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Forum Discussion
Extend Wifi to an outbuilding what hardware needed?
Moving to a flat above the garage, about 50 feet from main house. Have a 2-piece Orbi RBR20 unit, thinking I might need more hardware to boost the signal in my new apartment (a 2 room setup). My ex...
At present you have an internet connection separate from the landlord. Will the internet service company relocate your service to the garage apartment? They run cables all day, every day. If they installed one in the house, surely they can install one in the garage.
If the Orbi is connected to the landlord's router, how close can it be located to the garage? i.e. can it be placed (literally) against the outside wall of the house nearest to the garage? If so, a satellite placed against the garage wall nearest to the house may get a strong enough signal to provide adequate service to the new apartment. One satellite should provide enough WiFi coverage for two rooms.
Thank you. Yes, I'm going to try to run off the landlord's router so I am (hoping) your suggestion will work. My question was if the signal for some reason is not robust enough to be reasonably fast (he is getting 300 Mbps ACTUAL on his wifi system inside his house, but the signal strength is nowhere near what it is in my (current) apartment using the magnificent ORBI 2-piece set I bought at Costco. My thinking is possibly I might benefit from the outdoor Orbi piece added to my current equipment. Also, if I plug my Orbi transmitter (main piece) into Landlord's router, I worry it might overpower his existing WiFi and cause a problem for him. All of this to try to avoid my own Xfinity bill for $130 a month for TV and Internet. Over time, let me tell you, that $100+ a month adds up to a BUNCH. I am leaving my current digs after 13 years of Comcast bills. I shudder at the thought. And of course, there's NEVER anything on TV! If they shut down Golf, the NFL and MLB, I could actually do without TV period. Streaming off the web would be plan B, but Xfinity has all the rights to my local MLB team, so it would be radio or nothing, except the odd game on UHF.
Thank you for your suggestion, it is my current 'hope' that it will be enough. The db signal strength presently is much too low without an Orbi booster to use landlord's wifi for my Internet. Using the WiFi Analyzer app on my Android, the signal is very low, and the mbps is like 30 as opposed to 300 which is what he is getting inside the main (100 year old) house. My add on is newer (about 20 years old). His router is on his second floor. Again, thank you for your help.
Oh, if I didn't clarify, the new apartment is above the garage which is DETACHED from the main house entirely.
There is a line of sight distance of about 75 feet from the room where his router is to my building. It may be slightly further depending on where in the room he has his router sitting. It is also Netgear though I don't know the model.
Will the landlord let you place your Orbi router "in the window" (literally, so there is not a brick wall for the signal to pass through)?
You can mitigate affecting his WiFi by setting yours to a channel with zero overlap with his.
You can also reduce the transmit power on your WiFi signal (on one of the Advanced menus) Alas, I know of no way to affect the "user side" WiFi signal level of only the router.
My guess is that the "backhaul" radio signal is the critical factor. There is a method using telnet to control the radio signal level:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Further-Reduce-the-Transmit-Power-in-Orbi/m-p/1672260
Posts I have come across say while Orbi is 'fine' inside a contiguous structure, it is "less fine" when long distances between structures become involved. To give an example, inside the landlords house using a regular Netgear cable modem, the signal strength from upstairs to downstairs is approximately -74db out of a possible -24db max this is about a 50% drop in signal strength for just downstairs vs upstairs where the router is. Walk outside go into my apartment over the standalone garage and a 300 mbps signal drops to like 15 mbps because of the distance and the physical structures (windows closed).
Goal: to avoid paying stupid money to Comcast (landlord is close personal relative and is willing to let me an 'extra room' on his comcast bill with my own UHD Comcast box ($10 a month). That's great, but no Internet to speak of.
Running a Cat 6 cable could work well, but physically improbable as it woud be ugly hanging in space between the buildings.
Frustrated!