Internet connection in garden

Phil6340

Phil6340

Phil6340

Associate
Joined
5 Feb 2004
Posts
277
Location
Wolverhampton
I am about to erect a summerhouse at the top of my garden and a key part of the project is to have a strong wireless internet signal available. I would appreciate any views or advice based on the following;

  • My internet provider is EE fibre broadband.
    The EE provided router is sited less than 1m from the master socket in the front corner of house.
    The summerhouse will be approx 50m away from the router with two solid brick walls in between ( one 13" one 9").

Additional Info

Using an IPad as the signal receiver I can get a medium strength signal all around the house but can not get any signal in the area of the garden I will have the Summerhouse.

I am seeking the solution that will give me the strongest signal.

Look forward to you help.
 
Not sure if you can with EE routers, but I'd personally chuck it in modem mode, get a decent wireless router, use a long ethernet cable to get the wireless router to the other side of your house, and kick it in... Should get full signal then!

It's what I've done with my router basically
 
An external access point on the back of the house would probably work. Connect it back to the router with a cable or Powerline adapters.

If you're running power to the summer house it'd be worth running network cables at the same time. You can then install an access point in the summer house.
 
Will the summer house be connected to the mains ie have power

One of THESE to extend the signal via the mains and create a cloned network in the garden?

I used this exact kit to great effect extending wifi into the back of a house where there was no signal at all
 
The Summerhouse will have an electricity supply to it, but this is proving to be a bigger job than first anticipated based location of consumer unit and Summerhouse being the diametrically opposite points of the property.

Is there any loss of signal strength based on the length of the Ethernet cable?
 
If you need to dig a trench for power then put 2 ethernet cables down at the same time.

If you have to link the two wirelessly then run a cable to a point on the outside wall of your house that has line of sight to the other building and put up an Ubiquiti NanoStation M5 Loco, and another one on the summerhouse. Then connect an access point off that.
 
Phil6340 said:
The Summerhouse will have an electricity supply to it, but this is proving to be a bigger job than first anticipated based location of consumer unit and Summerhouse being the diametrically opposite points of the property.

Is there any loss of signal strength based on the length of the Ethernet cable?
Click to expand...

The power lines transfer the data over the electricity cable if you use them. Otherwise if you are running leccy cables run some Ethernet at the same time. Can't imagine you will have any issues tbo
 
A friend has internet and power going down to his shed at the bottom of the garden.

He used a small waterproof pipe which runs from the house to the shed which keeps the cables protected. It goes down the side of the fence panels and are not noticeable

I would not advice putting the ethernet cable underground because over a period of time it will start to rot as the cables are not designed to be underground (only fibre optic cables). And if there is a problem with the cable in the early stages of using it, you will have to rip it out of the ground to replace it
 
Run ducts to the summerhouse from the house, leave a few drawcords in as spares to pull new/additional cables in the future. Cat5e cable in a duct will last for ages.
 
MinotaurEGN said:
I would not advice putting the ethernet cable underground because over a period of time it will start to rot as the cables are not designed to be underground (only fibre optic cables). And if there is a problem with the cable in the early stages of using it, you will have to rip it out of the ground to replace it
Click to expand...

If you use network cable intended for direct burial it'll be fine. You wouldn't use standard network cable for this anymore than you'd use standard PVC T&E for power.
 
phil-k said:
If your getting mains to the summerhouse why not just get a pair of Homeplugs
Click to expand...

Homeplugs are a work-around for where network doesn't exist. If you're installing cabling then there's no reason not to put an appropriate data cable in at the same time.
 
It would be considered poor practice to directly bury a cable in the ground, especially in a garden. I know BT and the cable providers do it but it isn't generally accepted as 'good practice'

Simple and cheap ducting will allow a proper job.

I ran 4 x cat5e cables and a 40A power cable out to my workshop through a 100mm duct and thats been live for 10 years without issue.
 
In order or preference I would:

1) Run ethernet cables to it (wrapped in something weatherproof).
2) Use homeplugs.
3) Consider wireless and use directional antennaes to create a bridge between the two points. This will be far more effective than just a standard antennae.
 
I'd honestly swap 2 and 3 around in that list. A pair of NanoStations will give you 150Mbps real throughput and contain lots of built in diagnostics to tell you why things are degraded if you get into that situation. Every homeplug I've dealt with performs way under spec and are almost like black boxes in terms of getting any useful information out of them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom