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Forum Discussion
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 Grizz...
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.
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.