# How to improve my wifi in my garage?



## winterwonderland (Mar 18, 2020)

I have a router, an asus rt ac66u, and whenever i go to the garage, which is like a couple of meters away from my house, the signal quality = close to zero... HOW can i improve the signal quality? I have tried moving the router as close to the nearest wall as possible in the house, but to no help. I have a 100/100mb connection.

I was suggested to get myself an Ubiquiti AP AC Lite and either put that one as the main "router" or put that inside the garage. Will that work, or?

Any thoughts/solutions to this? Thank you.


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## jsfitz54 (Mar 18, 2020)

Does your garage use foil insulation?

Looks like this:  https://www.google.com/search?q=foi...VmiOAKHf1GCCMQ_AUoAnoECBQQBA&biw=1680&bih=914


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## Regeneration (Mar 18, 2020)

What is foil insulation?






Like this? Won't block anything. Might actually improve reception. It's thick concrete that kills reception.

Anyway, there are 3 options to improve WiFi reception:

1. Relocate router
2. WiFi extender
3. Upgrade router or antennas to better ones (by dBi).


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## Ja.KooLit (Mar 18, 2020)

wifi extender


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## mrthanhnguyen (Mar 18, 2020)

Bought another asus router and set it as aimesh.


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## jsfitz54 (Mar 18, 2020)

Regeneration said:


> What is foil insulation?
> 
> View attachment 148426
> 
> ...



You got it.  It comes in various forms and could be in soft rolls or have a hard foam center in various thicknesses, in drywall dimensions. Seems are closed with foil 2" tape.

Was the "garage" (in OP's case) an addition?  The common wall between the house and garage may have aluminum siding that was left in place if this was a remodel.

My point being that construction methods used may be the cause of the mysterious dead zone.

As to a solution, you could run a CAT6 cable through the wall to a "unmanaged switch", ie :  https://www.google.com/search?clien...XNSt8KHZHECKQQ7xYoAHoECA0QJg&biw=1680&bih=914

and go from there.


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## P4-630 (Mar 18, 2020)

Use 2 powerline adapters with a wifi extender.


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## jsfitz54 (Mar 18, 2020)

P4-630 said:


> Use 2 powerline adapters with a wifi extender.



Could work but we don't know if the garage was wired in common with the house.
It may have its own panel box.



minstreless said:


> I have tried moving the router as close to the nearest wall as possible in the house



Signal may be grounding out on the exterior wall in common with the garage, pulling it away from the wall maybe more helpful.



Regeneration said:


> Won't block anything. Might actually improve reception. It's thick concrete that kills reception.



Have you tried using kitchen tin foil to blanket your router?  How's the reception?
Different parts of the world build differently.  Concrete bunkers are a problem.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2020)

jsfitz54 said:


> Could work but we don't know if the garage was wired in common with the house.
> It may have its own panel box.



If you only have one electric meter on your house, then the garage is wired with the house.  The garage might have a sub-panel in it, but powerline adapters will still work with a sub-panel since the sub-panel is wired back to the main panel of the house. That's how my house is set up, and I use powerline out to my detached garage with an access point in the garage running off the powerline adapter.


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## jsfitz54 (Mar 18, 2020)

newtekie1 said:


> If you only have one electric meter on your house, then the garage is wired with the house.  The garage might have a sub-panel in it, but powerline adapters will still work with a sub-panel since the sub-panel is wired back to the main panel of the house. That's how my house is set up, and I use powerline out to my detached garage with an access point in the garage running off the powerline adapter.



We don't know the OP's setup. I said panel box not sub-panel.


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 18, 2020)

Cat 5e, or fiber ran to garage


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## Bill_Bright (Mar 18, 2020)

Tell us about your garage computer.

Since your garage is only a couple meters from your house, distance is not really the problem - it is the barriers (walls) in between. 

I agree with newtekie1 and if you only have one meter, power line adapters should work. Running Ethernet cable out to the garage to a simple 4-port switch is good option. But of course that requires drilling holes in both the house and garage walls. If you go this router, make sure you get cable designed for outdoor use. 

Alternatively, if you have a PC in your garage, you might try a PCIe wifi adapter like this that allows you to place the antenna in a more ideal place for better propagation and reception - perhaps in a window facing the house. If a notebook, you can get a USB adapter with an external antenna. 

There are also truly external (as in outdoors) antennas that connect to the router and create an AP (access point) to extend your wifi to the outdoors. These are great for connecting mobile devices poolside or patio. But of course, these require drilling a hole though your home's outer wall to run the cable through, and more holes to mount the antenna. 

Less destructive approach may be to drill a hole through your garage's outer wall and use an antenna connected to your PC that extends outdoors. There are some RV antennas designed for this.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2020)

jsfitz54 said:


> We don't know the OP's setup. I said panel box not sub-panel.



Correct, I wasn't arguing with you, I was adding information.  It's also far less likely that the garage is separate from the house with it's own panel, but without more info from the OP we don't know.


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## John Naylor (Mar 18, 2020)

I live / work  in a 200 year old Dairy Barn  with post and beam (8' thick Locus Wood ... aka ironwood) beams   First thing i did was install ethernet cables.  Each beam took about 45 minutes in a very awkward position to complete.     Laptops see about half the download speed when using WiFi.  We also have foil insulation (on exterior walls) which doesn't affect the wifi since all that is indoors ... but it kills cell service... we go from 4 bars on my deck to 0 bars 2 steps inside.  We use a MicroCell to get phone service inside.

