Get solid network link out to detached guest house
February 4, 2015 12:08 PM Subscribe
Currently bridging from main house to guest house with a router set up in the guest house acting as both wireless bridge and AP, but the connection is a little wonky. It's only about 100 ft between the two houses, but I guess the walls are attenuating the signal too much. Running ethernet cable would solve the issue, but would involve holes in the houses, which I'd like to avoid (but will consider if necessary). Powerline networking didn't work. Any thoughts? Thanks!
The long/detailed version:
My parents built a detached guest house about 5 years ago, which I use when I visit, and my Dad uses frequently to watch sports. There's no wiring running from the main house, and the router in the main house gave a tenuous wireless signal in the guest house, so I set my parents up with a secondary router out in the guest house that acts as both wireless bridge (that's how it connects to the main network with WAN connection) and an AP (to give a solid signal to users in the guest house). Both routers are Buffalo Airstation WHR-HP-G300N, advertised as "high power", which I figured gave me the best shot of a solid connection.
It's only about 100 yards from the main house to guest house, but the wireless bridging seems less than rock solid -- WAN speed will stutter and then drop to zero from time to time. It doesn't happen inside the house, so I figure we're just on the edge of what the two routers can handle.
This past Christmas, I decided to look for alternatives and tried bridging with powerline networking adapters instead wifi, but we couldn't get the powerline signal to pass between main and guest house.
All my approaches thus far have been driven by a desire to avoid putting holes in either house (for wired connectivity), because I'm not very handy and it feels so permanent. But at this point, I'm willing to consider some holes if need be. I'm thinking an external WiFi antenna wired to one of the routers but mounted outdoors should do it, but I've never done such a thing.
Any thoughts/recommendations would be appreciated!
The long/detailed version:
My parents built a detached guest house about 5 years ago, which I use when I visit, and my Dad uses frequently to watch sports. There's no wiring running from the main house, and the router in the main house gave a tenuous wireless signal in the guest house, so I set my parents up with a secondary router out in the guest house that acts as both wireless bridge (that's how it connects to the main network with WAN connection) and an AP (to give a solid signal to users in the guest house). Both routers are Buffalo Airstation WHR-HP-G300N, advertised as "high power", which I figured gave me the best shot of a solid connection.
It's only about 100 yards from the main house to guest house, but the wireless bridging seems less than rock solid -- WAN speed will stutter and then drop to zero from time to time. It doesn't happen inside the house, so I figure we're just on the edge of what the two routers can handle.
This past Christmas, I decided to look for alternatives and tried bridging with powerline networking adapters instead wifi, but we couldn't get the powerline signal to pass between main and guest house.
All my approaches thus far have been driven by a desire to avoid putting holes in either house (for wired connectivity), because I'm not very handy and it feels so permanent. But at this point, I'm willing to consider some holes if need be. I'm thinking an external WiFi antenna wired to one of the routers but mounted outdoors should do it, but I've never done such a thing.
Any thoughts/recommendations would be appreciated!
The poweline adapter likely didn't work because the guest house is on a different circuit.
What you need is a proper outdoor point-to-point wireless bridge. These come as a kit and are mounted externally, so there is a bit of drilling involved, but no more than you'd need to do to mount an outdoor electrical socket (a long drill bit and a tube of silicone is all you need).
posted by pipeski at 12:17 PM on February 4, 2015
What you need is a proper outdoor point-to-point wireless bridge. These come as a kit and are mounted externally, so there is a bit of drilling involved, but no more than you'd need to do to mount an outdoor electrical socket (a long drill bit and a tube of silicone is all you need).
posted by pipeski at 12:17 PM on February 4, 2015
Google the "pringle can" wireless antennae? It is good for extending line of sight wifi longer distances.
posted by RustyBrooks at 12:22 PM on February 4, 2015
posted by RustyBrooks at 12:22 PM on February 4, 2015
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-make-a-wifi-antenna-out-of-a-pringles-can-nb/
posted by RustyBrooks at 12:25 PM on February 4, 2015
posted by RustyBrooks at 12:25 PM on February 4, 2015
Is Coax run to the guest house? If so, then I'd recommend http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EQ4BQG/
Solid as a rock and great speeds.
posted by 6ATR at 12:31 PM on February 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Solid as a rock and great speeds.
