# How to increase the wifi bandwidth/connection to my neighbors place?



## winterwonderland (Nov 26, 2020)

I would like to extend my network so my neighbor gets better reception/connection/bandwidth. He borrows my wifi when he is working at home.

Some generic info about our situation:
- I have already an Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC Lite at my place, but it's juuust too weak to cover the majority of his house. The AC Lite i have put right next to the window on the 2nd floor.
- His house is only 1 floor, while my house is 2 floors.
- Between our houses, there are no trees.
- We do NOT live in the U.S, but ice cold northern europe...
- My neighbor does NOT have any way to connect a RJ45 cable to the wall etc.
- We will NOT stretch a cable from my place to his place for several reasons; cold weathers (we have ice cold temperatures here), we have wild animals that can easily bite through the cables, it's impractical...
- Our houses are typical europen houses made for the winter aka non-concrete houses.

So, with those things taken into consideration, do you have any tips and/or recommendations on HOW we can improve/extend the wifi for his house without blowing up the bank vault aka a budget solution?

*Our only option so far seems to be getting a pair of TP-Link Deco M4 Mesh system, use the Ubiquiti AP AC Lite as an access point and then connect the nodes to that, how about that? Would that work? Also, the node that would be at my neighbors place, can he run a RJ45-cable directly to the Deco for more stable connection, or?*

I thought i'd still ask, in case we are missing out on few things.

Below is an illustration on how his place looks and how my place is:


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 26, 2020)

Get a pair of directional antennas? As in, one in a window on your side and one in a window on his side, assuming there are two windows facing each other.
Obviously you need a device on each side to connect  them to and you might end up getting worse coverage in your place, unless it's a dedicated device.
A mesh system wouldn't be helpful, as it's omni-directional.
Europe is a big place, so not helpful for making recommendations in terms of what to get.
Something like this might be good enough, if you want something cheap and it can be connected to your current hardware.





						Alfa Network APA-M25 dual band 2.4GHz/5GHz 8 / 10dBi high gain directional indoor panel antenna with RP-SMA connector: Amazon.de: Computer & Accessories
					

Alfa Network APA-M25 dual band 2.4GHz/5GHz 8 / 10dBi high gain directional indoor panel antenna with RP-SMA connector: Amazon.de: Computer & Accessories



					www.amazon.de


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## puma99dk| (Nov 26, 2020)

What @TheLostSwede says, if you want more Ubiquiti you could go for a couple of their NanoBeams they can be a bit expensive but works wonderfully.

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


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## winterwonderland (Nov 26, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> Get a pair of directional antennas? As in, one in a window on your side and one in a window on his side, assuming there are two windows facing each other.
> Obviously you need a device on each side to connect  them to and you might end up getting worse coverage in your place, unless it's a dedicated device.
> A mesh system wouldn't be helpful, as it's omni-directional.
> Europe is a big place, so not helpful for making recommendations in terms of what to get.
> ...



Yes, we have 2 windows facing each other, actually...

What is that device you're talking about? As in a router, or? Because the router for the fiber and the AP AC Lite are all at my place. What device would he need?

North of europe. Scandinavia. North of Norway. Cold, snowy mountains. 

Why wouldn't a mesh system be helpful..? We place 1 node at his place and one at my place, no..?

Pardon that i forgot to mention the budget.... we are not going to spend more than €100, tops, on whatever solution we land on... That's why this is so challenging. Those 2 Deco mesh things i mentioned are just within that budget due to BF prices.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 26, 2020)

A Wi-Fi device capable of accepting the suggested antenna? You ideally need one each.
I don't know if your router or AP can accept an antenna and I don't know if your neighbours Wi-Fi device can accept one.

Again, mesh = omni-directional, as in a circle. What you want is directional, i.e. a straight line between the two of you. Different antenna designs, different signal pattern.