We also have  a large detached garage  and workshop.  Kids used the place as a "clubhouse".  Added a splitter to the exterior cable drop and in summer they ran a cable over to watch music videos and whatever ... the next year, ran a temporary ethernet cable from router out the window.  I had an 8 port switch that became redundant when got an 8 port router and gave them that and they had lan parties and would binge stream TV series or movies out there.


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## jsfitz54 (Mar 18, 2020)

If the OP's space is an attached garage, with a common wall, it may be fire retardant built and maybe a dead zone for wifi from house to garage.

If it's a free standing garage near the house and still dead for signal then something in the way it's built is preventing signal. (from house side or garage side).

OP has not replied.  Self isolation I expect.


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## winterwonderland (Mar 19, 2020)

Thanks for all the response. Been hella busy running a charity, sending out information about the virus in my village and organizing help for elderly, sick ones etc. So it has kept me very busy...

Anyway, i have attached a drawing of the house and garage. To be honest, i cannot change the router location that much, really. i can try, but there is a space limit, unfortunately.

The garage have a concrete wall, yes.

I have no pc in my garage. The point is that i will be streaming courses/classes in my garage, since it is spacious, so i will not be "living" there. So, i will be using my laptop and phone, and that is why i need wifi to work properly there as well as in the whole house. The signal is BAD in the garage, very unstable. Not dead, though.

What would be the easiest solution for me to get wifi working properly in my garage? I understand that i must buy an additional device. It gets utterly cold here during the winter times, so stretching a cable from the main house to the garage would not be an option, unfortunately.


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## P4-630 (Mar 19, 2020)

If you can, use 2 powerline adapters with a wifi extender.


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## winterwonderland (Mar 19, 2020)

P4-630 said:


> If you can, use 2 powerline adapters with a wifi extender.



What you mean by that? Sorry, i am bit noob with this... powerline adapters? wifi extender?


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## P4-630 (Mar 19, 2020)

minstreless said:


> What you mean by that? Sorry, i am bit noob with this... powerline adapters? wifi extender?



Plug a powerline adapter into a power socket near your router, then connect that adapter via Lan cable to the router. 
Now take another powerline adapter and plug that into a power socket in your garage, in the garage plugin a wifi extender and connect the wifi extender via Lan cable to powerline adapter.


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## winterwonderland (Mar 19, 2020)

P4-630 said:


> Plug a powerline adapter into a power socket near your router, then connect that adapter via Lan cable to the router.
> Now take another powerline adapter and plug that into a power socket in your garage, in the garage plugin a wifi extender and connect the wifi extender via Lan cable to powerline adapter.



Hmm, okay. i think i am following you, yes. I do have power sockets in my garage, yes. but a powerline adapter... any examples on such adapters, or?


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## P4-630 (Mar 19, 2020)

minstreless said:


> but a powerline adapter... any examples on such adapters, or?


Search on google.

Example


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## winterwonderland (Mar 19, 2020)

P4-630 said:


> Search on google.
> 
> Example
> View attachment 148485



Okay. So i would need a wifi extender and those powerline adapters, and that's it? No additional router needed, or?


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## P4-630 (Mar 19, 2020)

minstreless said:


> Okay. So i would need a wifi extender and those powerline adapters, and that's it? No additional router needed, or?



Yes.
But the power of the garage must be wired to the house otherwise it can't work this way.


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## Ferrum Master (Mar 19, 2020)

idk. Outdoor cat5e and a cheap router looks like the best solution. Best speed, price...


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## winterwonderland (Mar 19, 2020)

P4-630 said:


> Yes.
> But the power of the garage must be wired to the house otherwise it can't work this way.



Yes, i do believe so. I can see the fuses to the garage in my fuse box, so i assume that means it's on the same powerline?

Any other solutions that doesn't include "outdoor" things, perhaps?

I am just checking what alternatives i have.

Wouldn't a repeater work like a charm for my solution, perhaps? Somethiing like *Netgear EX6110?*


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## winterwonderland (Mar 21, 2020)

Any thoughts regarding my last post and about that Netgear EX6110?


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## Bill_Bright (Mar 21, 2020)

My background is in radio maintenance. I like RF devices (or at least their antennas) to be physically located as high up as possible. Most wall outlets are down low. If you can locate that Netgear on the far right side of your house, perhaps height would not matter. A direct a line of sight (the fewer number of barriers - walls, floors, ceilings - as possible) between the router and the Netgear would be best. 

Is there no way you can relocate your router to a more central location in your home? Or on the right side of your house?


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## newtekie1 (Mar 21, 2020)

minstreless said:


> Wouldn't a repeater work like a charm for my solution, perhaps?



Nope.  You'd have to put the extender in the house still and hope the signal will reach the garage.  The signal that reaches the garage won't really be any better.  WiFi just doesn't travel through exterior walls that well.

The only options that will give decent results will either be Powerline adapters with a WiFi Access point or running a wire.


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 21, 2020)

Bill_Bright said:


> My background is in radio maintenance. I like RF devices (or at least their antennas) to be physically located as high up as possible. Most wall outlets are down low. If you can locate that Netgear on the far right side of your house, perhaps height would not matter. A direct a line of sight (the fewer number of barriers - walls, floors, ceilings - as possible) between the router and the Netgear would be best.
> 
> Is there no way you can relocate your router to a more central location in your home? Or on the right side of your house?



