Extending internet access to cottage

[glenos]

We have built a small cottage on the other side of the driveway from the main house.

The cottage, 60sqm floor area with cement sheet cladding, will need internet access. It is around 25m from the router in the house, through a brick veneer wall. Fortunately, the NBN NTD and router are in a favourable spot.

When we ran power and water I considered adding ethernet, but the advice was that it would require lightning protection as well as paperwork, so I didn't bother. I could scratch something in now but would prefer to not dig up the driveway again.

We are rural and have NBN Fixed Wireless, that is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future and beyond.

Using a wifi analyser app I get -50dBm standing 2m from the router and -80dBm standing in the cottage about where the fridge will go, side closest to house. The signal is pretty weak and unstable.

As I understand my options are to add a wifi extender to the cottage. This could be done a few ways.
1. Add an outdoor AP under the eaves of the house. This will give me coverage of the driveway, but may not get inside the cottage well enough.
2. Add a AP inside the cottage as an extender to create a mesh network. I'm not sure it will perform well enough with poor signal from house. A router upgrade in the house may be necessary, it is a Fritz Box 7390, so probably 10+ years old.
3. Dig up driveway.

Any other viable options or suggestions of hardware? I've had a look at the main brands and just get confused, ASUS, TP-link, Netgear, ubiquiti.

If I change the house router, I'd like at least 4 ethernet ports in the house and could use more. So a switch with POE to power an outdoor AP like the TP-link one is an option.

 

[Gargravarr]

Easiest option is a simple wifi extender or an outdoor AP, but by far the best option is always to dig up your driveway. I'm now a big fan of the TP-Link hardware: I have a 4G modem/router and a wifi router hanging off the back of my satellite NBN NTD. (Belt and braces.) They're good value for money, reliable and require minimal effort to configure optimally. One thing you could consider, depending on channel contention with your neighbours (if any) might be to set your wifi devices to use the lowest frequency channel (1) if you find it hard to hammer the signal through the wall of your cottage. (But don't expect a huge advantage in penetration.)

If you go with the digging option, I'd suggest hiring a little trencher such as this machine for an afternoon. It gets the job done without making a mess.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

Have you considered any one of these?

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I have never tried them before so cannot vouch for them myself but if you have power outlets and need something in a pinch without too much fuss then these might do the job.

 

[glenos]

considered any one of these?

Yes, but there are sub-boards and circuit breakers on each end. It's unclear whether EOP will work in that case.

 

[Monsta_AU]

You really got a bum steer on the cabling, especially if you knew you wanted network out there. Fibre Optic does not conduct electricity so I would have had that run with the rest of the trenching. SX fibre cable itself barely costs more than high grade CAT6. A bit more cost in terms of termination and equipment at both ends (terminate into rack/patch panel, SFP transceivers, plus a switch on the remote end, and one on the house end if you did not already have a suitable switch).

With the situation you now have, I would use none of what Rusty suggested above. Certainly not fit for purpose, that'd designed to be within your existing building, and not extend to others. Specifically what you are looking for is a Wifi Bridge, well actually two.

I already run Ubiquiti gear at home, so I would be looking at some of their products but they are on the more expensive side. The unit I would go for is https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-wireless/products/ubb-us since it would directly integrate with my existing infrastructure. I use a UDM Pro as my router and management for my other switches and wifi access points. Just add a small PoE switch at the other end, and plug in another access point. Either plug in or use the Wifi locally, which goes back across the link to the house & router and off to the interwebs.

Unless you want to move to a full Ubiquiti system, you could just do it with a bride of any real type. Ideally the antennas would be directional, but if you have clear line of sight then it should not matter too much if you are not expecting blazing speeds. One of the cheapest options is TP-Link, you can buy them via Officeworks or other retailers, and will set you back around $190 for two - one for each end.

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[glenos]

a bridge of any real type

What about a pair of Nano Station 5AC Loco?

The TP-link CPE510 looks like it will do nicely.

If I can get 100+Mbps I should be fine. Incoming NBN FW is only 25/5 and the cottage won't need high bandwidth from within the house, just internet. So even if I move to FW+ best will be 100Mbps.

Re: cabling. Yep, bum steer. The lightning risk assessment is a furphy for somewhere like Hobart. I read the wiring rules this morning and realised I'd be led up the garden path. It wouldn't be the end of the world to dig up the driveway, it's gravel and recently excavated. But if I can get 100+Mbps wireless it won't matter, even better if I can get some coverage of the driveway.