						What is Antenna Directivity? - everything RF
					

Directivity is the measure of the concentration of an antennas's radiation pattern in a particular direction. Directivity is expressed in dB. The higher the directivity,




					www.everythingrf.com


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## winterwonderland (Nov 26, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> A Wi-Fi device capable of accepting the suggested antenna? You ideally need one each.
> I don't know if your router or AP can accept an antenna and I don't know if your neighbours Wi-Fi device can accept one.
> 
> Again, mesh = omni-directional, as in a circle. What you want is directional, i.e. a straight line between the two of you. Different antenna designs, different signal pattern.
> ...



That is where i go blind... What sort of wifi device would he need to have? He does not have a way to connect any router with a cable because he does not have that option in his house.

The router that i have is this: TP-LInk AC750 Wireless...

As i thought; getting this to work would be more complicated than just straight forward, like it often is, but imma give it a shot and see if we can figure out a solution....

EDIT: Correction... apparently, my neighbor's got this at his place: asus ea-n66 ... Not sure how useful that is....


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 26, 2020)

Non removable antennas on your very basic router, so that's a no go for starters.
What your neighbour has doesn't support an external antenna either.

Whatever the devices are, need to support the additional antenna to be connected to it. If that doesn't work, then you're going to have to look at some new hardware.

Based on the lack of suitable hardware, you both might want to invest in one of these each. They're meant for outdoors use, but I see no reason why they wouldn't work inside. Do note that they're powered by PoE, although it would seem that a passive injector is included. The reason to get one each, is because the transmitter is always stronger than the receiver, so if you only get one and mount it on your side, your neighbour would only get good download speed, but not upload speed. This is outside of your budget though. I guess you could get one first and test and see how it works, since it's not THAT far between your houses. Note that the Ethernet port is limited to 100Mbps.








						TP-Link CPE510 Aksesspunkt - Aksesspunkt
					

TP-Link CPE510 Aksesspunkt - AC300, værbestandig, passiv PoE




					www.komplett.no


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## winterwonderland (Nov 26, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> Non removable antennas on your very basic router, so that's a no go for starters.
> What your neighbour has doesn't support an external antenna either.
> 
> Whatever the devices are, need to support the additional antenna to be connected to it. If that doesn't work, then you're going to have to look at some new hardware.
> ...



Ok, so if we'd opt for that TP CPE510, it might work, huh? What is the difference between that one and this: https://www.komplett.no/product/853...esspunkt/tp-link-cpe210-wireless-access-point

If we get either the CPE510 or CPE210, what else would we need? How will my neighbor connect to that CPE510? He can run an ethernet cable from his laptop and into the CPE510, yes? And that CPE510 will then wirelessly connect to the AP AC Lite at my place, yes?

I am sorry if i sound difficult here, but yeah, i am just a tad bit noob when it comes to this, so im just trying to get an understanding before i buy anything.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 26, 2020)

The 210 is 2.4GHz only, whereas the 510 is 5GHz. I guess based on the hardware limitations, there wouldn't be much of a difference.

Let's start over to make this easy.

Get one device to start with, put it in your home. Point it towards your neighbours window, where your neighbour puts the Asus AE-N66, as it would be the best place for it. Your neighbour might need to get a longer network cable from it, to the computer.

You would connect the CPEx10 to the powered port on the included passive power injector (which should be connected to a power socket) and then the unpowered port on the injector to a network port in your network. There might be some configuration that has to be done on the device itself, but as I don't own one, I'm not that familiar with the software side of the specific device. I would presume you have to configure the SSID (Wi-Fi name), as it should have its own SSID, since it's a managed device. Then your neighbour simply connects to that network.

If the signal still isn't strong enough, get a second CPEx10 for your neighbour and set it up in client mode.

There's a quick start guide here. What you want is the access point mode. 
	

			quick_start_guide_cpe_and_wbs_
		


Oh and make sure you update the firmware.