Still applies today umbrella effect


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## Bill_Bright (Mar 22, 2020)

eidairaman1 said:


> Still applies today umbrella effect


Well, over the short distances of a wifi network, RF travels in straight lines, unless reflected off an object or absorbed by a thick concrete wall, for example. The main thing with an antenna up high is there tends to be fewer barriers in the line-of-sight the RF needs to travel through. This may include the curvature of the Earth for long distant communications. But in a home with wifi RF, height really does not matters. For me, it is just more a habit thing.

In a typical home a central location is typically best for the best compromise for the effective "range" to all points in the house - unless that would put the broadside of a large refrigerator, oven, washing machine or other large metal surface directly in the line-of-sight. Then perhaps mounting the antenna up high to get over those reflective barriers would be helpful. 

Of course, all of this is dependent on the antenna type used but typically, wifi access points use [more or less] omni-directional antennas. 

This brings up a point for this computer located in the garage. A directional wifi antenna may solve your problems.


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## puma99dk| (Mar 28, 2020)

If you have the money then go with 2xUniFi NanoBeamAC it can provide a solid connection from point a to b.

Their end models can give internet up to 15km+ so 6meters with clearance shouldn't be an issue.

Link: https://www.ui.com/airmax/nanobeam-ac-gen2/


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## Bill_Bright (Mar 29, 2020)

New member first post - sure sounds like a sales pitch.


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## winterwonderland (Mar 31, 2020)

puma99dk| said:


> If you have the money then go with 2xUniFi NanoBeamAC it can provide a solid connection from point a to b.
> 
> Their end models can give internet up to 15km+ so 6meters with clearance shouldn't be an issue.
> 
> Link: https://www.ui.com/airmax/nanobeam-ac-gen2/



A tad bit extreme that, innit?  It's only for myself. Wouldn't 1 be enough? And i don't need it to stretch further than my garage... 




Bill_Bright said:


> New member first post - sure sounds like a sales pitch.



Hmm? New member? Me?


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## puma99dk| (Mar 31, 2020)

@minstreless  you a sender and a receiver sadly but you can properly find a older version used somewhere.

It will be the best way to get something wirelessly from the house to the garage because it's point to point.

I manage 3 older non-ac pairs at a school with like 20 UniFi AP's and 5 UniFi 8 ports switches and it just works with a hosted software controller on a virtual Ubuntu.


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## agentnathan009 (Mar 31, 2020)

Get one of these, attach to the side of your house and run Cat 6 ethernet cable to the PoE (power over Ethernet module) supplied with unit and then a Cat 6 cable to your router. The PoE gives unit more power for better wifi performance. I bought a different indoor unit and these enterprise grade units are good stuff to use, though pricier than consumer grade stuff. Follow instructions to set up and you should get wifi in your garage. Based on your drawing and router location, you will never get wifi that far, I have the same router and its radio power isn't that high. I installed a
*TP-Link Omada AC1750 Wireless Access Point *and put it in the basement facing up to the first floor and I get pretty good wifi signal strength throughout the whole house. I was using an extender but it kept losing the wifi signal and was causing consternation with the rest of the family that just wants the wifi to work.


Alternatively, you could string wire robe across from house to garage and attach Cat 6 ethernet cable to it to put unit in your garage.

TP-Link EAP225-Outdoor Omada AC1200 Wireless Access Point


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## winterwonderland (Mar 31, 2020)

puma99dk| said:


> @minstreless  you a sender and a receiver sadly but you can properly find a older version used somewhere.
> 
> It will be the best way to get something wirelessly from the house to the garage because it's point to point.
> 
> I manage 3 older non-ac pairs at a school with like 20 UniFi AP's and 5 UniFi 8 ports switches and it just works with a hosted software controller on a virtual Ubuntu.



Interesting. My friend uses a Ubiquiti AC Lite connected to a TP-Link router, and wow... what a reach it has... I get almost full reception even though our houses are like 25m apart...

You mention an older version... so... would Nanobeam M5 16 do the trick for me, or?



agentnathan009 said:


> Get one of these, attach to the side of your house and run Cat 6 ethernet cable to the PoE supplied with unit and then a Cat 6 cable to your router. I bought a different indoor unit and these enterprise grade units are good stuff to use, though pricier than consumer grade stuff. Follow instructions to set up and you should get wifi in your garage.
> 
> Alternatively, you could string wire robe across from house to garage and attach Cat 6 ethernet cable to it to put unit in your garage.
> 
> TP-Link EAP225-Outdoor Omada AC1200 Wireless Access Point



Hmm... I see the TP-Link EAP225 (regular or whatever it is called), seems to be the same as the above-mentioned Nanobeam, or it's something else entirely?


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## agentnathan009 (Mar 31, 2020)

minstreless said:


> Interesting. My friend uses a Ubiquiti AC Lite connected to a TP-Link router, and wow... what a reach it has... I get almost full reception even though our houses are like 25m apart...
> 
> You mention an older version... so... would Nanobeam M5 16 do the trick for me, or?
> 
> ...



EAP225 is not a point to point unit but a 360 degree coverage unit that is likely powerful enough to reach into your garage if mounted outside on garage side of house. Point to point beam type have a narrow beam where you would have to aim it. The Omada line is super easy to set up compared to Ubiquiti line of hardware. I did a comparison between the TP-Link enterprise and Ubiquiti line and TP-Link is way easier to set up and manage without the management units or Linux server to manage.


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## puma99dk| (Mar 31, 2020)

@minstreless yeah it's the m3 I manage and with a tweak every 2 years or so because they shoot between 2 threes and with tweaks we have 95% signal strength.

The nanobeams have their own web interface so you don't need a controller.

