WiFi access 100 ft from the house

[CDLTech]

I have a friend that wants internet access in an outbuilding. It is about 100 ft from his house. His current wifi (i don't have the details of what he has at the moment) barely reaches. It very rarely connects. When it does. It reminds you of a 28.8 dialup modem from the 90's.

I gave him the suggestions of trenching some conduit or a wireless connection. He wants the easiest and best solution. I have seen many demo's of Ubiquiti equipment. I am thinking of going that route.

Can someone give some suggestions of an Unifi or AirMax product? I figured it would be pretty simple. Just aim it at the outbuilding and be done with it. An over simplification obviously. I have an IT background so I have the technical ability.
I am considering doing that. I am not sure if any of these can blanket a 100 ft area plus the additional space of the outbuilding. It is about the size of a one to one and half car garage.

I read in a post from March 14th of this year that UBNT is the way to go. Wireless (WiFi) Access Point Rec?

Thanks,
Dale

 

[Jeggs101]

What kind of outer wall on both structures? How big is the outbuilding?

 

[CDLTech]

I believe both are wood. I can't remember off hand. I can message him. I was there but I am blanking on those details. The outbuilding is about the side of a 1 to 1.5 car garage.

 

[T_Minus]

@CDLTech - I go about 175' from my AP to my other office above my shop which is detached and building to building is around 100' seperation. I got a cheap USB WiFi for my other system, and put a USB extension on it, raised the antenna (9db if i recall about 6") on top of my desk, and filing cabinet so it's got better angle to the AP. That's all I ended up needing. With the antenna on the motherboard/usb stick I get spotty / barely any service.

With that said, I also purchased the Nanostation 5 and use it to connect to my AP and bridge the wired network, that gets insane reception and if I add a second to the house it will be even better connected.

My AP is a Unifi AC Lite by the way, but I also have no problem reaching out here with my old Unifi 2.4 too!

 

[CDLTech]

@T_Minus So I should just be able to get an external antenna for each location? Along with the Unifi AC Lite.

 

[T_Minus]

@CDLTech IMHO it depends on the end goal. If there will be multiple devices in the other location, and you can do wired I would do 2x NanoStations to bridge and do a small switch in the detached building, and wire the clients. Only one over air connection to worry about, no USB WiFi device to go bad, no small antenna to bump, etc...

I was going to go with 2x myself but the range from my AP -> Nanostation worked perfect! So, maybe you could get 1AP and 1 NanoStation too if you want to add WiFi AP to the house already.


Also, the M5 is probably way too powerful for 100' (I think it's rated at 15km line of site) but it was ~$10 upgrade so I said why not! There may be lower-power options that work fine, save power and fit in smaller area so keep that in mind too when browsing! I would def. get Unifi version. Within the next few months I'm going to experiment with setting up a tiny WISP for some neighbors with the AirMax or maybe start with the Unifi gear, we'll see. I'm really liking the gear for the price, and super easy to setup!

 

[CDLTech]

@T_Minus I think the Unifi AP AC Lite and the Nanostation loco m2 is a good combination. Would I need to run the software on one of his computers? Is that just to setup the devices or is it necessary to have that computer on all the time? Kinda confused. I have watched youtube videos show the web interface. Others talk about some management software.

Just so we are on the same page with the proposed setup.

I would connect the Nanostation M2 to his pre-existing router. Wouldn't I need a second Nanostation at the other location? Or is the signal strong enough with out it? I saw an impressive youtube video of the M2. That is the type of setup I want for him. I want this other location to be just like he was in the house.

Using that video as the setup example.

I would just plug the M2 in the house to his router. Then plug the other one in his other location to an AP?

 

[T_Minus]

I would plan for what I did. Connecting the Nano to the AP AC Lite. If that doesn't provide enough power then get a 2nd nano, but the nano will connect to the AP, and bridge for you that way too. This way you're not buying the 2nd device that's not needed likely, but if so you buy it and add it too

You could also connect the nano to AP and add another AP on the switch on the nano side and run all wireless with wifi that's within feet of the system(s) it's really just up to how you want to do it.

 

[nthu9280]

I recently got an new/ open box D-Link DHP-701AV power line adapter for $45. Have not done extensive test yet. But my use case to temporarily connect to my rack (utility room) to home office in the 2nd floor. Eventually plan on getting a cat6 cable run.

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[pricklypunter]

For a quick, cheap setup at home, the outdoor comfast bridge/ repeaters are decent value, atheros based radios. If you want an enterprise level setup, then Cisco or Ubiquiti would be where I would be looking

 

[CDLTech]

I recently got an new/ open box D-Link DHP-701AV power line adapter for $45. Have not done extensive test yet. But my use case to temporarily connect to my rack (utility room) to home office in the 2nd floor. Eventually plan on getting a cat6 cable run.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I forgot about those. My cousin bought some for his house 3 years ago. He had his patio enclosed so it could be used all year. His house was brick so it was difficult running cables through the walls. The ones he had were 10/100. Which was fine for him. He only had 10/100 network anyway. It worked surprisingly well. I've heard they work well as long as all the outlets are on the same breaker box.