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## toname (Nov 26, 2020)

minstreless said:


> That is where i go blind... What sort of wifi device would he need to have? He does not have a way to connect any router with a cable because he does not have that option in his house.
> 
> The router that i have is this: TP-LInk AC750 Wireless...
> 
> ...


Have you both tried using his ASUS EA-N66 in Range extender mode?  Before doing this what kind of signal strength is he getting from your router at his house?


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## 1freedude (Nov 26, 2020)

minstreless said:


> EDIT: Correction... apparently, my neighbor's got this at his place: asus ea-n66 ... Not sure how useful that is....











						ASUS EA-N66 Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Reviewed - SmallNetBuilder
					

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=7061




					www.smallnetbuilder.com
				



Read that.  Put it in bridge mode so Cat 5e or 6 will connect Asus and his LAN, or whatever.

They are 10 meters apart.  They don't need directional beams.

Do a site survey to get the best channel, prob 1 or 6.  Go with 20 MHz bandwidth to increase reliability at the cost of throughput.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 26, 2020)

toname said:


> Have you both tried using his ASUS EA-N66 in Range extender mode?  Before doing this what kind of signal strength is he getting from your router at his house?


How is that supposed to work? 
The OP is the one with the internet connectivity. The neighbour has the EA-N66 which he connects to his computer as his sole Wi-Fi device by the sounds of it. 
So how would it help to set that up as a range extender?


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## winterwonderland (Nov 26, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> The 210 is 2.4GHz only, whereas the 510 is 5GHz. I guess based on the hardware limitations, there wouldn't be much of a difference.
> 
> Let's start over to make this easy.
> 
> ...



Thank you so much for making it teaspoon-friendly for me, sir. Appreciated. 

I will first try the steps that the 2 others mentioned first and then we'll see what we'll do, yes.



toname said:


> Have you both tried using his ASUS EA-N66 in Range extender mode?  Before doing this what kind of signal strength is he getting from your router at his house?





1freedude said:


> ASUS EA-N66 Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Reviewed - SmallNetBuilder
> 
> 
> http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=7061
> ...



Roger that. Will try it out tonight. Thanks for the advise.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 26, 2020)

1freedude said:


> ASUS EA-N66 Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Reviewed - SmallNetBuilder
> 
> 
> http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=7061
> ...


Again, I doubt the neighbour has a network, just a single computer connected to the EA-N66.

The distance appears to be a lot more than 10m, as the work room is not facing the OP's house. There are also windows and walls in the way and the OP has a weak router as well as a low-end AP in his home, both with omni-directional antennas in them.

This is why the OP asked for a way to improve the signal over at the neighbours home. What you're suggesting makes no difference. 
And again, how is bridge mode supposed to help in this instance when the device is in the neighbours home?



minstreless said:


> Thank you so much for making it teaspoon-friendly for me, sir. Appreciated.
> 
> I will first try the steps that the 2 others mentioned first and then we'll see what we'll do, yes.
> 
> Roger that. Will try it out tonight. Thanks for the advise.


Sorry to say, but what they're suggesting is just going to cause you more headache. 
Setting your neighbours device into bridge mode, is not going help, unless you put it out in the snow between the houses.


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## winterwonderland (Nov 26, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> How is that supposed to work?
> The OP is the one with the internet connectivity. The neighbour has the EA-N66 which he connects to his computer as his sole Wi-Fi device by the sounds of it.
> So how would it help to set that up as a range extender?



Yes, this is correct. That EA-N66 is his only device that gives him internet, yes. So i guess that CPE510 seems to be the only solution now then... hmmm


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 26, 2020)

minstreless said:


> Yes, this is correct. That EA-N66 is his only device that gives him internet, yes. So i guess that CPE510 seems to be the only solution now then... hmmm


Well, the CPE210 would do the job as well. Both devices are limited to 100Mbps either which way. 2.4GHz has better wall penetration, so it might actually be the better choice to go for here, since nothing will be mounted outside either home.'