I usually put the sender nanobeam as master because it's the one on the main network.


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## winterwonderland (Mar 31, 2020)

puma99dk| said:


> @minstreless yeah it's the m3 I manage and with a tweak every 2 years or so because they shoot between 2 threes and with tweaks we have 95% signal strength.
> 
> The nanobeams have their own web interface so you don't need a controller.
> 
> I usually put the sender nanobeam as master because it's the one on the main network.



Interesting, so would 1x Nanobeam M5 16 do the trick for me then, or? What does it need to connect up against my asus rt ac66u? "Nothing"?


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## puma99dk| (Mar 31, 2020)

minstreless said:


> Interesting, so would 1x Nanobeam M5 16 do the trick for me then, or? What does it need to connect up against my asus rt ac66u? "Nothing"?



No you need 2 it's point to point you can't as far as I know pair with other not nanobeam products and they both will sit on the outer wall.

One in the house and the other in the garages so depends on what you need of speed and how many devices.

You properly wanna use more then one device in your garage could be a old laptop for repair guides, music you name it and your phone.

Everyone uses Wi-Fi differently even on their garage


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## winterwonderland (Mar 31, 2020)

puma99dk| said:


> No you need 2 it's point to point you can't as far as I know pair with other not nanobeam products and they both will sit on the outer wall.
> 
> One in the house and the other in the garages so depends on what you need of speed and how many devices.
> 
> ...



Ah...

Well, this bums me out... I cannot afford 2 nanobeams, for sure. They will cost $170 here where i live, which is way too much above my budget.

I guess i will just opt for the device you can just plug into your outlet and then "pair" it with my router... That should improve the signal quality a tad bit, don't you reckon so?

Did you look at the drawing i made, by the way? As you can see, the house is very small. 1 floor. and the distance to the garage is not that far... so maybe that outlet-option will work?


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 1, 2020)

minstreless said:


> Hmm? New member? Me?


LOL No, not you. My reply originally and immediately followed a post by a new member that sounded like a sales pitch. Apparently, a mod thought it sounded like a sales pitch too because that post is now gone. Sorry for any confusion.


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## Vario (Apr 1, 2020)

In my opinion, the best way to handle this situation is to run an ethernet cable out to the garage.  If wifi is a must, put a  wireless router in your garage on that cable.  Anything else will be frustrating.


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 1, 2020)

While I agree Ethernet is always best when possible it often is not practical. And this is one of those scenarios. It would involve punching holes through the exterior walls of the both the house and the garage. That also involves poking holes through the home's and garage's (if it has any) insulation. And then with holes, that involves ensuring they are sealed not only from the elements, but insects too. Plus, it needs to be exterior grade Ethernet cable. That's a lot of issues and yes, they are surmountable. but wifi or powerline adapters might work just fine and potentially a whole lot easier.


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## jjnissanpatfan (Apr 1, 2020)

You can try a mesh system with 1 Router and 2 Satellite receivers only the router needs Ethernet.  Maybe you have a local place where you buy it and if it does not work you can return it. I think it would work good. Also when setting up any networks do not use the cell phone apps...go plug into the router and set up the old fashion way! That would give you great coverage everywhere and last a good long while.


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## claes (Apr 1, 2020)

Lol @ thread and all of these overkill solutions 

I would just get a power line kit and WiFi extender. Not the greatest performance, doesn’t extend a quarter mile, but will do the trick.


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## jjnissanpatfan (Apr 2, 2020)

Those type's of systems are not overkill and there is a power-line version of that Orbi one. There are allot of variants of mesh systems the Orbi was just for reference and once you set the router up like any other router the satellites just pair up and your done easy!  Most people pay extra from their internet provider for a router of less quality. If you buy your own better quality router and have great signal everywhere why not..and not pay the extra service-lease fee?


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## claes (Apr 2, 2020)

I wasn’t referring to you necessarily, more the nanobeam and similar recommendations. Not that I blame anyone — my whole network is Ubiquiti, but looks like OP is on a budget and doesn’t have much networking background, so some suggestions are a little over the top


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 2, 2020)

claes said:


> Lol @ thread and all of these overkill solutions
> 
> I would just get a power line kit and WiFi extender


LOL "Overkill solutions" and then suggesting a power line kit "AND" wifi extender? Using two solutions when potentially one or the other will do is not overkill?

@minstreless - Inside the main home, what is the closest to the garage you have Ethernet? 

Also, you said in post #16 that because it gets "utterly cold" in the winter, running a cable is not an option. Why? Exterior grade CAT 6 Ethernet cable is designed for outdoor use. Depending on type, it is totally waterproof and designed to be buried. Other types are designed to withstand direct sunlight. Some can be buried and resist UV exposure. It still meets Ethernet requirements so it still has a functional maximum working length of 100M (~328 feet) before performance degrades. But your garage is only 6 meters away. 

There are several MIL-SPEC (military grade) Ethernet cables (and MIL-SPEC connectors) designed for weatherproof scenarios and long exposure to direct sun in all sorts of extreme temperatures (-55°C to 200°C) and harsh environments. 

I would recommend burying the cable rather than using a drop or hanging it. This will minimize exposure to the sun but also the constant flexing that would be imposed by the wind. Metal fatigue would eventually damage the cable. 

Note sure the availability in your country but I see on Amazon here there are many CAT6 Waterproof Outdoor Direct Burial UV Resistant Ethernet cables in lengths up to 500 feet for less than $100 USD. 

Yes, more work initially, but a much more permanent (meaning "one-time") project. It should be buried below the frost line, however. 

