Extend network to cover back garden

[m1nkeh]

Evening, seeking some advice on various avenues that i can explore please as i need to extend my network (single RT-AC86U in the middle of the house) into the back garden to the "posh shed" where i shall soon be working..

I live in a pretty small home, and the utilities and internet essentially enter the property right in the middle of it, which is nice, in the "cupboard under the stairs" - this is where the router lives, and signal is absolutely fine throughout the house without issues. speeds are not a problem, multiple people do video conf all day, perfecto.

the problem i need to solve is that about 5 meters out the back of the property is the shed I'm currently fitting out as an office.. it has power, and lighting, insualtion etc... but no ethernet - additionally, the garden inbetween is hardlandscaped so i am keen to not go around disrupting that with a cable

I do have some ethernet ports throughout the house, so it's possible for me to add an AP pretty close to the back door that would be connected to the main utility cupboard via a wired backhaul, but do you think this would be sufficient?

some options i have consdiered:
1. add a new AP very close to the back door, and hope it reaches
2. get someone to install an outdoor AP on the wall facing the shed - however this will not be easily compatible with Asus router AiMesh
3. try a power line connection from the cupbaord under the stairs to the shed - are these still absolutely terrible?

any other ideas, thanks in advance!

 

[Dragnet.nu]

Evening, seeking some advice on various avenues that i can explore please as i need to extend my network (single RT-AC86U in the middle of the house) into the back garden to the "posh shed" where i shall soon be working..

I live in a pretty small home, and the utilities and internet essentially enter the property right in the middle of it, which is nice, in the "cupboard under the stairs" - this is where the router lives, and signal is absolutely fine throughout the house without issues. speeds are not a problem, multiple people do video conf all day, perfecto.

the problem i need to solve is that about 5 meters out the back of the property is the shed I'm currently fitting out as an office.. it has power, and lighting, insualtion etc... but no ethernet - additionally, the garden inbetween is hardlandscaped so i am keen to not go around disrupting that with a cable

I do have some ethernet ports throughout the house, so it's possible for me to add an AP pretty close to the back door that would be connected to the main utility cupboard via a wired backhaul, but do you think this would be sufficient?

some options i have consdiered:
1. add a new AP very close to the back door, and hope it reaches
2. get someone to install an outdoor AP on the wall facing the shed - however this will not be easily compatible with Asus router AiMesh
3. try a power line connection from the cupbaord under the stairs to the shed - are these still absolutely terrible?

any other ideas, thanks in advance!

I would place an AIMesh'ed unit in a window (main buildiig) that is facing the shed.

I have this arrangement (for other reasons) and I get DL speed of about 100-200 Mbps maybe 30 m away outdoors with clear sight to the window with the extra router/AP.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Evening, seeking some advice on various avenues that i can explore please as i need to extend my network (single RT-AC86U in the middle of the house) into the back garden to the "posh shed" where i shall soon be working..

I live in a pretty small home, and the utilities and internet essentially enter the property right in the middle of it, which is nice, in the "cupboard under the stairs" - this is where the router lives, and signal is absolutely fine throughout the house without issues. speeds are not a problem, multiple people do video conf all day, perfecto.

the problem i need to solve is that about 5 meters out the back of the property is the shed I'm currently fitting out as an office.. it has power, and lighting, insualtion etc... but no ethernet - additionally, the garden inbetween is hardlandscaped so i am keen to not go around disrupting that with a cable

I do have some ethernet ports throughout the house, so it's possible for me to add an AP pretty close to the back door that would be connected to the main utility cupboard via a wired backhaul, but do you think this would be sufficient?

some options i have consdiered:
1. add a new AP very close to the back door, and hope it reaches
2. get someone to install an outdoor AP on the wall facing the shed - however this will not be easily compatible with Asus router AiMesh
3. try a power line connection from the cupbaord under the stairs to the shed - are these still absolutely terrible?

any other ideas, thanks in advance!

Type of interior and exterior wall construction/materials?

Any idea what the current 5.0 WLAN signal strength dBm is in the shed? Would moving the router out and up into the open help?

Are all clients in the shed to be wireless?

Distance from front to back of house?

A second AP at the back of the house may be too close to the center of the house AP... could move the router toward the front of the house and add a node at the back or in the shed... or could move the router toward the rear of the house to better reach the shed... existing cabling permitting.

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

I would place an AIMesh'ed unit in a window (main buildiig) that is facing the shed.

I have this arrangement (for other reasons) and I get DL speed of about 100-200 Mbps maybe 30 m away outdoors with clear sight to the window with the extra router/AP.

FWIW, I get a better signal/backhaul through brick and drywall than I do through a double glass window with metal screen.