Just out of curiosity, how is your Ubiquiti AP AC Lite orientated? You mentioned it sits by the window, but is it vertical or horizontal?
This is apparently the antenna pattern for it. So what you could try and do, is to put it vertically and pointing towards your neighbours place to see if this improves the signal at all.
As this is a ceiling mounted product, it has a bit of an odd signal pattern.













						UniFi - Introduction to Antenna Radiation Patterns
					

Overview This article will explain how to understand antenna radiation plots and how this should impact your wireless deployments. Table of Contents  What is a Radiation Pattern? What is Antenna G...




					help.ui.com
				











						UniFi - UAP Antenna Radiation Patterns
					

Overview In this article users can compare the different antenna radiation patterns of a few of our UniFi Access Points. For an explanation on how to read antenna radiation patterns see our UniFi -...




					help.ui.com


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## 1freedude (Nov 26, 2020)

Replace "his" with "your" WiFi router


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 26, 2020)

1freedude said:


> Replace "his" with "your" WiFi router


I think you misunderstand what bridge mode does and how it works.
If the EA-N66 was set to bridge mode, it would re-transmit the Wi-Fi signal from wherever it gets the signal from, so other devices can connect to it as an AP, i.e. it bridges the Wi-Fi signal. This generally means slower speed for all devices connected to it.
It's also not the issue at hand here.


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## 1freedude (Nov 26, 2020)

I think you misunderstand bridge mode vs repeater mode


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 26, 2020)

1freedude said:


> I think you misunderstand bridge mode vs repeater mode


Not at all, they more or less do the same thing. With the bridge mode simply enabling the Ethernet port to be working at the same time.
On a "normal" router, it means the switch is enabled and you can plug in wired devices. Repeater mode normally does't have Ethernet ports or doesn't enable them.

Neither mode is going to add anything to this scenario though.


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## Solaris17 (Nov 26, 2020)

I think what swede is covering that the OP is missing is this is not how wireless data transmission works.

You need something in the other side that can "scream back" the distance. So you should have something on both ends.

Burning money to amplify signal one direction accomplishes nothing.


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## erocker (Nov 26, 2020)

If your neighbor is using a wifi connection that has antennas (on their PC) a larger antenna should definitely help.


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## Fangio1951 (Nov 26, 2020)

Does anyone remember this = 









						Cantenna - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				



or








						How to Make a Wi-Fi Antenna Out of a Pringles Can
					

Use a Pringles can to make a simple home-made antenna to boost your Wi-Fi range.




					www.makeuseof.com


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## 1freedude (Nov 27, 2020)

erocker said:


> If your neighbor is using a wifi connection that has antennas (on their PC) a larger antenna should definitely help.


Right, that's where ea-n66 in bridge mode comes into play.  String an Ethernet cable from the ea-n66 (that sits in closest proximity to minstreless' house) to his PC or whatever.  The ea-n66 in bridge mode gets its signal from minstreless' Ubiquiti or WiFi router.  If OP puts the AP closest proximity to clients house, EA-n66 will act as better antenna without feedline losses.

Only problem with this scenario is minstreless' LAN will be at the mercy of neighbor.


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## bug (Nov 27, 2020)

I maybe asking the wrong question here, but wouldn't a simple range extender do the job? I know I can pick up my router's signal over 10m+, wouldn't a range extender be able to do the same?

Also, OP said he's in northern Norway. If he's close enough to Santa's village, maybe that'll fix it?


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## Solaris17 (Nov 27, 2020)

bug said:


> wouldn't a range extender be able to do the same?



The short answer is no. The right answer is it always depends on the device responding and the amplification. Directional antenna and cranking transmit power arent real solutions especially if say the receiving device is a cell phone. Because the cell phone for example is going to be under the impression since it is connected that the device will "hear it". However the cell phones transmit power is no where NEAR as high as an access point or router with the TX power cranked or using a directional antenna. So the reception ends up WORSE on the device because instead of failing off to say cellular it sees that its signal is "good" so it will happily retransmit into nothingness.

