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Forum Discussion
Receiving Wi-Fi Signal in a metal outbuilding
I have an Orbi RBR50 in the east side of my basement. In the west side of the upper level of the house I have the Orbi extender. About 20 feet away from the extender I have a metal outbuilding. I can...
Bobne wrote:I have an Orbi RBR50 in the east side of my basement. In the west side of the upper level of the house I have the Orbi extender. About 20 feet away from the extender I have a metal outbuilding. I cannot receive any Wi-Fi signal in the building. Any ideas?
FURRYe38is correct. Installing an ethernet cable between the house and outbuilding is guaranteed to work. Alas, even 20 ft. can sometimes present a problem. (Lots of concrete. Association restrictions on aerial wiring. Building penetrations. etc.)
Another solution would be a window facing the house. i.e. Cut out the metal between two studs. Frame it with 2x4's. Screw on a piece of plexiglass. Caulk around the outside. Doesn't have to open, slide, or anything. Just be "not metal". Place a WiFi repeater (on a shelf) in the opening. An RBS40V Orbi satellite is selling for $99 on Amazon. I have used Netgear EX3700 WiFi extenders at half the cost.
So, which costs less and is easier to do: (a) install a cable, or (b) put in a window?
Thanks for the help! I think running an Ethernet cable would be the best bet for my situation. Just want to verify I can run the cable from the extender from the house to an EX3700 in the outbuilding.
Bobne wrote:Thanks for the help! I think running an Ethernet cable would be the best bet for my situation. Just want to verify I can run the cable from the extender from the house to an EX3700 in the outbuilding.
Using ethernet requires both ends to support ethernet. All of the Orbi satellites have a LAN jack except the wall plug model.
The EX3700 expects to "extend" using WiFi, so it would have to be some other WiFi access point that connects to ethernet.
The RBS40V has been selling on Amazon for $99. (They will do almost anything to hook people on Alexa. I just left that feature disabled. Who knows, you may enjoy having music in the building.)
If you are willing to give up the Orbi "mesh" feature, there are many WiFi access points that cost even less.
Be sure and get "outdoor rated" ethernet cable.
It would be recommended to run a cable from the host router to the building to maintain good operation and performance. Your connection from the extender in the home with the ethernet cable connected will only be as good as the signal that the extender gets from the host wifi router. So you may see lower performance from the extender.
CAT6A would be recommended for any buried or over air cable runs.
Bobne wrote:Thanks for the help! I think running an Ethernet cable would be the best bet for my situation. Just want to verify I can run the cable from the extender from the house to an EX3700 in the outbuilding.
What if I add an rbs50 extender inside the metal building, and run an Ethernet cable from that extender to the extender in the house. Would that work?
Bobne wrote:What if I add an rbs50 extender inside the metal building, and run an Ethernet cable from that extender to the extender in the house. Would that work?
Yes it will work. We usually refer to the Orbi units as "satellites" rather than "extenders", because extender is used to refer to products like the EX3700 will not be part of the Orbi "mesh".
Ethernet from a port on the Orbi satellite or router inthe house to an ethernet port on an RBS50 in the metal buildiing will create a seamless mesh system covering both buildings (plus whatever signal leaks outside either of them.) You are lucky to find an RBS50. They seem to be in short supply.
