Extended Home Wifi Network

[BrinkJ]

Hi there,

Not sure if someone else has asked this question, but anyway...

I want to extend my house's wifi to cover an area of up to a 200m around it or even further if my bandwidth-craze gets the better of me.

The reason for this is that I don't want to pay x-amount every month for a 3G dongle. I run an uncapped Telkom line at home, and it seems like such a waste that I can't even sit outside the house to use the wifi. It's just too weak! (It's an old building. Seems like the walls were made from carbide, diamond and a very good cement mix). I work and travel in a 500m radius from my home, and I need to have internet all the time - my own!

My question: What would you suggest I buy as equipment, and what is the requirements ito ECA (Electronic Communications Act), etc. I'm not going to share my connection with anyone, besides my family, so no - I'm not going to be a reseller or ISP provider.

Thanks!

 

[[)roi(]]

Hi there,

Not sure if someone else has asked this question, but anyway...

I want to extend my house's wifi to cover an area of up to a 200m around it or even further if my bandwidth-craze gets the better of me.

The reason for this is that I don't want to pay x-amount every month for a 3G dongle. I run an uncapped Telkom line at home, and it seems like such a waste that I can't even sit outside the house to use the wifi. It's just too weak! (It's an old building. Seems like the walls were made from carbide, diamond and a very good cement mix). I work and travel in a 500m radius from my home, and I need to have internet all the time - my own!

My question: What would you suggest I buy as equipment, and what is the requirements ito ECA (Electronic Communications Act), etc. I'm not going to share my connection with anyone, besides my family, so no - I'm not going to be a reseller or ISP provider.

Thanks!

I used a combination of Ethernet over power adapters to interconnect 6 WIFI routers to enhance WIFI inside & outside: extended to an area of about 200 meters; in my case I had a common set of power cables spanning the buildings on the property, the only minor challenge i had was bridging the network across a 3 phase supply; simply achieved by bridging 2 powerline adapters on either phase with an Ethernet cable.

 

[SauRoNZA]

http://www.ubnt.com/unifi

 

[atomcrusher]

I used a combination of Ethernet over power adapters to interconnect 6 WIFI routers to enhance WIFI inside & outside: extended to an area of about 200 meters; in my case I had a common set of power cables spanning the buildings on the property, the only minor challenge i had was bridging the network across a 3 phase supply; simply achieved by bridging 2 powerline adapters on either phase with an Ethernet cable.

Can you expand on this solution please. I know about the Ethernet over power adaptors, and as I only have single phase, I probably only need to use 2 power adaptors, plus my spare wireless router in a place remote from my study, where PC & ADSL line currently is. A basic wiring diagram would be helpful to me

 

[biometrics]

Either a wifi extender or a more powerful AP. TP-link has both. The extender is cheap (like R300) whereas the AP has a 400 mW output iirc (compared to typical 80) for under R1,000.

http://www.tp-link.co.za/products/details/?categoryid=1247&model=TL-WA730RE

http://www.tp-link.co.za/products/details/?categoryid=215&model=TL-WA5110G

The AP you could install outside on a mast in an all weather enclosure with an omni or sector antenna to boost it even more.

 

[[)roi(]]

Can you expand on this solution please. I know about the Ethernet over power adaptors, and as I only have single phase, I probably only need to use 2 power adaptors, plus my spare wireless router in a place remote from my study, where PC & ADSL line currently is. A basic wiring diagram would be helpful to me

I'll try to explain a bit better, if that's still an issue maybe then a diagram would be needed.

The higher the speed of WIFI used, the more it is affected by structure. Re WIFI extenders: I have found them to typically be a futile measure, as the more routers you add to extend the network, the higher the overhead for signal transmission, and the slower the overall network speed, and there's a point where transmission breaks down entirely.

To overcome this, the recommended approach is to rather connect the routers with Ethernet, which in turn frees each router to broadcast WIFI at full speeds (unhindered by the overhead of WIFI extenders)

Of course not everyone wants to go through the hassle of installing Ethernet cables, and that's where the Powerline adapters come in.

Each Powerline adapter can communicate over your electrical wiring with 1 or more adapters (I currently use 10 adapters) -- basically its a very simple plug and play solution, plug it into a spare electrical outlet (can however be shared with most other electrical devices), and then connect your device to the adapter's Ethernet port using a standard Ethernet cable.

The ethernet port provided by the adapters can either be used to directly connect a device, or to connect to a WIFI router, or connect to a standard Ethernet switch.

With your home (and most homes) being on single phase power, it's simple re all the electrical outlets share the same electrical phase; simply plug in and it should work.

FYI: With 3 phase power, electrical sockets can be wired to any of the incoming electrical phases; an adapter connected to the phase 1 would only allow communication to another adapter on phase 1; bridging phases is simple and requires 2 adapters one on either phase connected by a standard Ethernet cable.

In your case, if your have two wifi routers, you'll need 2 Powerline adapters, 1 for each electrical outlet nearest to the router. The routers themselves are typically configured as if you're creating a new WIFI network, except you use the same WIFI name, security, password, etc... for each router.

Just remember if you have another room that needs connectivity (and where the WIFI signal is poor, or the device only has Ethernet), you don't always have to buy another router; you could just buy 1 more Powerline adapter to directly connect your device with Ethernet from the adapter.

Ps. If you use surge plugs to protect your equipment, the Powerline adapter must be connected before the surge plug; on a single electrical outlet this can be easily achieved using a standard multi outlet adapter with the Powerline taking 1 spot and the surge plug the other. Alternatively you could always change out your single electrical outlets for dual ones (as some extensions can draw down on speeds achieved by the Powerlines)

...and here's a simple diagram from TP-Link http://www.tp-link.com/common/subject/powerline/TL-PA211/

 

[atomcrusher]

In your case, if your have two wifi routers, you'll need 2 Powerline adapters, 1 for each electrical outlet nearest to the router. The routers themselves are typically configured as if you're creating a new WIFI network, except you use the same WIFI name, security, password, etc... for each router.

Just remember if you have another room that needs connectivity (and where the WIFI signal is poor, or the device only has Ethernet), you don't always have to buy another router; you could just buy 1 more Powerline adapter to directly connect your device with Ethernet from the adapter.

Ps. If you use surge plugs to protect your equipment, the Powerline adapter must be connected before the surge plug; on a single electrical outlet this can be easily achieved using a standard multi outlet adapter with the Powerline taking 1 spot and the surge plug the other. Alternatively you could always change out your single electrical outlets for dual ones (as some extensions can draw down on speeds achieved by the Powerlines)

...and here's a simple diagram from TP-Link http://www.tp-link.com/common/subject/powerline/TL-PA211/

Many thanks for that detailed 'how-to' .. I'll be buying a couple of powerline adaptors very soon