Property Wireless Signal Please help!

Ok I have 6 acres. 1 house, a 60x60 concrete shop/hangout above where currently the router and modem are at. The house as nothing for net right now, but has a laptop in it. I need to get signal to the house that is 120 ft away



I have a wrt54gs v1 or v2 with DD-WRT firmware on it(I love it, the firmware).

I have a computer upstairs and a computer downstairs in the shop( wired ). I need to know the best way to get strong signal to the house from upstairs above the shop. I currently have the WRT54gs with external antennae and stand with the http://images.google.com/imgres?img...16&prev=/images?q=linksys+antennae&hl=en&um=1

I can get signal from the shop to the house but it drops now and then and is slow 11mb .

There is a netgear wireless n router WRN2000 over in the house but no modem... I can't get the router to act as a wireless access point to catch signal and send it back out.. But the DD-WRT firmware on my WRT54gs can, and does but it's only 17-18% strength from the house to the shop with the above listed eqiupment. So...................

Options

1. Better wireless N router?
2. Better antennae for the G router
3. Powerline Ethernet(how is signal degradation?)


Ethernet is out of the question as it would be over 400ft of cat5e or cat6.

Lets here what you guys use or have or know of that will work.

I would like to stick with Linksys if possible, but seeing those prices of 249 for the professional grade router is kinda out of the question.

Thanks guys.

I present to you, the Cantenna! Essentially this is a cheap-o homebuilt ( unless you buy the commercial one, I wouldn't ) Line-of-sight antenna. Build a cantenna for your house, aim at Wireless AP in shop, obtain teh internetz. At least, I'm fairly sure that will be all you need, I haven't dabbled in it much. You may have better luck with the cantenna in the shop, but I'd experiment a bit and see what works out well. You may need two, and aim them at each other, and you would have a rocking signal.
-Drew

The wireless - N in your laptop, what is it? I can't say for powerline net access, never used it. If you need more than what your current N hardware can muster, then look into a cantenna or some commercial ($$) hardware. Another option, and I don't know if its even compatible with your router is a repeater. Basically you'd put this box somewhere outside on the edge of the range of your router. It receives the signal boosts it further. Theres a few options out there. Apple even has a setup like this, but crappy Windows software.

Drew@PSU said:

I present to you, the Cantenna! Essentially this is a cheap-o homebuilt ( unless you buy the commercial one, I wouldn't ) Line-of-sight antenna. Build a cantenna for your house, aim at Wireless AP in shop, obtain teh internetz. At least, I'm fairly sure that will be all you need, I haven't dabbled in it much. You may have better luck with the cantenna in the shop, but I'd experiment a bit and see what works out well. You may need two, and aim them at each other, and you would have a rocking signal.
-Drew

Click to expand...

the netgear wrn2000 doesn't have external ant. options. Modem is in the shop not the house.

Any possibility that you consider a wired solution ? If there is, suggesting to use the powerline ethernet, its an ethernet connection using the existing electrical wiring, and its better than wireless in latency & throughput, quite secure too.

For example take a look at Powerline Ethernet like this HERE, many other brands carry similar product as well.

The distance maxed out approx. at 1000 feet (wire length), but you should remember, it has some limitations, if you want to use like you planned, both houses must be in the same electricity phase, and within the same distribution lane from the power transformer.

Once they're connected, you can distribute the network locally through the existing wifi gadgets you have at that 2nd house.

bing said:

Any possibility that you consider a wired solution ? If there is, suggesting to use the powerline ethernet, its an ethernet connection using the existing electrical wiring, and its better than wireless in latency & throughput, quite secure too.

For example take a look at Powerline Ethernet like this HERE, many other brands carry similar product as well.

The distance maxed out approx. at 1000 feet (wire length), but you should remember, it has some limitations, if you want to use like you planned, both houses must be in the same electricity phase, and within the same distribution lane from the power transformer.

Once they're connected, you can distribute the network locally through the existing wifi gadgets you have at that 2nd house.

Click to expand...

I have considered it. They are on the same bill. I would have to check and see.

I could do the powerline and then connect a wireless access point for the house right?