Other than that, I still think a directional wifi antenna would be worth a try. In looking at the graphic for the OPs home and garage, and assuming north is "up", a directional antenna (as mentioned in Post #30) in the southwest corner of the garage pointing at the router would minimize the number of barriers the signal would need to travel through.


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## Vario (Apr 2, 2020)

Drill a hole in a basement window frames or in the door frame edge trim on the side of the house that faces the garage.  Be creative, pick a spot that isn't too obvious.  Caulk around the opening after running the wire to seal. Then bury the cable.  If your coax cable or fiber enters on the same side as the garage, it would be easier as you can use the existing hole and run the cat5/6 out along side the coax or fiber going in.
You could use direct burial cat5/6 or run it in a conduit, direct burial would be easier.
Its guaranteed to work unlike some of the expensive solutions suggested.
I've had enough trouble getting reliable wifi through a concrete wall inside my home or going through a ceiling, and ended up hardwiring those rooms instead.  The intermittent drop outs and the poor speed made it much nicer to run on ethernet.
You can buy 100 ft. of cable for $10 on eBay.  You can get a second wireless router and put it in the garage.  The biggest hassle is the burial.


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 2, 2020)

Vario said:


> You can buy 100 ft. of cable for $10 on eBay.


The OP is not in the US, and we are talking about Ethernet designed for outdoors, so $10 might be wishful thinking. But it is still pretty inexpensive, nevertheless. But as noted, it is much more reliable. No worries about interference (or wifi hacking) with Ethernet. And using cable is a permanent solution - or at least can give many years of service. 

One point that may add to the cost is connectors and a quality set of crimpers. Pulling cables through walls is best done with un-terminated cable. First and foremost, the hole through the wall can be much smaller. Then there's no risk of damaging or contaminating the connectors. And last, you can cut the cable to the proper length instead of using a 100 foot, pre-terminated cable for a 51 foot run. 

Still, it is well worth it, IMO, to buy a quality crimper, bulk cable, connectors and make your own cables. I recommend a cable tester too. As seen here, they are very inexpensive and great at keeping blood pressures well within healthy levels.  I do recommend sacrificing a few connectors and short lengths of cable to practice a few crimps.


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## claes (Apr 2, 2020)

Bill_Bright said:


> LOL "Overkill solutions" and then suggesting a power line kit "AND" wifi extender? Using two solutions when potentially one or the other will do is not overkill?
> 
> @minstreless - Inside the main home, what is the closest to the garage you have Ethernet?
> 
> ...


Most phones don’t have Ethernet ports 

You are right about the WiFi extender, though. I don’t really know much about PowerLine equipment.



			https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AV600-Powerline-WiFi-Extender/dp/B00HSQAIQU


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## candle_86 (Apr 2, 2020)

My old hack was to put a USB WiFi receiver inside a deep metal bowl, hold the receiver in the middle of the bowel with a dowel and connect to device with USB extension cable.

Using that I was able to pickup wifi from my neighbors 4 houses down.


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## TheLostSwede (Apr 2, 2020)

claes said:


> Most phones don’t have Ethernet ports
> 
> You are right about the WiFi extender, though. I don’t really know much about PowerLine equipment.
> 
> ...


Power line stuff is really hit and miss, well, mostly miss imho. I had a kit of "200Mbps" power line adapters and I was getting 10-15Mbps out of them.
It might have something to do with there being a breaker box on each floor in the house. However, as soon as you went through a breaker/fuse box, you were sort of screwed with power line gear, as it really killed the speed. More recent kit isn't supposed to behave like that, but ideally it should be used on the same circuit for best performance.
You might want to read up on the various standards a bit, as the kit you've linked to is using quite old gear inside.








						SmallNetBuilder's Powerline FAQ - 2015 - SmallNetBuilder
					

Check out our freshly-updated Powerline FAQ for all you need to know about how to use your home's power lines to get Ethernet anywhere there's an outlet!




					www.smallnetbuilder.com
				








						HomePlug - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				








						G.hn - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				



This might be a better purchase for only $5 more.





						Amazon.com: TRENDnet Wi-Fi Everywhere Powerline 1200 AV2 Dual-Band AC1200 Wireless Access Point Kit, Includes 1 x TPL-430AP and 1 x TPL-421E, White, TPL-430APK (Renewed): Computers & Accessories
					

Buy TRENDnet Wi-Fi Everywhere Powerline 1200 AV2 Dual-Band AC1200 Wireless Access Point Kit, Includes 1 x TPL-430AP and 1 x TPL-421E, White, TPL-430APK (Renewed): Wireless Access Points - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



					www.amazon.com


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## claes (Apr 3, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> Power line stuff is really hit and miss, well, mostly miss imho. I had a kit of "200Mbps" power line adapters and I was getting 10-15Mbps out of them.
> It might have something to do with there being a breaker box on each floor in the house. However, as soon as you went through a breaker/fuse box, you were sort of screwed with power line gear, as it really killed the speed. More recent kit isn't supposed to behave like that, but ideally it should be used on the same circuit for best performance.
> You might want to read up on the various standards a bit, as the kit you've linked to is using quite old gear inside.
> 
> ...


"Miss" has been my experience as well. I had one working pretty well in a small apartment with it's own breaker, but in the house I'm currently in it can barely hit 30mbps.



> This might be a better purchase for only $5 more.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice find! I saw that at $120 new and thought it'd be too expensive.


