HELP !! I have a 80x240 Metal horse barn half of it is riding arena and the other half is stalls. The middle of the barn is a lounge where my local internet companies fiber cable comes into. I have tried various different types of systems to get wifi around the barn and none of them seem to work reliably. I currently have a google mesh system and the two access points will not maintain their connection to the router they might work when i mess with them for a few hours then back to the same old issues. The wifi is handling like 6 cameras, some wifi switches and a few tvs and im just looking for some guidance on what to do any help would be appreciated. Thank you
I'd put in a CAT6A STP lan cable from the host router and run it into this central lounge area then connect up a RBS or wireless AP that gets connected to the LAN cable:
Metal building will be a shield from outside signals thus cutting down or all together signals from outside signal sources. Not ideal for any wifi system.
The main cable comes into the lounge and there is an ethernet port in there that i run a cable from to the host router and the signal is transmitted from there
Sounds like maybe some ethernet cabling out from the host router out to remote locations with in the building and then connect up wireless APs to the end points of the ethernet cabling locations should be looked into.
Host router> CAT6A STP cabling to 2-3 locations with in the building<>A wireless AP located at the far ends or corners of the building. Might look at NGs WAX series of APs.
HELP !! I have a 80x240 Metal horse barn half of it is riding arena and the other half is stalls. The middle of the barn is a lounge where my local internet companies fiber cable comes into.
You are SO lucky that the ISP fiber was installed to the middle of the barn. Most of the posts about "metal building" involve people trying to get from their house to the barn.
In your case 240ft is simply too great a distance for WiFi to cover. Every system is different, but Netgear recommends placing their satellites "about 30 ft." from the router. This is clearly a compromise:
The closer satellites are to the router, the stronger the 5G WiFi signal which provides, but the amount of additional coverage will not be impressive.
The farther satellites are from the router, the more additional space will be covered, but at some point the 5G backhaul signal will no longer provide adequate signal to get solid performance.
With largely open space, WiFi will provide decent performance out to 40-50 ft. Thus, with the router in the middle of the building (120ft.), satellites could be placed at 40, 80, 160, and 200 ft.
A barn has an additional advantage: it is much more convenient to 'hard wire' devices than in a conventional building. Satellites can be wired to the router, which makes placement a lot easier.
Another issue is electrical power. The Orbi residential units are designed to connect to regular wall outlets. There are commercial systems which power satellites using Power over Ethernet (PoE) which means that both the data signal and the power use a single Ethernet cable.
