Hello,

TLDR: Trying to extend Wi-Fi to a building maybe 100-200 feet from a house. A third building exists between the two, a TP-Link extender I own ‘works’ from this third building to provide intermittently functional signal to the desired building. Looking for a stronger extender, preferably without Power over Ethernet to use it outdoors without needing to run a line through a wall/drill.

I’m trying to help someone extend their Wi-Fi coverage to a small extra building (b2), maybe a maximum of two hundred feet from the main house (b1).

She uses the old Google Wi-Fi pods right now, but the pod from the accessory building often disconnects and seemingly fails to ever reconnect without being unplugged and plugged back in.

She says it used to work okay, so I’ve troubleshot the one she had in the accessory building by bringing it into the main house for a few days, then swapping it with another pod for another few days; neither test showed the total failure as seems to occur in the other building.

Based on the specs of these pods, I’m not surprised it’s struggling, and confused that she says it’s seemingly worked fine in the past. She doesn’t spend much time out in the separate building, so it may just be a lack of seeing it fail.

I’ve briefly tested one of my own TP-Link AX1500 in a third building (b3), which sits between the main house and the desired accessory building. This has provided an intermittently functional signal in the desired accessory building (b2), but with, understandably, very low strength and frequent disconnects.

I’ve looked at additional extenders, for indoor and outdoor, but wanted to see what, if anything, people suggest.

Also, I’m finding some of the longer range extenders to be powered by Ethernet, or with a USB connector. Which, if using this extender outdoors to remove one wall of interference, creates the need to either drill a hole in an existing wall, or otherwise have a cable go into the house somewhere. Is anyone familiar with a medium/long-range extender powered just from a power adaptor or something?

Thank you very much for your time and I really appreciate any suggestions or direction you might be able to provide.

  • UntouchedWagons@lemmy.caEnglish
    5·
    2 days ago

    You’ll want a point to point wireless bridge that’s purpose built for this. Alternatively is it possible to run a fibre optic line to the building in a micro-trench?

    • vimmiewimmie@slrpnk.netOP
      1·
      1 day ago

      I’m not sure about digging or running lines.

      I mentioned to the owner that the straightforward simplest solution is to run a secondary line to the house from their service provider. But that it’s an additional monthly cost as that provider will bill for a separate line of service, not to mention the recurring or initial cost of a modem. They weren’t wanting that and I mentioned I wouldn’t usually recommend it either because of that extra cost of almost $100 a month.

      She is also 80 years old so I’m trying to find something which is as basic, and serviceable/replaceable as possible for whoever might come out to help her with it in the future, with the assumption it may be a less than technologically familiar person.

      And it’s unlikely she’ll agree to drilling a hole in a wall for a cable as she’s a widow and the house was her husband’s dream home project. So, limited in options and trying to find some electrically powered device[s] to keep it simple.

        • philpo@feddit.org
          3·
          12 hours ago

          Ethernet that long and outside is a really really bad idea. Fiber is much better suited and not that more expensive.

          • Bldck@beehaw.orgEnglish
            3·
            10 hours ago

            300 feet of Cat6 is within spec. Trench to 18”, put in conduit, terminate in a NEMA box and you should be good

            Fiber is finicky for an average person to manage. Honestly I’d rather run coax before fiber, especially if it’s not a high demand area

            • philpo@feddit.org
              1·
              7 hours ago

              It’s at the maximum of the specs and these are meant for straight connections and usually indoors. Potential differences,lightning strikes, there is a lot of issues that are hard to diagnose.

              Using a preconditioned fibercable is absolutely not an issue even for an inexperienced user - and the price difference is neglible in the end.