WiFi bridge to a remote garage apartment

Electronics
#1

I suspect I can work this out but there are so many folks here at DMS who can give a better suggestion than what I might come up with. . . so . . .

I have a home with a fairly up to date multiband WiFi router that covers the home well. We have a sort of garage apartment about 35M away and is spotty with coverage from the home router.

I’m thinking about getting a device to link the two areas.

Is this concept viable? Would it be better to have an active, focused antenna on the home with matched (so to speak) antenna on the garage to a local router in the garage area?

Cheers,
DJ

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#2

Can you open your garage with the remote from your home?

Assuming yes something like this is just a WiFi garage remote.

#3

I really like the Ubiquiti line of wifi for stuff like this. Not quite enterprise grade, but great features for the prosumer. Just remember 2.4 ghz has terrible interference in certain areas, and will suffer in rain.

#4

Mikrotik wireless wire product. 60Ghz point to point link.

Then, any small wifi you want in the garage dimensions accordingly for just the garage.

Now if you want coverage for all steps in between the house and the garage, thats different.

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#5

i believe the OP is asking from the perspective of having a renter or den / party room that in that space. providing that building with internet / streaming tv

after years of working residential internet service i’m going to tell you something no customer has ever liked hearing: switch to ethernet for as many devices as can possibly take it. wifi has an upper limit to its speed and that upper limit is divded between all devices. i am talking of course about your own house. not the rent sublet. move all your smart tvs to ethernet. tack long flat ethernet 5e to baseboards. cheap as heck on amazon etc. i converted my entire 2 br apartment to wired only in a single afternoon.

“but i have a gaming router with a million antennaes wifi is great” even if you have a fancy router or whatever, you’re still accumulating a ton of latency and lost packets. which then in turn, affects your renters apartment speed. technology still has an upper limit. pushing that much power through an atennae when a fraction of that power could be done over copper.

the apartment attachment, consider getting a ~500 foot ethernet cable. cat7 is, imho, rated for outdoor use it usually has kevlar reinforcement. you could easily run it through tubing or pvc and run a line between rooftops.

“but it looks ugly” the customers say. tough cookies. technology has its limitations, and if you’re serious about providing a solid internet connection to your tenant then you will want to go for function over form.

if you get a directional attenae for the garage space you would only solve a small part of the overall problem. to accomdoate an extra space, you’d need to improve the overall network health.

3 Likes
#6

Thanks, guys, for all the tips. Improving network health with ethernet . . . yes, a great idea and certainly for hardware like desktops and TV. If I can hammer a pipe across my driveway in some area I’ll just run an outdoor cable.
The wireless wire device might be a reasonable solution. I only need minimal performance over there to satisfy short term lessors re internet availability.

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#7

You might want to consider turning logging on in your router. You’re responsible for whatever your renters decide to do on the Internet, at least until you get whatever mess they (potentially) cause straightened out with the Secret Service, kiddie-porn task force or whomever.

#8

I realized I misread your post.
Are you on the same main power between the house and the appt or does it have its own meter?

If Yes consider Power Line Adapters they utilize your existing Power Mains to send data they work pretty well for what you are doing.

If you want to go wireless there are a couple of options
Point to Point but generally speaking they are dedicated to needing 2 pieces of hardware that point at each other and then distribution(Another Access Point) this is what you see in most industrial/business parks.

It’s generally better to push signals than to try to receive signals in this situation so if the house is not made out of traditional wifi absorbing materials concrete etc. You may be able to get away with a external AP from your house they have ones that more directional than others and they can pick it up from in the house.

In order of value

I would try powerline since your cost is likely around $100 and that could get you a wired connection. If it does not work return it.

If you want more reliable with a good value Ubiquiti has a decent bridge for this purpose. This is the Point to Point option (You would still need another AP for inside the Appt)


If you need more speed it’s doable but just more $$$$

Depending on your current AP they may have the ability to buy a 2nd one and use a more directional antenna ultimately this is dependent on your current manufacturer. I personally would not want to run multiple wifi vendors in one system not saying you can’t use the CC vector system just it can add complexity that does not help reliability.

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#9

@dejswa I have the same issue and went with this guy:

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-LBE-5AC-GEN2-US-LiteBeam-Wireless-Bridge/dp/B06Y2JH7PV/ref=pd_sbs_147_3/140-4109255-2132047?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B06Y2JH7PV&pd_rd_r=9aac028d-d62a-4dda-bbe9-448f1347ad71&pd_rd_w=rXzJI&pd_rd_wg=fiKMG&pf_rd_p=0b2db3d1-33eb-418a-9672-bb9bd54808e8&pf_rd_r=G8RZ6J93B4A1FJDMMCGG&psc=1&refRID=G8RZ6J93B4A1FJDMMCGG

Easily picks up the remote access point for both 2G and 5GHz. Plus provides a wifi signal off itself and works with PoE.

At this point though I’d avoid the 2.4 GHz stuff and go straight for 802.11ac 5Ghz unless you have some older systems that have to use 2.4Ghz.

Range comparison – 2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz

Standard Frequency Theoretical Distance Real World Distance
802.11a 5Ghz 390 ft 195 ft
802.11b 2.4Ghz 460 ft 230 ft
802.11g 2.4Ghz 125 ft 62 ft
802.11n 2.4Ghz 820 ft 410 ft
802.11n 5Ghz 460 ft 230 ft
802.11ac 5Ghz up to 820 ft (amplified) up to 410 ft (amplified)

Speed comparison – 2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz

Standard Frequency Theoretical Speed Real-World Speed
802.11a 5Ghz 6-54 Mbps 3 - 32 Mbps
802.11b 2.4Ghz 11 Mbps 2-3 Mbps
802.11g 2.4Ghz 54 Mbps 10 -29 Mbps
802.11n 2.4Ghz 300 Mpbs 150 Mbps
802.11n 5Ghz 900 Mbps 450Mbps
802.11ac 5Ghz 433 Mbps - 1.7 Gbps 210 Mbps - 1 G

https://www.centurylink.com/home/help/internet/wireless/which-frequency-should-you-use.html#:~:text=The%20two%20big%20differences%20between,speeds%20to%20a%20smaller%20area.

#10

For the love of all that is holy, THIS

If it’s stationary and is going to live in that spot, run that wire, enjoying both reliability and performance that wifi will never deliver.

4 Likes
#11

powerline is ok and I do like it just know that usually one gets a lot less speed than actual ethernet plus its incompatible with PoE and less than 50% compatible with X10.

#12

Isn’t that more that x10 is less than 50% compatible with modern technology?

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#13

X10 takes precedence if it was installed first…

Also, if running conduit, consider pulling fiber. You can pick up a pair of media converters ( firber to ethernet and vice versa ) on ebay pretty cheap. Fiber won’t act as a pickup for lightning should you get a close strike.

#14

fyi, @bramsey very helpfully pointed out to me in a pm that 300 feet is the max. there is an upper limit to ethernet, so yeah a liiiitle bit of reading can save you a lot of cussing and rebuilding later :slight_smile:

good luck! and post documentation i wanna see this cool hack when it’s done.

russian teenagers have been doing crazy stuff sending dsl internet speeds across several kilometers wirelessly in the snowy rural north and it’s a great youtube dive if you ever get curious, but the end result is still capped at dsl speeds.

#15

Yeah check all your stuff before committing to 5GHz only. I have several “smart” devices around the house - door bell camera, Sonos speakers, a MyQ garage door wifi adapter, appliances and a window A/C. IIRC, none of them will use 5GHz.

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