Upping transmit power is also terrible for things next to the AP or router. Which is why I cringe at people that mention "my X is right next to my router/AP, my signal still sucks." Imagine (In laymans) you are down the street and someone is screaming at you and you cant hear. So instead they use a mega phone so you can hear them and they can speak normally (increase TX power). Seems to make sense. But now imagine you are NEXT to the person with the megaphone. Instead of understanding them and having a conversation no one can hear you, and you cant quite understand them because its SUPER LOUD.

EDIT:: Now with that said, I just couldnt standby and really wanted to clear some misconceptions about wireless. In OPs case it likely isnt that extreme. I mean 10m is a little over 30ft. Its a bit of a gap. He might get away with some kind of repeater or a cheap PtP system. His performance will likely depend a lot on what he wants to spend money on though.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 27, 2020)

1freedude said:


> Right, that's where ea-n66 in bridge mode comes into play.  String an Ethernet cable from the ea-n66 (that sits in closest proximity to minstreless' house) to his PC or whatever.  The ea-n66 in bridge mode gets its signal from minstreless' Ubiquiti or WiFi router.  If OP puts the AP closest proximity to clients house, EA-n66 will act as better antenna without feedline losses.
> 
> Only problem with this scenario is minstreless' LAN will be at the mercy of neighbor.


Dude, what is it with you and the bridge mode? It's NOT going to help. The issue is that the signal between the two houses is too weak as it is today, as the EA-N66 isn't powerful enough in combination with the Ubiquiti AP ac lite, so there's a weak signal, which means slow connection. This is what the OP wants to remedy.



bug said:


> I maybe asking the wrong question here, but wouldn't a simple range extender do the job? I know I can pick up my router's signal over 10m+, wouldn't a range extender be able to do the same?
> 
> Also, OP said he's in northern Norway. If he's close enough to Santa's village, maybe that'll fix it?


Range extender = omni-directional antenna. Also, the OP has an AP already which pretty much is a range extender in this setup.

@Solaris17 thank you! Finally someone that gets the problem.


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## laszlo (Nov 27, 2020)

maybe there is another solution through powerline; if houses are so close than powerline are also intersecting ; i have this in mind:









						What Is Powerline Networking and How Do You Use It? | Digital Trends
					

There's more to networking than using Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Powerline is a third option that fits in the middle. Here's what Powerline is and how to use it.




					www.digitaltrends.com
				



.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 27, 2020)

laszlo said:


> maybe there is another solution through powerline; if houses are so close than powerline are also intersecting ; i have this in mind:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Uhm, no, just no. That's not how those work. They can't go outside of your main breaker box.


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## bug (Nov 27, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> Range extender = omni-directional antenna. Also, the OP has an AP already which pretty much is a range extender in this setup.


I know it's omni-directional, but so is my router. And if I can pick up the router's signal from 10m away, I don't see why he couldn't do the same with a range extender.


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## laszlo (Nov 27, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> Uhm, no, just no. That's not how those work. They can't go outside of your main breaker box.




actually they can go outside as the breaker is a circuit also...


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## bug (Nov 27, 2020)

Solaris17 said:


> The short answer is no. The right answer is it always depends on the device responding and the amplification. Directional antenna and cranking transmit power arent real solutions especially if say the receiving device is a cell phone. Because the cell phone for example is going to be under the impression since it is connected that the device will "hear it". However the cell phones transmit power is no where NEAR as high as an access point or router with the TX power cranked or using a directional antenna. So the reception ends up WORSE on the device because instead of failing off to say cellular it sees that its signal is "good" so it will happily retransmit into nothingness.


Not sure how a cell phone is relevant in the context. Reception works both ways, but starting with 802.11ac, there's beam forming on both ends.