posted by 6ATR at 12:31 PM on February 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
At my inlaws' lake cabin we had good success with a wifi repeater installed down by the dock, since getting a signal from the house was spotty due to a hill being in the way. We put the wifi repeater in the best line-of-site spot we could find, which was actually about 50 feet past the dock, but since it has line-of-sight it was able to repeat the OK signal for the people sitting on the dock behind the hill. No wires, not cutting or drilling holes (we put ours in a waterproof enclosure where a hydraulic pump lives because it had an extra outlet and will keep the repeater dry). It's crucial that you have almost no obstructions between the repeater and the access point in your house -- it will essentially let you 'bend' your wifi around all the obstacles that are preventing you from getting good signal directly from the house.
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:32 PM on February 4, 2015
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:32 PM on February 4, 2015
Ugh forget the pringles can or directional wifi antenna thing in general. Just get something like the nanostations.
I don't even want to get in to the hassles i've had with the directional long range wifi thing, i had my own ask about that a while back and i'm a junior network engineer as well. Just no.
The coax thing is also a great idea, but just give up on the wifi. Two of these will be overkill and solve the problem. You can connect any cheap AP on the other end(including a unifi, which are actually great). So yea, $160 and then you're done hassling with this.
posted by emptythought at 2:36 PM on February 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't even want to get in to the hassles i've had with the directional long range wifi thing, i had my own ask about that a while back and i'm a junior network engineer as well. Just no.
The coax thing is also a great idea, but just give up on the wifi. Two of these will be overkill and solve the problem. You can connect any cheap AP on the other end(including a unifi, which are actually great). So yea, $160 and then you're done hassling with this.
posted by emptythought at 2:36 PM on February 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think the distance we spanned was more 50 ft than 100 ft, but we used a range extender with a matching router. Had no problems with signals. The range extender I linked to creates a separate wifi network, that people in the guest house would connect to.
(I think NanoStations are probably the newer/better version of a range extender.)
posted by ethidda at 4:22 PM on February 4, 2015
(I think NanoStations are probably the newer/better version of a range extender.)
posted by ethidda at 4:22 PM on February 4, 2015
If there is cable TV to both, MoCA bridges are your best option. I used to use a pair to connect two sides of a duplex that had separate drops from the pole. 100Mbps rock solid.
Barring that, I'd suggest either the Nanostation or the equivalent Mikrotik linked by odinsdream. If you're nontechnical, I'd say go for the Nanostation, as Ubiquiti's web interface is easier to grok. It's pretty much on the same level as most consumer routers. The Mikrotik UI is far more complicated, but far more powerful, but almost certainly in ways you don't need for a simple bridging application.
posted by wierdo at 3:48 AM on February 5, 2015
Barring that, I'd suggest either the Nanostation or the equivalent Mikrotik linked by odinsdream. If you're nontechnical, I'd say go for the Nanostation, as Ubiquiti's web interface is easier to grok. It's pretty much on the same level as most consumer routers. The Mikrotik UI is far more complicated, but far more powerful, but almost certainly in ways you don't need for a simple bridging application.
posted by wierdo at 3:48 AM on February 5, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks everyone!
I don't know why I didn't think of MoCA before (actually I think I do -- originally there wasn't coax but then Dad convinced the cable installer to run it after the guest house was built). I think that's my first choice, given the troubles I've had thus far with wireless. Now I need to investigate whether his cable ("Bright House" cable co in central FL) is already using the MoCA frequency for something, like whole-home DVR.
If I end up thinking the MoCA won't work, then I'll try the Nanostations or Microtiks. All the support for those here and in the Amazon reviews for Nanostations make me think they should work well in my application.
Thanks again.
posted by bigjoec at 12:15 PM on February 5, 2015
I don't know why I didn't think of MoCA before (actually I think I do -- originally there wasn't coax but then Dad convinced the cable installer to run it after the guest house was built). I think that's my first choice, given the troubles I've had thus far with wireless. Now I need to investigate whether his cable ("Bright House" cable co in central FL) is already using the MoCA frequency for something, like whole-home DVR.
If I end up thinking the MoCA won't work, then I'll try the Nanostations or Microtiks. All the support for those here and in the Amazon reviews for Nanostations make me think they should work well in my application.
Thanks again.
posted by bigjoec at 12:15 PM on February 5, 2015
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posted by cosmicbandito at 12:15 PM on February 4, 2015