Help me please get internet in my garage!

charltonfan1 · 22 Nov 2020 at 21:51

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help me as I'm tearing my hair out failing to get internet in my garage which is 40m or so from the router with a couple of brick walls in the way.

I first tried powerline adaptors as the garage has power (these ones which are a few years old now https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/broadband-extender-500-flex-kit-for-bt-tv) and an access point I connected to the powerline in the garage and it worked fine. Speeds dropped from ~50Mbps to ~14 Mbps but was happy enough with this. The data light changed between green, orange and red randomly suggesting the powerline connection wasn't great.

After a day or so the access point lost connection to the router and after I reset the powerlines it came back up.

The next day my devices I was connecting to the AP couldn't get IP addresses.

I tried another AP (this time an unused BT Smarthub which I put in AP mode). Then had same issues with dodgy connection over the next few days.

Next I tried getting a WIFI extender ( https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/range-extender/re305/) plugged into the socket in the house nearest to the garage (30m away) but the signal wouldn't stretch through the garage wall

So run out of ideas and wondering if better quality powerline adaptors would make a difference?

Any advice appreciated, thanks

Deleted member 77746 · 22 Nov 2020 at 21:55

Do you not recon you could run Ethernet cable to the garage?

charltonfan1 · 22 Nov 2020 at 22:17

Bouton Aide said:
Do you not recon you could run Ethernet cable to the garage?

Not without disrupting the garden and ******* off the wife!

Deleted member 77746 · 22 Nov 2020 at 22:19

charltonfan1 said:
Not without disrupting the garden and ******* off the wife!

Lol tell her it’s electric cable ha ha would only need 1 pipe run have you got any pics of distance? Only other option other than power lines is point to point wifi

charltonfan1 · 22 Nov 2020 at 22:39

Bouton Aide said:
Lol tell her it’s electric cable ha ha would only need 1 pipe run have you got any pics of distance? Only other option other than power lines is point to point wifi

Ok thank you.

Are newer powerline adaptors going to make a difference? Mine are AV500 so AV600 or AV1000 ?

It's strange my existing ones work some of the time. Is this behaviour consistent with wiring problems between the house and the garage

The house was built 4 years ago so not old wiring

brendy · 22 Nov 2020 at 22:41

Unify AC LR or one of their outdoor solutions should work if unobstructed by other buildings etc.

Deleted member 77746 · 22 Nov 2020 at 22:50

charltonfan1 said:
Ok thank you.

Are newer powerline adaptors going to make a difference? Mine are AV500 so AV600 or AV1000 ?

It's strange my existing ones work some of the time. Is this behaviour consistent with wiring problems between the house and the garage

The house was built 4 years ago so not old wiring

A new build should work spot on with power lines. If you having issues with AV500s you may still get issues with AV1000s. Do you have a budget in mind or do you not know someone who has a set you could test with first?

charltonfan1 · 22 Nov 2020 at 22:57

brendy said:
Unify AC LR or one of their outdoor solutions should work if unobstructed by other buildings etc.

ok i'll look into those thanks. Guessing Long range would cover the distance im dealing with?

Bouton Aide said:
A new build should work spot on with power lines. If you having issues with AV500s you may still get issues with AV1000s. Do you have a budget in mind or do you not know someone who has a set you could test with first?

Budget is as little as possible so your trial idea is a good one, will ask around.

It would be good to know the cause of the sporadic behaviour as it could be a router setting?

Deleted member 77746 · 22 Nov 2020 at 22:59

charltonfan1 said:
Budget is as little as possible so your trial idea is a good one, will ask around.

It would be good to know the cause of the sporadic behaviour as it could be a router setting?

I have never known the router to be the cause of a power line issue. It’s usually the powerlines at fault in a new build.

What router you got?

charltonfan1 · 22 Nov 2020 at 23:06

Bouton Aide said:
I have never known the router to be the cause of a power line issue. It’s usually the powerlines at fault in a new build.

What router you got?

https://static.tp-link.com/Archer VR900(EU)_V3_Datasheet.pdf

Deleted member 77746 · 22 Nov 2020 at 23:15

charltonfan1 said:
https://static.tp-link.com/Archer VR900(EU)_V3_Datasheet.pdf

You got the latest V3 firmware?

Avalon · 22 Nov 2020 at 23:19

An external building is required to be on a separate circuit, power line will not like that.

Two options:

1. Run a cable - the trench work only needs to be very small, minimal disruption, you'll also technically fall foul of wiring regs by connecting the two with a copper cable, so fibre is the suggested option, but you wouldn't be the first to ignore this.