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## puma99dk| (Apr 3, 2020)

Be careful with the power line adapters they use your existing wires in the wall and if you have crappy or old wires I wouldn't recommend it.


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## newtekie1 (Apr 3, 2020)

Ok, so first of all, I think it is very dangerous that people are saying to just bury a Cat5e/Cat6 cable between the two buildings.  THIS IS A VERY WRONG THING TO DO!  Outdoor Cat5e/6 cabling is fine if you are running it along the outside wall of a building.  However, if you plan to bridge any gap with it, either above ground between poles or buried, you have to use shielded and grounded cabling(which ain't cheap).  If you don't do this, one lightning strike in the right place, and every piece of networking equipment you own can go up in smoke.  I'm not just talking burnt out ethernet ports, I'm talking entirely fried.  I've seen it multiple times when someone has just buried an ethernet cable between buildings.  The aftermath was not pretty!  I've seen the ends of ethernet cables melted into the ports on the switches, and into the ethernet ports of the PCs.  The PCs motherboards totally fried.  It can lead to a real mess.  I caution the OP, if you are going to run a cable between the buildings, do it right, and make sure it is a shielded cable with grounding and lightning arresters at both ends. I won't even run cabling between buildings anymore, we only do fiber runs between buildings because of this risk, but that's not exactly a typical home DIY thing.



claes said:


> "Miss" has been my experience as well. I had one working pretty well in a small apartment with it's own breaker, but in the house I'm currently in it can barely hit 30mbps.



My house was build in the 60s, the powerline kit I use runs from inside the house out to my garage, through 2 breakers in the house and a subpanel and another breaker in the garage.  I get 30-40Mb/s.  I mean, it's a garage, what am I realistically going to be doing in there that 30Mb/s isn't going to be enough.  The OP said he's getting zero wireless signal in his garage currently and just wants to improve it.  So I'm guessing maybe 1-5Mb/s.  Powerline adapters and a cheap access point would likely give him a ~10x improvement in speed and easily give fast enough internet speeds to do anything he needs.  That's fast enough to stream 4K video.  Unless OP plans to be transferring huge files across his network, I don't see why 30-40Mb/s isn't good enough.  It's certainly a heck of a lot better than what he currently has I'm guessing. Plus, it's not that expensive.  A wireless N access point can be had for $25 and a decent set of 1000Mbps powerline adapters is $35.  You're easily looking at that much to properly run an ethernet cable between the two buildings, and definitely looking at more for point-to-point wireless. And the powerline solution is super easy to setup compared to the others.


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 3, 2020)

newtekie1 said:


> Ok, so first of all, I think it is very dangerous that people are saying to just bury a Cat5e/Cat6 cable between the two buildings. THIS IS A VERY WRONG THING TO DO! Outdoor Cat5e/6 cabling is fine if you are running it along the outside wall of a building.


 Please, newtekie1! Read what was actually said about burying cable before running around yelling the sky is falling!

I was the first to mention burying cable in post #49 where I specifically noted to use (*bold underline* added this time), 





			
				Bill_Bright said:
			
		

> CAT6 *Waterproof Outdoor Direct Burial* UV Resistant Ethernet cables


NOBODY said to "just bury" a cable!  Using *waterproof* direct *burial* cable *IS A VERY RIGHT THING TO DO!*

Burying  cable between building - especially in regions with inclement weather - makes total sense.


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## Vario (Apr 3, 2020)

Well, if really worried about that, bury fiber and put a fiber to ethernet converter at each end.


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## TheLostSwede (Apr 3, 2020)

newtekie1 said:


> My house was build in the 60s, the powerline kit I use runs from inside the house out to my garage, through 2 breakers in the house and a subpanel and another breaker in the garage.  I get 30-40Mb/s.  I mean, it's a garage, what am I realistically going to be doing in there that 30Mb/s isn't going to be enough.  The OP said he's getting zero wireless signal in his garage currently and just wants to improve it.  So I'm guessing maybe 1-5Mb/s.  Powerline adapters and a cheap access point would likely give him a ~10x improvement in speed and easily give fast enough internet speeds to do anything he needs.  That's fast enough to stream 4K video.  Unless OP plans to be transferring huge files across his network, I don't see why 30-40Mb/s isn't good enough.  It's certainly a heck of a lot better than what he currently has I'm guessing. Plus, it's not that expensive.  A wireless N access point can be had for $25 and a decent set of 1000Mbps powerline adapters is $35.  You're easily looking at that much to properly run an ethernet cable between the two buildings, and definitely looking at more for point-to-point wireless. And the powerline solution is super easy to setup compared to the others.



Out of curiosity, what speed rating does the kit have? Or which technology is it using, as that would be the interested part here for the OP.
As I mentioned above, I haven't tried any of the modern versions of this stuff, but the 200Mbps kit I had, was junk.


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 3, 2020)

Vario said:


> Well, if really worried about that, bury fiber and put a fiber to ethernet converter at each end.


Well, fiber is an option, but does not seem very practical here to me. If burying fiber, it still has to be fiber designed for outdoor and underground use. Fiber cable is more expensive than copper. Ethernet to fiber adapters add more to the cost. Terminating fiber cables is more technically challenging. You can buy pre-made cables, but that then forces you to drill bigger holes in the walls to accommodate the connectors. And if you buy pre-made, you also end having to buy a 100 foot cable when you may only need a 51 foot cable. 



TheLostSwede said:


> but the 200Mbps kit I had, was junk.