Solaris17 said:


> Upping transmit power is also terrible for things next to the AP or router. Which is why I cringe at people that mention "my X is right next to my router/AP, my signal still sucks." Imagine (In laymans) you are down the street and someone is screaming at you and you cant hear. So instead they use a mega phone so you can hear them and they can speak normally (increase TX power). Seems to make sense. But now imagine you are NEXT to the person with the megaphone. Instead of understanding them and having a conversation no one can hear you, and you cant quite understand them because its SUPER LOUD.


Again, I don't get it. Shouting will make it harder for people to understand each other, but I don't see how that translates to making it harder for equipment close to the router to pick up the signal.
Too strong a signal can cause interference, but that's only when you have overlapping signals.



Solaris17 said:


> EDIT:: Now with that said, I just couldnt standby and really wanted to clear some misconceptions about wireless. In OPs case it likely isnt that extreme. I mean 10m is a little over 30ft. Its a bit of a gap. He might get away with some kind of repeater or a cheap PtP system. His performance will likely depend a lot on what he wants to spend money on though.


Thank you. 10m mostly over air shouldn't be much of a challenge, unless you're using cheap equipment (which most ISPs provide "for free").


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## Rei (Nov 27, 2020)

Dunno if I could address this issue after all "that going on" in the thread, but my solution would be to get OP or/and his neighbor an extra WiFi range extender such as these:



			https://www.totolink.net/home/menu/menu/menu_listtpl/prod/id/52.html
		


This has worked well for my use case which is similar or a bit worse to OP's case, which is a single router from my home to all three of my shop close by. All I did was connect/sync/pair my WiFi range extender to my router then put one WiFi range extender on one of my shop & the other WiFi range extender on the other two shop which is side-by-side & a bit distance away from my home & other shop. All my WiFi capable device as well as my employee's & customers is able to connect to the internet through my home router with the full bandwidth of my internet provider bandwidth plan.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 27, 2020)

laszlo said:


> actually they can go outside as the breaker is a circuit also...


Not down the mains, they can't. Also, mains in Scandinavia is normally 380-400V, as it's three phase. So no, it wouldn't work and wasn't designed to work like you think it does.



bug said:


> Not sure how a cell phone is relevant in the context. Reception works both ways, but starting with 802.11ac, there's beam forming on both ends.


Uhm, no, sadly that's what they sold you on, but it isn't implemented in all products. You need Wave 2 products for it to potentially work. It should work on 802.11ax, but doesn't seem to make much difference from the tests I've seen.
Also beamforming isn't some kind of magic solution that solves all range issues, it mainly just allows for better speeds at the same range. 



bug said:


> Again, I don't get it. Shouting will make it harder for people to understand each other, but I don't see how that translates to making it harder for equipment close to the router to pick up the signal.
> Too strong a signal can cause interference, but that's only when you have overlapping signals.


Try it yourself, it's easy, go stand right next to your router with your phone and then 2-3m away and you'll see that you'll get better speed 2-3m away from the router than right next to it.
That said, some of this has to do with how the antennas work as well.



bug said:


> Thank you. 10m mostly over air shouldn't be much of a challenge, unless you're using cheap equipment (which most ISPs provide "for free").


Which the OP has, a really basic TP-Link router and the lowest-end Ubiquiti ceiling mounted AP.


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## bug (Nov 27, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> Uhm, no, sadly that's what they sold you on, but it isn't implemented in all products. You need Wave 2 products for it to potentially work. It should work on 802.11ax, but doesn't seem to make much difference from the tests I've seen.
> Also beamforming isn't some kind of magic solution that solves all range issues, it mainly just allows for better speeds at the same range.



Beamforming is what a directional antenna would use anyway, I don't see a distinction here.



TheLostSwede said:


> Try it yourself, it's easy, go stand right next to your router with your phone and then 2-3m away and you'll see that you'll get better speed 2-3m away from the router than right next to it.
> That said, some of this has to do with how the antennas work as well.



