Internal antenna router suitability - for inside garage

[zaphod1966]

I need some advise about wi fi routers with internal antennas under my circumstances. I live in a fairly new home that was wired with CAT5 cable all routed to a metal cabinet in the garage. I am currently running a wired 4 port router. I want to change this router to a new wifi router with 4xLAN ports (fairly std)

Obviously the best place to put to the router is in the metal cabinet. Obviously this may compromise the signal so I am thinking maybe a router with removable external antenna which are then relocated to the outside of the cabinet.

Do I need to worry ? - should I just buy a router with internal antenna ?

 

[thiggins]

Wireless and metal do not mix. I'd mount the router outside the box on the wall.
If you decide to use removable antennas, keep cable length as short as possible.

 

[stevech]

I need some advise about wi fi routers with internal antennas under my circumstances. I live in a fairly new home that was wired with CAT5 cable all routed to a metal cabinet in the garage. I am currently running a wired 4 port router. I want to change this router to a new wifi router with 4xLAN ports (fairly std)

Obviously the best place to put to the router is in the metal cabinet. Obviously this may compromise the signal so I am thinking maybe a router with removable external antenna which are then relocated to the outside of the cabinet.

Do I need to worry ? - should I just buy a router with internal antenna ?

put the router in the metal cabinet and disable its WiFi.
At one or more places in your home with cat5, put in an access point (AP) which is an AP product, or a generic WiFi router repurposed as an AP. per the FAQ on that you can find here.

 

[zaphod1966]

Yes - AP was my initial thinking - however it seems a bit pointless doing this when even a modestly priced Wifi router will probably have gigabit LAN ports - while my current router is 100Mps. Also - I have to say that having two routers constantly on is a bit wasteful electricity wise. I'm already forced to run a separate cable modem and according to my calculations they would chew up about $50 to $70 per year in electricity costs.

Looks like removable antenas it is

 

[stevech]

Yes - AP was my initial thinking - however it seems a bit pointless doing this when even a modestly priced Wifi router will probably have gigabit LAN ports - while my current router is 100Mps. Also - I have to say that having two routers constantly on is a bit wasteful electricity wise. I'm already forced to run a separate cable modem and according to my calculations they would chew up about $50 to $70 per year in electricity costs.

Looks like removable antenas it is

at 2.4 GHz, the loss in even a few ft. of coax is high.
Separate cable modem??

Your home LAN, inter-PC, can be gigabit ethernet. The router's LAN ports need be only as fast as your internet service, and less (due to actual speeds on the Internet hosts). Few of us have more than 10Mbps from our ISP. So your LAN's switches can be gigabit.