So much depends on the house wiring. And not just the wire itself, but all the connections from end-to-end. In a brand new house (or a newly and up to code remodeled house), power-line adapters tend to work great. But on older homes, it could be hit or miss. My home, for example, was built in 1960. It originally had 2-conductor aluminum wiring  throughout much of the house. I could not get powerline networking to work consistently or reliably from one room to another - and the rooms were on the same breaker.   I gave the powerline kit to a co-worker who's home was less than 3 years old and it worked flawlessly for him from upstairs on one end of the house to downstairs on the opposite end - through different service panel breakers too.

I have seen similar other cases with older homes too.


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## newtekie1 (Apr 3, 2020)

Bill_Bright said:


> Please, newtekie1! Read what was actually said about burying cable before running around yelling the sky is falling!
> 
> I was the first to mention burying cable in post #49 where I specifically noted to use (*bold underline* added this time), NOBODY said to "just bury" a cable!  Using *waterproof* direct *burial* cable *IS A VERY RIGHT THING TO DO!*
> 
> Burying  cable between building - especially in regions with inclement weather - makes total sense.



No, it is still the wrong thing to do.  Direct burial or not, just burying the cable is NOT THE RIGHT THING TO DO and will not protect against lightning strikes.  All the direct burial means is that the cable will not degrade from being in contact with wet soil.  It has nothing to do with protecting against lightning strikes.  Go do some research.  I've personally seen a buried cable, run through metal conduit at that, get struck by lightning, which backfed the lightning into the buildings and fried every single piece of equipment connected to the network.  I've also seen it happen even with lightning arrestors at each end, and while the arresters helped, the switches the cables were plugged into at each end still died a horrible death.

I never talked about waterproofing, go back and read my post again.



Vario said:


> Well, if really worried about that, bury fiber and put a fiber to ethernet converter at each end.



Yes, this would be the way to do it, but also expensive as hell. And you really have to ask yourself if it is worth it for a garage wifi connection.



TheLostSwede said:


> Out of curiosity, what speed rating does the kit have? Or which technology is it using, as that would be the interested part here for the OP.
> As I mentioned above, I haven't tried any of the modern versions of this stuff, but the 200Mbps kit I had, was junk.




It is a 1200Mbps kit using MIMO technology.  But the 1000Mbps kit I had before that with didn't use MIMO gave pretty much the same speeds.  I find that with Powerline networking, the speeds you get are the speeds you get, getting a faster kit isn't going to help much when jumping breakers.  That said, the older powerline kits were total junk.  I've been using them for years, and the early stuff sucked.  But even a modern 500Mbps kit I find to be good enough.


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## candle_86 (Apr 3, 2020)

You can run it in a metal conduit under ground that is properly grounded, or bury about 10 feet at which point the lightening won't be a threat.


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 3, 2020)

candle_86 said:


> You can run it in a metal conduit under ground that is properly grounded, or bury about 10 feet at which point the lightening won't be a threat.


You can, but metal conduit is not needed. In fact, metal conduit introduces more problems as it can trap moisture and give a place for insect activity to thrive. This is why when conduit is used, it is often sealed, pressurized and run with air dryers and desiccants - a very complex and expensive process. By code, in most states, says 8 feet deep is all you need for grounding rods. But cable just needs to be below frost levels which typically is 5 feet or less for most of the US, and less than 36 inches for much of it. In fact a lot of cable can easily withstand the physical stresses of being buried less deep, but is buried that deep or deeper just to keep home owners from digging it up when planting their personal flower or veggie gardens.

Now I too am out of here but would like to hear what the OP decides to do and how it worked for him.


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## candle_86 (Apr 3, 2020)

Bill_Bright said:


> Gee whiz. Then it sure is a good thing you made sure you informed the OP to make sure the wall outlets, the house's service panel, and the garage's service panel are all wired correctly and properly grounded to a common Earth ground when you recommended using powerline adapters. Oh wait. YOU NEVER DID! Yet you sure jump in there to tell others they are "in fact wrong"  when they suggested other methods without all the warnings?
> 
> Wow! Yeah right. Because you know all about me? My certs? My formal training? Because antenna transmission lines and radio control cables between radio transmitter sites, receiver sites and air traffic control towers are never buried? Yeah right.
> 
> ...



My comment was for the overly paranoid.


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## xvi (Apr 3, 2020)

I'd really like to recommend avoiding mesh/repeaters if possible.


puma99dk| said:


> If you have the money then go with 2xUniFi NanoBeamAC it can provide a solid connection from point a to b.
> Their end models can give internet up to 15km+ so 6meters with clearance shouldn't be an issue.


We have issues with these at short distances. It seems that RSL better than around -40 starts to introduce distortion and, supposedly, has the possibility of burning out the radio. The AC series will even throw a warning up on RSL stronger than about -45. Even with output power as low as it will go, we often see links as short as these at excessive RSL. Our techs will try to intentionally misalign them to bring RSL into acceptable levels, but it usually results in heavily mismatched chains and (relatively) poor performance. Ubiquiti's solution seems to be 24Ghz (or now the 60GHz AirFiber for the relatively cheap $299 per radio), but those get spendy for the home user. MikroTik has an attractive inexpensive radio lineup. Something like this Cube Light60 is an attractive offering for $69 per radio (but I'd consider them a bit on the complicated side).


minstreless said:


> You mention an older version... so... would Nanobeam M5 16 do the trick for me, or?