I did just that, speed was the same next to the router and 3m away. It was actually slightly slower 3m away, as expected.



TheLostSwede said:


> Which the OP has, a really basic TP-Link router and the lowest-end Ubiquiti ceiling mounted AP.



Yeah, bummer. I burned some cash on a Nighthawk, but during these times when all my colleagues, from time to time, complained about unstable networks, I was happily working from the yard.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 28, 2020)

bug said:


> Beamforming is what a directional antenna would use anyway, I don't see a distinction here.


Big difference, due to the antenna design. With explicit or implicit beam forming you're still using an omni-directional antenna. As such, Beamforming can only do so much to change the antenna design. See link below for an admittedly quite old test, but it really isn't magic and can't turn an omni-directional antenna into a directional one. Best case, you get a small improvement. Yes, it has been improved on 802.11ax, but the OP doesn't have any 802.11ax equipment. Also keep in mind that the neighbour doesn't even have 802.11ac equipment and thus is unlikely to take advantage of beamforming.








						Does Beamforming Really Work? - SmallNetBuilder
					

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18




					www.smallnetbuilder.com
				



also, see








						802.11ac: A Survival Guide
					

Chapter 4. Beamforming in 802.11ac You can’t depend on your network when your transmission is out of focus. —Mark Twain, as network administrator In wired networking, the biggest innovation …  - Selection from 802.11ac: A Survival Guide [Book]




					www.oreilly.com
				



Where modern MU-MIMO beamforming might have an actual impact, is if you have a couple of devices that supports beamforming connected to a 4x4 router, as then, at least in theory, both devices should see optimal performance, presuming they're both 2x2 devices. However, it doesn't mean you're going to get vastly improved performance or signal strength in a place where the signal was weak before.




bug said:


> I did just that, speed was the same next to the router and 3m away. It was actually slightly slower 3m away, as expected.


I don't know what magic equipment you have then, but having work for a router manufacturer, I have never seen this to be true. I also don't see that at home.
I have a 20-ish Mbps drop in performance when hold my phone right above the router, compared to when I stand 2-3 metre away from it.



bug said:


> Yeah, bummer. I burned some cash on a Nighthawk, but during these times when all my colleagues, from time to time, complained about unstable networks, I was happily working from the yard.


I have an R7800 as my main router, but I also have two TP-Link devices set up as APs, as I simply don't get enough range from the R7800 to cover the entire house. Admittedly I live in a narrow, but tall house, made out of concrete and metal, which makes it quite hard for Wi-Fi signals to penetrate the entire house. However, when I only had the R7800, there were a lot of places in the house where I had dead spots or where the signal would just drop out all of a sudden.
It's simply not possible to presume that because a certain setup works in your house, it will work for everyone else.
If you live in a wood house with plasterboard walls, you're going to have a lot better Wi-Fi reception from a single device, than if you have concrete or brick walls for example.
I actually get reception in the parking garage under our house from my R7800 and a stronger signal there, than I get on the third floor, where I get no signal.


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## bug (Nov 28, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> Big difference, due to the antenna design. With explicit or implicit beam forming you're still using an omni-directional antenna. As such, Beamforming can only do so much to change the antenna design. See link below for an admittedly quite old test, but it really isn't magic and can't turn an omni-directional antenna into a directional one. Best case, you get a small improvement. Yes, it has been improved on 802.11ax, but the OP doesn't have any 802.11ax equipment. Also keep in mind that the neighbour doesn't even have 802.11ac equipment and thus is unlikely to take advantage of beamforming.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Now you're completely off the farm. How did we end up discussing concrete walls and metal, when the OP just needs to send the signal pretty much through open air?
I simply stated over air the signal should not have any problem covering 10m, so the OP should be able to solve the problem with a range extender.
Also, I don't have any magic equipment, just an R8000 and a Nokia phone.


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