Wifi extension (Yagi?)

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scanmanmi

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I need wifi coverage while next door. My router's external antennas are not removeable. I see some plug in things advertised but they must be a scam?? If I have a weak signal how can plugging in some kind of extension module in the wall help? I'm thinking maybe yagi. What about coax? Anybody had success? It's a NETGEAR - AC1750/R6400.
 
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RFI-EMI-GUY

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I am using an extender from Engenius. It looks like a smoke detector. The only drawback is that it reserves every other time slot, so it lowers the speed. But it has been reliable and seamless. The best solution woukd be a second AP hardwired to your router. Try the Engenius. Out of the box it is an AP, you reset it to be an extender and you can set it back as an AP if you decide to use as a second .
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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I think any attempt at connecting coax or a Yagi to your existing AP will fail. My wife made some sort of sectional parabolic tin foil reflector for ours. It sorta worked. Still needed the extender.
 

prcguy

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I've used external antennas on lots of routers and clients and you can get some impressive range. I went from covering about 1/3 of my house to the entire house and then some by using a little circuit board Yagi on a very old 2.4GHz wireless router. In the field I've used a 24dBi gain panel antenna on an old laptop with PCMCIA wifi card on a hill and got about 8 miles. That was back in the days when very few people were encrypted and was able to identify some business and restaurant SSIDs a couple of towns over to verify the range.

I've also taken USB wifi client dongles and made a little corner reflector with an old plastic CD case opened to a 45 deg angle and covered in tin foil and cut out a slot to stick the dongle in and adjust for the best signal strength. A CD case size corner reflector at 2.4GHz will give close to 10dB gain.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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I've used external antennas on lots of routers and clients and you can get some impressive range. I went from covering about 1/3 of my house to the entire house and then some by using a little circuit board Yagi on a very old 2.4GHz wireless router. In the field I've used a 24dBi gain panel antenna on an old laptop with PCMCIA wifi card on a hill and got about 8 miles. That was back in the days when very few people were encrypted and was able to identify some business and restaurant SSIDs a couple of towns over to verify the range.

I've also taken USB wifi client dongles and made a little corner reflector with an old plastic CD case opened to a 45 deg angle and covered in tin foil and cut out a slot to stick the dongle in and adjust for the best signal strength. A CD case size corner reflector at 2.4GHz will give close to 10dB gain.

Well that is pretty clever.

The problem with the newer consumer routers I have seen is that they used some awful tiny wasteful RG174 like Teflon coax to bring out the antenna connections. If you have a PCI card with SMA terminals on board you might have better signal.

There is also the problem of interference ratio. I have a ton of neighbors on whatever channel I select. There is a limit to the channel coding and what can be tolerated.
 

scanmanmi

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A) Next door is over 100', maybe 200'.
B) It's already in the corner as far as it will go.
C) I don't think I want a reflector because that would hurt in the other direction.
D) I'm not having much luck finding the Engenius thing.
E) How does an AP work? I run an ethernet wire to it and have it outside between the houses?
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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This is what I have there may be a newer model. It is an AP out of the box press some buttons and it is a repeater.

As far as range for WiFi, outside maybe 300 feet to a small tablet. The antenna in the remote device is the problem. The designers seem to have zero idea what an antenna should do. They think impedance matching is the goal and put the highest loss SMD resistor antenna in,

In using a second AP you need a Cat5 run from your router to somewhere outside near or seeing the other house, buy some POE widgets so you don't need to wire AC near the AP. You can use any old AP this way.

Try this. Assuming you current AP isn't toasted, unplug it from the network and move it to a point of your house near the other house, plug it in to AC . Go into the other house. How many bars? Is it getting a reliable signal? You wont have a network connection but you shoul have carrier.
 
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prcguy

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Basically yes. I run an Access Point here and you just run an Ethernet cable from your router to it, set it up for the WiFi bands, channels SSID and some other stuff and off you go. I got this one to replace a real old one that only had 2.4GHz and my WiFi went from less than 40mbps to 122mbps. I have not explored external antennas on the new one yet but it covers much more range stock than my old one did with its stock antennas. Amazon.com: Ubiquiti UniFi AP AC PRO 802.11ac Scalable Enterprise Wi-Fi Access Point (UAP-AC-PRO-E-US) PoE Adapter Sold Separately: Computers & Accessories

A) Next door is over 100', maybe 200'.
B) It's already in the corner as far as it will go.
C) I don't think I want a reflector because that would hurt in the other direction.
D) I'm not having much luck finding the Engenius thing.
E) How does an AP work? I run an ethernet wire to it and have it outside between the houses?
 

bharvey2

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Something like this can screw on directly to a yagi with a N mount. CAT5/6 cable would then plug in to it and to your local network on the other end of the cable. Properly configured, you now have an access point that should reach a few hundred feet with the proper antenna. I've used a number of them over the years for various permanent and temporary projects.

UBNT Bullet
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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Something like this can screw on directly to a yagi with a N mount. CAT5/6 cable would then plug in to it and to your local network on the other end of the cable. Properly configured, you now have an access point that should reach a few hundred feet with the proper antenna. I've used a number of them over the years for various permanent and temporary projects.

UBNT Bullet

If that still doesnt work, one on each end probably would and he could connect via Cat 5 to his laptop on the far end.
 

bharvey2

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I've done the same thing as you suggest as well as placing another wi-fi router at the other end, creating another remote network connected via a wireless bridge. (two bullets)
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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actually bridging two window mounted AP's, even crummy ones, would have better antenna coupling than one AP trying to reach a tablet or a laptop.
 

bharvey2

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actually bridging two window mounted AP's, even crummy ones, would have better antenna coupling than one AP trying to reach a tablet or a laptop.


Yes it would, that's for sure. Cost of admission and complexity go up though. In any case, it can be done.
 

scanmanmi

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So I used these products and it works great now. Maybe even better than I hoped.
 

bharvey2

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Glad you got it working. I've never heard of that brand but if it does the job, great.
 
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