Although their capacity is a little less than the AC series radios, the M-series should still work plenty fine. One advantage the M5 has over the AC is that you can disable Ubiquiti's AirMax feature which would allow clients to connect. This kind of leads into what I'd like to add to the discussion. Instead of doing a point-to-point link with Ubiquiti gear, you could just pick up a used Nanostation M2 or M5 off eBay or something (make sure it includes a 24v PoE or grab one yourself) and set it up on the house facing the garage. It has a relatively high gain directional antenna built-in which you could connect to directly. Cost would be the price of a used radio (~$50?) plus however much cabling is needed.

If going this route, keep in mind that the radios only do 2.4GHz (for the M2) _or_ 5.8GHz (for the M5). You'll want to make sure all the devices you plan to connect support the frequency band you chose.


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## Vario (Apr 4, 2020)

newtekie1 said:


> Yes, this would be the way to do it, but also expensive as hell. And you really have to ask yourself if it is worth it for a garage wifi connection.


The fiberoptic to ethernet convertors are around $35 on Amazon.


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## puma99dk| (Apr 4, 2020)

xvi said:


> I'd really like to recommend avoiding mesh/repeaters if possible.
> 
> We have issues with these at short distances. It seems that RSL better than around -40 starts to introduce distortion and, supposedly, has the possibility of burning out the radio. The AC series will even throw a warning up on RSL stronger than about -45. Even with output power as low as it will go, we often see links as short as these at excessive RSL. Our techs will try to intentionally misalign them to bring RSL into acceptable levels, but it usually results in heavily mismatched chains and (relatively) poor performance. Ubiquiti's solution seems to be 24Ghz (or now the 60GHz AirFiber for the relatively cheap $299 per radio), but those get spendy for the home user. MikroTik has an attractive inexpensive radio lineup. Something like this Cube Light60 is an attractive offering for $69 per radio (but I'd consider them a bit on the complicated side).
> 
> ...



Are you running the newest firmware? Because some firmwares are buggy as well, I specially on the Nanobeams I update the firmware only if there is something wrong if not I just leave them alone.

Other UniFi products I update almost with every firmware never had any major issues.


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## xvi (Apr 4, 2020)

puma99dk| said:


> Are you running the newest firmware? Because some firmwares are buggy as well, I specially on the Nanobeams I update the firmware only if there is something wrong if not I just leave them alone.
> 
> Other UniFi products I update almost with every firmware never had any major issues.


I usually skim through the changelogs and only update if it fixes an issue I'm experiencing or something I'm worried about. Most of the M-series stuff has been solid, although some of the later firmwares seem to be overly sensitive to DFS. The only issues I've had with the ACs are the weird separate radios for PTP and PTMP on the really early units and the distance limitations on Gen 1 gear.

What quirks have you seen?


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 4, 2020)

Vario said:


> The fiberoptic to ethernet convertors are around $35 on Amazon.


Yeah, they are not cost "prohibitive" but one has to ask, are they cost "effective"? IMO, to provide access to a couple devices out in the garage, probably not. 

Yes, $35 (there are some ~$25 each but you have to make sure they support 1Gbps) is affordable, but you need two - one on each end. Then you need the fiber cable itself, the connectors, and cable cleaver/stripping tool. You don't have to have a pulling eye, but they sure make pulling fiber through walls a lot easier. That may be a lot to invest for one cable. And yes, you can buy pre-made cables but then you have to drill (and seal) ~1/2 in holes in the house and garage walls so the connector can fit through and may end up with many feet of extra cable you have to deal with. You can order pre-made cable at any custom length but those are very pricey. 

So here I again agree with newtekie1 and feel going with fiber is too expensive for 1 cable run.


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## Caring1 (Apr 4, 2020)

Make sure your Router is set to 2.4Ghz only as it's range is roughly double that of 5Ghz.


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 5, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> Make sure your Router is set to 2.4Ghz only as it's range is roughly double that of 5Ghz.


Ummm, sorry but no. That is not necessary - in fact, doing that would degrade the wifi performance of some of the connected devices because the 2.4GHz band is significantly slower than the 5GHz band - not to mention the 2.4GHz if often crowded.

While you are 100% correct that the 2.4GHz band has a much greater range than the 5GHz band, there is no need to set the router to only use 2.4GHz. The router does not decide which band to use - the connected devices (or their users) do (if the devices even support dual band). 

In fact, besides being slower, it would also be a bad idea to disable 5GHz because that would force even those devices near the router to use the already crowded (often over crowded ) 2.4GHz band. Remember, because the 2.4GHz band has a much greater range, wifi performance is often degraded from other neighboring 2.4GHz networks. This is exactly why it is sometimes necessary to use a wifi "sniffer" on our home wifi networks to see which channel is less crowded (or hopefully unused), then set our routers to use that channel instead. While most modern home routers claim to automatically seeks out and use less crowded channels, we have found they don't always pick the "least" crowded. 

So if the router supports dual band, for sure, you should use 5GHz for your connected devices that are near the router, and use 2.4GHz for those that are distant. If the router does not support dual band, it is probably time to shop for a new router (or WAP - wireless access point) that does. 

I note that "near" is a relative term. 5GHz may work great 20 feet away in the same room with line-of-site (no obstructions) between the router and wireless device. But 5GHz may not work well 6 feet away if there is a wall, floor or ceiling in between. So a little trial and error testing may be needed.


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## winterwonderland (Apr 8, 2020)

So, fellas. I just decided to go for this: TP-Link CPE210. A friendly soul advised me to get this. It's well within my budget and seeing it in action in real life helped me decide the buy. I will report back with how it will work for my situation.


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## Bill_Bright (Apr 8, 2020)

Fingers crossed!


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