I can't run ethernet because it would be over 3-400 ft (down, under, up and over) I have a tube underground for the wires, but it's currently just about maxed out (co-ax, phone, power...etc..) I guess I'm going to have to weigh the pro's and con's of the powerline.

GIXXERGUY6 said:

I could do the powerline and then connect a wireless access point for the house right?

Click to expand...

Exactly, the powerline ethernet is the bridge between that two houses, once connceted, the access point will be used "locally" at that 2nd house.

GIXXERGUY6 said:

I can't run ethernet because it would be over 3-400 ft (down, under, up and over) I have a tube underground for the wires, but it's currently just about maxed out (co-ax, phone, power...etc..) I guess I'm going to have to weigh the pro's and con's of the powerline.

Click to expand...

Imo, not worth the trouble, especially running the new ethernet wire thru that underground tube. Unless you have a real urge to have Gbps link between them.

Spend the time to run a nice Cat 6 or Cat 6a cord and place the cord in some sort of plastic or rubber tube when you run it either across the top of your property or through a new underground tube. You can also use a repeater once it reaches the other end or immediately plug it into a switch and then relay the signal via Ethernet into the rest of the building.

That way your connection is secure, fast, and aesthetically pleasing.

And yes, Cat 6 has a maximum length of 100 meters.

(monoprice.com)

realtadiquantu said:

Spend the time to run a nice Cat 6 or Cat 6a cord and place the cord in some sort of plastic or rubber tube when you run it either across the top of your property or through a new underground tube. You can also use a repeater once it reaches the other end or immediately plug it into a switch and then relay the signal via Ethernet into the rest of the building.

That way your connection is secure, fast, and aesthetically pleasing.

And yes, Cat 6 has a maximum length of 100 meters.

(monoprice.com)

Click to expand...

As stated above there is already a "pull tube" as I call it going from the house to the shop with lots of wires in it, we had problems getting 2 rg6 lines through(sorry missed that part in your thread). And I have been told that after 200 ft or 100ft the signal degradation is horrid.

realtadiquantu said:

And yes, Cat 6 has a maximum length of 100 meters.

(monoprice.com)

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exactly total footage was 360ish down from the modem and router, through the tube at the back of the house up and through the walls to a central location.

****** EDIT *****

my currect WRT54GS with DD-WRT v23 firmware:

is it strong enough to send signal through 300 ft of cat5e to the house? to a wireless access point?

GIXXERGUY6 said:

****** EDIT *****

my currect WRT54GS with DD-WRT v23 firmware:

is it strong enough to send signal through 300 ft of cat5e to the house? to a wireless access point?

Click to expand...

Well, the cable should be able to go 100 meters. 90 meters is the standard "horizontal" cable length and the extra 10 meters are for patch length or plugging into a device giving you the final 100 meters.

I definitely think this is do-able. Outside EMI can reduce how long your cable can go though. It looks like your "pull tube" has electrical cables running through it. That may cause you problems if all the wires are in close quarters like that. I may even consider using cat6 outdoor cabling...

My school has several ethernet runs coming from the main building and running to some portables that we have outside. It looks to be about 3-400 meters, and there's no real problems. It can get kinda funny during a thunderstorm, but if you run them underground, that shouldn't be any problem for you.

I'll always vote wired just for the bandwidth that you get out of it, and the security. That being said, i also have 3 Wifi devices lol

CompuTamer said:

My school has several ethernet runs coming from the main building and running to some portables that we have outside. It looks to be about 3-400 meters, and there's no real problems. It can get kinda funny during a thunderstorm, but if you run them underground, that shouldn't be any problem for you.

I'll always vote wired just for the bandwidth that you get out of it, and the security. That being said, i also have 3 Wifi devices lol

Click to expand...

That length requires either a signal repeater or LRE (Long Range Ethernet) extenders.

I do these all of the time at work

A pair of low cost wireless bridges would suffice.

A pair of these 5GHz units flashed with different firmware (wiligear products, so the firmware is changeable) would work for a bridge.

http://deliberant.com/landing/product.aspx?productid=1298