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Grizz007's avatar
Grizz007
Follower
Jan 20, 2022

extending WiFi out to the Boat dock

Hi, I have the orbi 6 model RBR750.  Love it!  We have a boat deck thats about 100 ft from the house.  Any ideas as how to get a better WiFi signal out there?  Booster? Extender?

 

Thanks

 

Grizz007

2 Replies

  • the problem is 2 fold. 

    1. the exterior of a home does a great job of blocking wifi because it tends to be made from insulating materials and siding that block wifi. 

    2. distance. 100ft is a pretty big distance to reach with factoring in the exterior walls.

     

    Got a window on the dock side that can have a satellite? Glass passes wifi signals pretty easily. Easy way to test if an extender/satellite might work would be to stick the satellite in the window. Then take your phone with a speedtest app and measure the speeds at 10-20ft intervals. See where the signal gets to weak/unusable. It might make it to the dock, it might not. If it makes it, you potentially could leave the satellite in the window and an extender/other satellite on the dock. 

     

    Or you could just take the time to bury a underground ethernet cable and stick and access point out there. You can run up to 300ft with ethernet. 

    • CrimpOn's avatar
      CrimpOn
      Guru

      Other factors include:

      • What is the desired use at the boat dock?
        Checking email or looking at web pages.will be just fine with a 2.4G connection (which has a longer range than 5G), so it would be a good idea to check the signal level of both 2.4G and 5G.
        Streaming 4K movies also might work over 2.4G, because 4K streaming requires less than 25mb/sec
      • Placing a WiFi unit at the dock requires (a) power and (b) a weatherproof enclosure (plastic, not metal) to hold the unit.
      • While placing an actual ethernet cable is the #1 solution in terms of performance and stability, it might be possible to use PowerLine to connect a unit at the dock using the existing electrical wiring.  PowerLine is touchy.
      • Another solution is to use a "point to point wireless bridge" (search on Amazon). Those units are rated in terms of kilometers, so 100' and penetrating one wall might not be difficult.