Long Range wi-fi extender?

[LittleBill21]

I tried the Ubiquiti Powerstation5 PS5-22V amplifier/directional antenna -very obsolete - that I described above. I set it up as an Accesss Point and aimed it at the ranch guest cabin for a trial.

It tested over 30 mbps, but didn't improve service to the ranch guest cabin compared to the Netgear wifi repeater already there. The rural DSL based in the house is only 10 mbps and that speed is already repeated within in the cabin so using more hardware is pointless. Its going on Ebay.


Another new toy! A T-Mobile Personal Cellspot TM-AC1900 (ASUS Router) from Goodwill for $4.20. Basically a premium router with one of its Guest Access logins replaced by priority routing to T-Mobile, in effect similar to having a phone cell tower at the router. It claims some magic exceeding the ordinary capability of any phone to route through wifi. Anybody have experience with these?

you need these units on both sides, wifi is a 2 way street.

 

[California]

you need these units on both sides, wifi is a 2 way street.

I understand that's how you set up a proper link to a remote site. This one claims 50 km (30+ miles) capability for a pair when used as intended. But I was just playing with it to see what it could do.

I previously had a second router set up as an AP in the house's back window to provide signal accessible from the cabin. Then I put a wifi repeater in the cabin. Aiming this Ubiquiti at the cabin equalled what either of those provided.

But it didn't do what I had hoped for, push signal beyond the cabin out into the orchard. The DSL coming into the house tests 10 mbps down, 1.25 up and works ok so I thought asymmetrical speeds - assuming the Ubiquiti's transmitter is better than its receiver - wouldn't matter. 'Wifi Analyser' on my phone barely detected anything beyond the cabin. Apparently the structure absorbed its narrow beam. This $8 toy is going back to Goodwill.

Next experiment will be to see if putting the TM-AC1900 as an AP in the back window of the house will improve cell phone coverage at least out to my workshop in the barn and hopefully beyond.

I like playing with cheap superceded-generation networking stuff.

 

[thekkfan]

I understand that's how you set up a proper link to a remote site. This one claims 50 km (30+ miles) capability for a pair when used as intended. But I was just playing with it to see what it could do.

No you don't understand. The only way you can push this out to the orchard is to have a device in the orchard with enough strength to push back. A cell phone, laptop, etc's wifi card doesn't have the strength needed for return.

 

[California]

No you don't understand. The only way you can push this out to the orchard is to have a device in the orchard with enough strength to push back. A cell phone, laptop, etc's wifi card doesn't have the strength needed for return.

I don't need symmetrical fast speeds, the main use would be my kids watching netflix movies etc in the cabin when they visit. Receiving almost no signal, 80~ 90 db down, out beyond the cabin, may indicate that all the signal got absorbed before getting past the building.

 

[LittleBill21]

I don't need symmetrical fast speeds, the main use would be my kids watching netflix movies etc in the cabin when they visit. Receiving almost no signal, 80~ 90 db down, out beyond the cabin, may indicate that all the signal got absorbed before getting past the building.

not sure how to explain it better, both units have to be able to hear each other. if the cell phone can't transmit back(it can't) it doesn't matter. speeds have nothing to do with it. it has to send "ack" back so the transmitter knows it got them. the other issue is the powerbeam is a pretty narrow beam its not designed as omni access point.

 

[California]

I had thought that the ack going back at much slower speed, or more faint, than the transmit wouldn't slow the transmit much. In fact running Speedtest shows decent speed until I'm far enough away that as you said, the ack's aren't heard by the Ubiquiti. You're right, this would never work for more distant wifi because the Ubiquiti can't hear a response. I had hoped its receiver was incredibly sensitive if it could hear another Ubiquiti at 30 miles, but it doesn't seem to be much more sensitive than an ordinary router.

At any rate I've abandoned playing with the thing. I see them on Ebay for around $50. I'm going to try that, if no interest then it goes back to Goodwill. $8 for it wasn't too expensive.

I don't need a pair of them, this was just a toy to see what it would and wouldn't do.