I am looking to build an insulated timber built garden office. It'll be about 100ft from the house, and the router is probably another 20 foot from the back door. I'm on Virgin and get about 30mb download speed at the moment on WIFI. So my question is what are my options on extending this to my garden office? I don't really want to have to run a cable.
When you're looking to build, the biggest thing I recommend to people, is to check the type of wall they're going to be using, as well as the insulation (this includes various forms of vapor barriers).
The main thing you have to ask, is whether or not you're planning on using any foil lined medium for those applications. If you're using foil backed insulation, any signal would be greatly reduced at any range, but heavily so at 100ft.
The next question is, is it direct line of sight, including any overgrowth of foliage? They have very little impact on wifi signal, but there IS some impact.
When in doubt, you can always run a simple site survey, yourself, if you have access to an Android based device. (Phone or tablet generally work....Apple killed off the application I usually use for this, awhile ago, so I stopped recommending iOS devices for this)
When you launch the application, you can swipe left and right through the various screens, but in all, you'll want to see if your current WiFi extends that far. As long as it doesn't dip down, below -70 or so, you SHOULD be able to have at least some connectivity out at the office.
At that point, you can look into a Wifi Range extender, which is a wireless device that sort of piggy backs onto your existing wireless device, to make the range larger. These extenders often operate as a 'Repeater' or a 'Bridge', and can be tied into other devices either wirelessly or hardwired.
The first thing, however, is to check that signal strength. You may not need to buy anything more than you already have. 🙂
Wifi drops out as soon as I go to the back door of my house which is probably about 10 metres from the router which is in another room so it has a wall in between. So there's no way it'll reach up my garden. I don't know how much distance the boosters cover though? I spoke with Solwise and they said to just try a booster, but I need to know it'll work before I build my garden office.
The best solution is to run CAT6 to your new building and install an unmaged switch, or, a router to that can be converted to an Access Point. You would have wifi in your new building and could also use the LAN ports on the AP to plug in other devices, llike perhaps a printer..
Thanks. Okay it's getting very techincal now for me! no idea how to do this although I am not bothered about a printer. I don't even need that amazing a connection,I just need a consistent one. Can't seem to find out how far the range is on the wifi extenders as i'm hoping I can go that route
WiFi extenders ranges generally vary, based on if you use the default antennas on them, or if you get directional antennas. Right now, I have an extender going from my house, across the street, to a neighbor's house.. the distance is about 100-120 ft, and it works rather well... but it IS direct line of sight, too.
As mentioned above, if you have power running out to your office, you can use powerline/homeplug as an option.
HOWEVER, the one caveat is that you can NOT have multi phased power to your residence and office. As a rule of thumb, the most common way of knowing if you have 'multi phased' wiring, is to check the back of your house. MANY times, you'll have 2 meters if you're multi-phased (not always, but it's usually a good indication).
Basically, what the technology does, is convert your ethernet (network) cable so that it can use the power outlets in your home, to transmit and receive data. It's generally not as fast as straight ethernet, but it's supposed to work well enough. (Note: I've not used homeplug/powerline tech in a few years, but I'm due to do a deployment in a few weeks, so I can check in and give you more info at that point, if you'd like 🙂
Had an electrician round to cost up the job, because I already have an outside electrical cable running underground to my current sheds, so his job will be to kit out the garden office and connect the cable to the house. He said it would go right into my fuse board and wouldn't technically be running off the same cabling as the house wiring but the cables are linked together so powerline adapters MAY work. No guarantee though so I think I need a plan B option to somehow boost my wifi down there. Is it possible to get some sort of booster to plug in by the back door of my house, that will reach 100ft away to the office? or piggypack it to another booster in my office? I don't really want to run cabling down my garden and I have seen some of those units that fit outside but are powered by ethernet - the only problem with that is I won't be able to use other devices down in my office at the same time.
