second. Microsoft gives out WiFiAnalyzer for Windows 10. Just walk around the area and find the best signal strength balanced off the best place to put equipment. For example you might want place a repeater up near the driveway and just run it off a battery source for the few times you are there. Then send the signal down to wherever you want it.

I disagree with , any hardware added would be a potential maintenance concern.


Did you mean coax between Yagi and the house? If he could just run coax from the neighbors house to his house there would be no problem.



Any strong contenders? I think Ubiquiti is a great brand. But as you write it is a deep rabbit hole and the OP has lots of other stuff he does in his 26 hour day.

Another point is that if there is much vegetation he might need to drop to 900Mhz.

One major point to remember, the OP does say he has a clear signal in the drive outside the his barn, and spotty inside his barn.

 

[Ritothebull]

I had a similar issue when trying to get wifi from my house to my workshop a bit over 300' out mostly for streaming music, I had it working ok just by putting a wifi extender in my barn about midway from the house but the signal was weak and some days it would drop out often, (we're on dsl here). I noticed that some devices worked better than others but eventually they would all drop the signal. Then about a month ago I purchased a new Pixel phone and it receives the wifi in the shop amost as good as if I'm standing next to the house and it hasn't droped the signal once so the quality of the receiver in the device your using definatly can make a big difference when dealing with a weak signal.

 

[aczlan]

I think Ubiquiti is a great brand. But as you write it is a deep rabbit hole and the OP has lots of other stuff he does in his 26 hour day.
Another point is that if there is much vegetation he might need to drop to 900Mhz.

IMO if ultrarunner can pickup a signal outside of the barn with a laptop, a Nanostation will have no problem picking up the signal from outside the barn, their antennas and radios are much better than the ones in a laptop.

Aaron Z

 

[LittleBill21]

Yep tons of ways to do it.. Double NAT'ing is always a concern when you place a router behind a router.

i have routers that in certain situations are quad natted. there is 0 issue with it, double nat is a issue for gamers and some voip providers. thats about it, double nat is massively over blown.

i just hope whatever he buys, someone has used. most people won't understand how to set it up.

 

[LittleBill21]

IMO if ultrarunner can pickup a signal outside of the barn with a laptop, a Nanostation will have no problem picking up the signal from outside the barn, their antennas and radios are much better than the ones in a laptop.

Aaron Z

agreed, if a phone can even remotely see it, then the nano station will easily pick it up, and the neighbor won't need to add anything on his side.

 

[k0ua]

Did you mean coax between Yagi and the house? If he could just run coax from the neighbors house to his house there would be no problem.

Ok, another scenario is a Yagi pointing at the existing signal source back to back (short coax jumper between) with another Yagi pointing towards the area of interest to cover. The advantages of a passive system is there is nothing to maintain or set up ever. It may or may not be something to consider