Wifi to connect two detached houses?

April 17, 2008 10:38 AM

I've decided to abandon 'plan A' and think it's best to connect my two houses using wifi because of electrical concerns. I've read through tons of past Askme and other threads on the internet about range boosting, repeaters, gain, antennas etc but I'm asking this question because I'm hoping that there's a kit someone can point me in the direction of that matches my needs!

Okay, so I've understood I need to use a directional antenna to establish a connection to this house (but should I use one on each AP?).

The first problem is, it seems my WRT150N doesn't allow for antenna swapping. I've made a couple of those tinfoil reflectors but whilst they could well work they're so feeble that they're not really a permanent solution.

What I really need is for an AP in house B to be able to reliably connect to the wifi in house A. The houses are about 25m apart and line of sight is there but inhibited a little by a big tree. If it was just one computer in house B that wanted to be connected, I'd be tempted by a daughterboard card with a directional antenna on a cable. As it is, though, it's two computers so it looks like I'll need to use an AP to extend the range of the network.

Questions

1) Wireless N's MIMO - Will it really improve signal reception?
2) Can anyone recommend a kit or hardware I can buy to get this done effectively
3) Is the connection likely to go down when it snows?
4) Should I use an external antenna and if so do I need two - one for each AP?

Basically the problem isn't actually that complex but I've only ever done in house wifi before so I don't actually know what's overkill and what's a good idea for a good connection.

Has anyone done this before?

posted by dance to computers & internet (13 comments total)

For example - how about if I used this at house B?
posted by dance at 11:01 AM on April 17, 2008

er...this
posted by dance at 11:01 AM on April 17, 2008

or (just thinking outloud, now) the WRT54GL running DD-WRT with an external aerial (because the WRT54GL supports interchangable antennae - but then I'm missing out on the supposed range benefit of Wireless N...
posted by dance at 11:23 AM on April 17, 2008

(long story short below)
I'm a fairly seasoned *nix sysadmin-type w/plenty of networking/programming know-how and my experience in getting my wireless-N network stable in my house for the last few months has been a bit ridiculous. Seems as soon as I restricted my gear to 'G' a while back, it was far more stable but there are also times when my router bricks. I'll bounce it and it might come right back w/in 5 min. or an half an hour - sometimes never. I'll reset it, and as soon as I restore the previous config that worked for quite some time, it bricks, or not. I'll then reset and manually change a few things and sometimes it bricks, sometimes nay. I've used both a Belkin and Linksys WRT300N v1.1 wireless routers over time. I've debugged w/network stumbler and when I can't connect to my router I am able to see/connect to one other unsecured router (barely.)

'Funny' thing too is that, to me, I should (in my mind) always be able to connect to the router and access the the config, but if Comcast disconnects or the thing bricks - it's a no go. The only option is to reset/restore/manually config. Seems many have run into similar issues here.

Long story short is that I'll either buy a 'G' only router and see how that goes or just give up and do a few runs of cat-5 underneath the house - ugh. Sorry for the somewhat off-topic rant.

YMMV
posted by prodevel at 11:27 AM on April 17, 2008

Put the AP near a window facing the other house. Install this on the computer at the house and point it towards the window. 25m isnt far and you shouldnt really have to resort to anything other than one directional antenna on the client computer in the other house.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:35 AM on April 17, 2008

Also consider running in B-only mode if the connection gets too iffy. If you do decide to move up to dd-wrt just to up the power on the transmitter, be aware that raising power does not equal a better signal to noise ratio. In fact, on my linksys I lower the power to get a better signal. Go figure.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:41 AM on April 17, 2008

prodevel, damn dirty ape - can I please ask:

What do you make of this? It looks like it will do the job - probably penetrate into the house in question and all the houses around - but is it safe? It doesn't mention CE approval etc. I believe firmly regular wifi is safe - but this supercharged grey-market version? I'm a little concerned about my own grey matter!
posted by dance at 11:47 AM on April 17, 2008

May I suggest the Wifi Predator?
posted by blister at 12:03 PM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

I was using a pair of Linksys WRT54GLs running DD-WRT and doing WDS for the longest time, but I've switched to using Apple's new Wireless-N-capable Airport gear.

I've got an Airport Extreme setup in the "main office" that also serves as the core router for the house. One of its wireless settings is "Allow this network to be extended". I've got an Airport Express (-n version) in the "lab", and it's set to the same SSID as the AExtreme, with "Extend This Network" selected (if I remember correctly), and the correct password entered.

That was pretty much it - and I've got a wireless bridge connecting the wired networks in both rooms. It's not full 802.11n speed (because WDS requires the "802.11b/g compatible" mode), but it's good enough for Internet connectivity up to the full speed of my 3megabit DSL.

So, look into Apple's wireless offerings; as a techie I'm really impressed. I often think about going back to a pair of WRT54GLs, but the desire to tweak and fiddle with things soon passes and I go back to my current setup that Just Works.
posted by mrbill at 12:28 PM on April 17, 2008

Sorry no experience with that product. BTW, this hawking is 20 dollars cheaper than the one I linked to earlier.

Another thing to do when first getting this to work is to try the different channels. For instance if the second house is sitting near some guys AP which is broadcasting on channel 1 then you want to move your AP to channel 11.
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:44 PM on April 17, 2008

Plan A sounds like a far better idea. CAT5 fast ethernet is quite fine for a 25m run and I myself have such a thing (actually mine's closer to 40m). Buried conduit is the legit way to do it, don't string it through the trees.

Wires = fast and good. Wireless = flaky.
posted by polyglot at 11:39 PM on April 17, 2008

I setup this wireless link between my dad's house and sister's house, and it worked like a champ out of the box.** Solid connection for 6 months now. Probably overkill for your situation, but if you want a nice, transparent, self-contained solution... there it is. They're very happy with the solution.

** Had some IP addressing issues, referenced in this AskMe -- nothing to do with the product though, just me overthinking trying to join two subnets.
posted by LordSludge at 8:15 AM on April 18, 2008

polyglot - Just how legit is DIY buried conduit? Isn't it also susceptible to electrical problems, lightning, grounding etc? Not to mention the elbow grease required. I'm also not convinced a powerful well aimed hotspot is going to be flaky...

I'll report back!

LS: Thanks, I'll take a look at that.
posted by dance at 9:16 AM on April 18, 2008