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[CDLTech]

For a quick, cheap setup at home, the outdoor comfast bridge/ repeaters are decent value, atheros based radios. If you want an enterprise level setup, then Cisco or Ubiquiti would be where I would be looking

Never heard of them. Other than the Netgear N600. I've always used enterprise gear at home. After all the years I was in IT. I am more familiar with it.

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[CDLTech]

@T_Minus I think I will use two NanoStations. One at the house and one at the other building. That way he can use Ethernet on desktops and still have WiFi access. I found a distributor about 90 miles south of us. He can order it from there and get it pretty quickly.

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[Aluminum]

I would get at least an AP AC LR, it costs barely more than the lite and is a decent transmit power upgrade. The pro might be worth it too, especially if you consider deploying normal 48V PoE for other gear like cameras.

Also keep in mind even with the non-standard 24V injectors (lite and LR) you can place the unifi gear in much better locations: anywhere within range of a network drop instead of only right next to an AC outlet.

 

[AJXCR]

I installed one of these at the in law's house/5 acre property in an attempt to address horrendous WiFi reception/dropout issues they had been experiencing post installation of a high quality router. The results were nothing short of spectacular.

Amazon.com: AmpliFi LR (Long-Range) Home Wi-Fi System: Computers & Accessories

 

[CDLTech]

I installed one of these at the in law's house/5 acre property in an attempt to address horrendous WiFi reception/dropout issues they had been experiencing post installation of a high quality router. The results were nothing short of spectacular.

Amazon.com: AmpliFi LR (Long-Range) Home Wi-Fi System: Computers & Accessories

I actually might get this for myself. I don't want to replace my router. It says that the mesh nodes can be used with any router. I am assuming they have their own web interface to set them up?

 

[CDLTech]

I would get at least an AP AC LR, it costs barely more than the lite and is a decent transmit power upgrade. The pro might be worth it too, especially if you consider deploying normal 48V PoE for other gear like cameras.

Also keep in mind even with the non-standard 24V injectors (lite and LR) you can place the unifi gear in much better locations: anywhere within range of a network drop instead of only right next to an AC outlet.

So the Lite and LR use 24 V injectors and the Pro uses standard 48v PoE? That is good to know. I am planning on replacing my analog CCTV setup with Axis IP PoE cameras. I will need to get a PoE switch for them. I haven't decided on who's PoE switch I will get.

 

[Schoondoggy]

You should determine what they have for WiFi/network in the house currently. Do they like it and does it meet their needs? Second, what is the load (home office, home theater, mobile devices) in/at the outbuilding? You may be in a position to overhaul what they have in the house today and expand coverage to the outbuilding. I use UBNT frequently, but for certain applications and budgets some of the new mesh systems like Netgear Orbi and as AJXCR mentioned above, AmpliFi are very promising. I recently sent up an Orbi system for a friend and it fixed coverage issues they had in their home. We placed one of the Orbi satellites near a window in their family room and it is now covering the majority of the backyard with WiFi. If the load in the outbuilding is high, I would consider running either outdoor grade Cat 6 or Cat 6 in plastic conduit. As long as there are no underground obstructions, wire, pipe, roots, many home improvement stores rent 18" trenchers and putting down cable is not too difficult. Generally, the hardest part of running cable to an outbuilding is getting in and out of buildings. If you do run cable between the house and the outbuilding it does open up some other possibilities. Obviously, a switch and a WAP in the outbuilding would be easy to deploy, but AmpliFi just announced Ethernet back haul support between their core routers. You could put one in the house and one in the outbuilding linked with Ethernet cable, add mesh points in the house for full coverage and the whole property would be covered with the same mesh network with seamless hand-off. If running cable is out and upgrading the house WiFi to cover the outbuilding is a no go, a wireless link to the outbuilding as others have described above is a great way to go.

 

[T_Minus]

I can say without a doubt that the non-AC old version (UniFi AP LR (bn only)) I got ALMOST 2x the range of the AC Lite. This is my 'old version' for anyone really curious, I ran it until a few months ago since 2013. I will be connecting it again in my office.

I'm considering trying a Pro, Enterprise or combo of those Long range. I haven't looked into the feature comparison or power of them yet but I know they're all better than the "Lite" I have.

 

[CDLTech]

@Schoondoggy His only complaint was the dialup speed he was getting in their outbuilding. He is mostly interested in streaming audio. The first thing I suggested was to trench a cat 6 cable. Then connect an AP. He is not against trenching. He just wants the easiest and internet connection in the other building.
So I am going to let him decide. It will be between wired or two NanoStations.
I agree with everything you wrote. I discussed this with him. His wife and him are not technical. They are not very network intensive.

I myself am very interested in the Amplifi. I was trying to decide between the AP AC (lite, LR, Pro) and the Amplifi. I believe the Amplifi for my needs would be fine. It's time to replace my 5, 6 old Netgear N600. It has been very good.

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