2. P2P wifi link, something like a Nanostation M2 on either end should do it, but you need power at both ends and a reasonably clear LoS.

Deleted member 77746 · 22 Nov 2020 at 23:28

Ai there’s a thought: new build might be on a separate circuit.

Show us your electrics.

bremen1874 · 23 Nov 2020 at 00:05

Avalon said:
you'll also technically fall foul of wiring regs

I know it's potentially a bad idea, and understand why so would avoid it, but which regs actually prohibit it? Genuinely interested.

WJA96 · 23 Nov 2020 at 06:07

This is classic case of people being encouraged to waste money on increasingly expensive options that won’t work properly.

Mikrotik Wireless Wire is more money than you want to spend but it will do the job properly. A solid 1Gbps connection over 40m. That’s why they call it Wireless Wire. You should be able to pick up a set for about £150.

Deleted member 77746 · 23 Nov 2020 at 08:23

WJA96 said:
This is classic case of people being encouraged to waste money on increasingly expensive options that won’t work properly.

Mikrotik Wireless Wire is more money than you want to spend but it will do the job properly. A solid 1Gbps connection over 40m. That’s why they call it Wireless Wire. You should be able to pick up a set for about £150.

Theres potential of that kit costing more. It has to be mounted and also requires power to the stations.

Potentially could cost over £500 if you factor in new power runs, mounting and the cost of purchasing said devices.

A rather expensive way considering the cheapest is probably to run two cat6 external grade cables.

Swings and roundabouts I guess, OP doesn’t want to spend much money as cheap as possible so it might not even be doable on a cheap budget.

Point to Point is a great idea as long as it’s feasible. Maybe it could be mounted in a window without needing to go external.

Sparx · 23 Nov 2020 at 08:38

Get some PTP gear like 2x Ubiquiti NBE-5AC-Gen2 NanoBeam, have them setup at the house and garage for a link? They're about £80 each.

Then chuck a WiFi/Router AP at the garage end... Could do something like a Ubiquiti In-Wall AP or something and position that nicely in the garage. Will also provide some ethernet ports too.

WJA96 · 24 Nov 2020 at 01:07

Bouton Aide said:
Theres potential of that kit costing more. It has to be mounted and also requires power to the stations.

Potentially could cost over £500 if you factor in new power runs, mounting and the cost of purchasing said devices.

A rather expensive way considering the cheapest is probably to run two cat6 external grade cables.

Swings and roundabouts I guess, OP doesn’t want to spend much money as cheap as possible so it might not even be doable on a cheap budget.

Point to Point is a great idea as long as it’s feasible. Maybe it could be mounted in a window without needing to go external.

Jeepers you can make life hard for yourself. Why would new power runs be required? Both ends already have power because the OP is trying to use Powerlines. And if the OP is running in a power cable, just add a fibre optic cable and couple of SFP+ adapters and you’ve got a thoroughly solid link.

To get the boxes out of the buildings £5 worth of suction cups and a flat Ethernet cable will get the house end mounted in place on a window and you could clip the cable at the corner of the garage door if it doesn’t have windows. Or it’s hardly a massive engineering project to drill an 8mm hole in the garage wall for the cable.

Deleted member 77746 · 24 Nov 2020 at 08:26

WJA96 said:
Both ends already have power because the OP is trying to use Powerlines.

Yeh cos there’s always 1000000 plug sockets in the house ain’t there. These wifi links need power.

the location where these links need to be put also needs Ethernet to the first one right? So another Ethernet run needs to be placed to the first link.

We have no idea of the OPS diy skills, might need to pay someone to fit it. You think that’s cheap? Maybe by a cowboy.

charltonfan1 · 24 Nov 2020 at 09:27

Thanks all for your ideas and input.

I had a breakthrough last night with some elite jerryrigging skills. I found that if i used an extension power cable and had the Wifi Extender placed just outside the garage, it was close enough to pickup a connection from my router and then distribute it through the open garage door.

I am just needing a web connection to Run Zwift on my bike turbo trainer and allow me to mirror my phone/ipad to the TV i've put on the wall and Zwift uses very little bandwith so doesnt need a fast connection. I had been using a Fire Stick to mirror but found my old Apple TV gen 1 to be much better last night.

This is a temporary solution and shows that if i got an outdoor Wifi extender and stuck it ouside the garage this would work and quite possibly be the cheapest/quickest option.

I appreciate that wifi extenders are not always reliable so can't expect the world.