OE

 

[tgl]

Powerline might be worth a try, if the electrical wiring out to the shed is fairly new. I had a less-than-stellar experience (which I wrote up at Mini review: Zyxel PLA6456 G.hn "2400 Mbps" powerline bridge) using it on a circuit that I suspect dates to the '50s or '60s, but it's supposed to work well given modern wiring. If you can get a pair of powerline units with a return guarantee, give 'em a try and see if you get satisfactory performance; they're not terribly expensive.

Also, I think you've written off the ethernet-line option too quickly. If the shed's got power, those wires are probably going through a conduit that might have enough room to fish an ethernet cable through. Might not be a job for an amateur, but professional electricians do that kind of thing all the time. It'd likely set you back more money up-front than either powerline or two more wireless APs, but you'd have rock-solid no-worries performance, whereas who knows what you'll end up with using wireless.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Generally not a good idea to run comms/data cabling with power.

OE

 

[degrub]

Don’t believe it is even allowed by code. Minimum separation, i think, was 12 inches from 120v ac.

 

[Magister]

I had almost the same problem as you, utilities in the middle of the house in the basement. wifi works well inside the house, but in the back garden, no. My main router is a AX86U so I bought an on-sale RP-AX56 and put it in a plug on the second floor in the wall facing the backyard, setup as AiMesh. I now have 2.4GHz and even 5GHz in the far back.

As you have power in the shed, I would try powerline first, if outlet plugs in the shed are connected to same breaker as some inside outlet plugs, you could have 100+MBps for sure.

 

[m1nkeh]

ooo, i forgot to reply to this thread - sorry!

yes, i am going to give the power line a go as and then it would be good to have a new AP in the shed, as that would be super.

my main takeaway from this thread is that i wasn't overlooking some genius idea, so i'll give the ones with least work a go first - i am sure my wife will be happy not to have an AP right next to her dresser in the back bedroom

 

[m1nkeh]

Powerline might be worth a try, if the electrical wiring out to the shed is fairly new. I had a less-than-stellar experience (which I wrote up at Mini review: Zyxel PLA6456 G.hn "2400 Mbps" powerline bridge) using it on a circuit that I suspect dates to the '50s or '60s, but it's supposed to work well given modern wiring. If you can get a pair of powerline units with a return guarantee, give 'em a try and see if you get satisfactory performance; they're not terribly expensive.

Also, I think you've written off the ethernet-line option too quickly. If the shed's got power, those wires are probably going through a conduit that might have enough room to fish an ethernet cable through. Might not be a job for an amateur, but professional electricians do that kind of thing all the time. It'd likely set you back more money up-front than either powerline or two more wireless APs, but you'd have rock-solid no-worries performance, whereas who knows what you'll end up with using wireless.

the cabling out there was done in 2019 i think, so yes, pretty new

 

[Magister]

i am sure my wife will be happy not to have an AP right next to her dresser in the back bedroom

Ha ha this is why I bought the RP-AX56!!! At first I put my old Linksys EA6900 router there to act as a repeater, but she refused to have this big black box with wires mounted on the wall like this

 

[m1nkeh]

Ha ha this is why I bought the RP-AX56!!! At first I put my old Linksys EA6900 router there to act as a repeater, but she refused to have this big black box with wires mounted on the wall like this

Righto, i got Powerline adapters (TP-Link TL-PA7027P) and can achieve ~150Mbps in the shed which is better than i expected (i expected it to not really work at all) however my internet is ~350Mbps so still a bit of a way to go

@Magister - question for you, what sort of speeds / range do you get from the RP-AX56?
As stated in the first post, I've a RT-AC86U, so am planning to use AiMesh... originally i was looking to place an Asus router in the shed, but now maybe this AP is an option - the speeds might even be better!

Anyway, bottom line is it works, and it's "fast enough" as I don't game, or stream to Twitch etc.. next step is not make a misstep and over-spend (it makes sense to get a WiFi6 something, right?) on getting a wireless signal to the shed..

I am now thinking to explore the AP route a bit more, thoughts?

 

[Magister]

My phone (PoCo F3) seems to have incredible Wifi6 compared to the Samsung A52 of my partner (WiFi5 only). In the far back of the garden I still have 150MBps while she has 15MBps.
If you want full wifi6/ax power you'd need to change your router and have supported devices.

But having 150MBps with PowerLine looks enough for most work.

 

[degrub]

Wire everything you can in the shed.
set up another RTac86U as an AP (not in mesh) in the shed if you have to have wireless. You may have to turn the wireless power down if there are too many reflections in the small space (or put it in a closet ). Also gives you a hot spare for the house.

What is the existing wireless strength in the area between the shed and the main house for each band ?

100 Mbit/s is more than enough for any single/duo users.