WiFi extenders

[Maddog]

Wondering if anyone has experience with extenders that work.
I have a shed with an office about 80 feet distance that my wireless router has trouble reaching consistently.
I got an updated router thinking that might help and elevated it a couple feet and while it helped in connecting my laptop to the internet I'm still having a hard being able to do zoom meetings. Just not a good enough signal.
I bought a Ranger extender that plugs into an outlet but it seems worthless.
Anyone have better solutions?
I've considered hard wiring in a splitter and trenching a line but if I can avoid that wirelessly I'd rather.
Thanks!

[barryvabeach]

Maddog,   I have bought a few and have been pleased with the results.  I have a netgear n300 in a shed that is at least 100 feet from the house and does a nice job.  I bought a Netgear EX7500,  which was much more expensive ,  for inside the house -  I have a ranch so it is a long way from the router and that one has worked well.  Sometimes it takes a little time to set it up, but once that is done, they can really extend the range.

[Maddog]

Thanks for the reply Barry

[Mr Eddie]

You can use (2) of the Ubiquiti NanoStation M2.  Mount in the house and the other in your shop (point to point).  Ubiquiti also has window/wall brackets available that work quite well.  You could also start with just one and aim it at your shop.  I've used many of these in many different situations and always had good results.

https://www.ui.com/airmax/nanostationm/

Shop around - you can get the access point for under $100 and the window kit is around $20.

Lonnie

[Robert Adams]

What you are looking for is a repeater or a bridge depending on what you plan to do. IMO ubiquity already mentioned is one of the best as they have a line of residential stuff that is very good. Their business is in the commercial sector. You will see their wireless access points all over the ceilings of airports and every other large commercial building. 

       They work but... Don't expect the same speed you get off of your current wifi access point. When you start repeating or bridging you basically loose half your speed right off the bat and increase your ping/latency. Latency is more important than pure download speed.

[Mr Eddie]

I have to say that I have had very little loss with the Ubiquiti in a point to point setup.  However, as Robert states some setups will experience some loss.

[harderhandyman]

I put one of these in the ship about 250' away, amazing that it pulls a signal that far away.  Only $18 on amazon.  I've even used a weak signal from it in the house basement!
TP-Link N300 WiFi Extender(TL-WA855RE)

[Maddog]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[rwe2156]

I've tried to understand this, but get very confused about point-to-point, bridging, repeaters, extenders, etc.

The modem is in the middle of my house and my shop is approximately 150' away.  Up till it got zapped, I was working off a Cat5 cable, in conduit underground to a wireless modem in my shop.  Worked well until the cable got fried.

If there is a way for this to work for me, I'd rather do that than have to run new cable.

Do I just run a cable from my modem to a repeater (extender?) outside facing my shop, or do need more?  I'm afraid I'm not going to get very good signal going through 3 walls into the shop.

If you use a point to point, do you still need a wireless modem?

[Robert Adams]

I've tried to understand this, but get very confused about point-to-point, bridging, repeaters, extenders, etc.

The modem is in the middle of my house and my shop is approximately 150' away.  Up till it got zapped, I was working off a Cat5 cable, in conduit underground to a wireless modem in my shop.  Worked well until the cable got fried.

If there is a way for this to work for me, I'd rather do that than have to run new cable.

Do I just run a cable from my modem to a repeater (extender?) outside facing my shop, or do need more?  I'm afraid I'm not going to get very good signal going through 3 walls into the shop.

If you use a point to point, do you still need a wireless modem?

          My shop is very similar. The best route to eliminate lightning damage is to run a fiber line from building to building but that costs hundreds of dollars. FYI I have had TVs kill routers as well.  I can't do wireless at all because the house is brick and wifi doesn't penetrate brick. The shop is steel and wifi doesn't penetrate steel...

            If you take your phone and you can get a signal just outside your shop you can use a wireless bridge on the shop. That will talk to your house wifi and then convert it back into wired internet you can run into the shop and use a wireless access point or wifi router. 

             There are a bunch of different products now to either repeat your wifi signal or to take a wired connection and transmit it over a distance to a reciever and back into wired through the two boxes it comes with. Anything other than a direct wired connection is going to loose allot of speed and increase the latency (lag time). Every time you jump from wired to wireless or the other way it's a restriction and will slow it down. 

              In your case if the cable was dug into or hit by lightning I'd just pull a new wire through the conduit and call it good. Any other solution is going to cost allot more and you will loose speed and increase the amount of headaches of getting and keeping it working.