No neighbours within 150m so not too much a problem there either.

 

[Gargravarr]

If I can get 100+Mbps I should be fine. Incoming NBN FW is only 25/5 and the cottage won't need high bandwidth from within the house, just internet. So even if I move to FW+ best will be 100Mbps.

Your connection to the outside world is never going to be faster than your slowest link, so bear that in mind. Your 25/5 connection is within the limits of a basic 2.4GHz WiFi connection, so there's no need to overspend if you're not likely to change your setup in the near future. You will find that a 2.4GHz WiFi signal will reach further and penetrate walls much better than a 5GHz signal, so in some cases it may be worth turning off the 5GHz option in a dual-band setup.

But if you have the energy, you may decide that running a trencher down a 25m driveway isn't that big a job, so laying down some CAT5 or CAT6 cable in a suitable conduit isn't that much of a task. It's what I'd do.

 

[glenos]

running a trencher down a 25m driveway isn't that big a job

As long as I don't hit the water line with the trencher. Power is deep enough it's not at risk.

 

[gthomas04]

Move the cottage to the other side of the driveway. Your welcome

 

[glenos]

A good write up on PtP bridge with TP-link.
I'll have a think about where I want to get to. Link to Cottage and AP is minimum, but a redo of the house set up might be included.

 

[Monsta_AU]

What about a pair of Nano Station 5AC Loco?

The TP-link CPE510 looks like it will do nicely.

Yes, the Nanos would do okay too, just put them in reasonably sheltered spot with LoS and should be fine.

You could also just put a a high-gain directional antenna facing the cottage and see how it goes.

 

[Wilkshire13]

You really got a bum steer on the cabling, especially if you knew you wanted network out there. Fibre Optic does not conduct electricity so I would have had that run with the rest of the trenching. SX fibre cable itself barely costs more than high grade CAT6. A bit more cost in terms of termination and equipment at both ends (terminate into rack/patch panel, SFP transceivers, plus a switch on the remote end, and one on the house end if you did not already have a suitable switch).

With the situation you now have, I would use none of what Rusty suggested above. Certainly not fit for purpose, that'd designed to be within your existing building, and not extend to others. Specifically what you are looking for is a Wifi Bridge, well actually two.

I already run Ubiquiti gear at home, so I would be looking at some of their products but they are on the more expensive side. The unit I would go for is https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-wireless/products/ubb-us since it would directly integrate with my existing infrastructure. I use a UDM Pro as my router and management for my other switches and wifi access points. Just add a small PoE switch at the other end, and plug in another access point. Either plug in or use the Wifi locally, which goes back across the link to the house & router and off to the interwebs.

Unless you want to move to a full Ubiquiti system, you could just do it with a bride of any real type. Ideally the antennas would be directional, but if you have clear line of sight then it should not matter too much if you are not expecting blazing speeds. One of the cheapest options is TP-Link, you can buy them via Officeworks or other retailers, and will set you back around $190 for two - one for each end.

TP Link Outdoor 5GHz CPE 300Mbps CPE510

Shop TP Link Outdoor 5GHz CPE 300Mbps CPE510 with our Price Beat Guarantee. Buy with Zip Pay. Enjoy free Click and Collect. Save with Officeworks.

www.officeworks.com.au

+1 for the Ubiquiti setup

 

[glenos]

For anyone still interested. I did a test with my laptop to see how well it connects to the house AP. It worked fine, so the poor signal on my phone was not reflecting to true signal.

So I bought a TP link TL-WA1201 with the plan to use in range extender mode. It provides the same internet speed as the house, according to fast.com.

For the use case I have that will be fine. A cheap and simple solution.

 

[Gargravarr]

For anyone still interested. I did a test with my laptop to see how well it connects to the house AP. It worked fine, so the poor signal on my phone was not reflecting to true signal.

So I bought a TP link TL-WA1201 with the plan to use in range extender mode. It provides the same internet speed as the house, according to fast.com.

For the use case I have that will be fine. A cheap and simple solution.

Kewl. I had a feeling that a simple solution such as this might fit the bill. How good are the ping times? That's the killer point with the satellite connection I now only use as a backup. A 700ms round trip makes for a hefty drag on zoom/WhatsApp conversations. I understand the reason, of course, but that doesn't make it any more usable for that purpose.

 

[glenos]

How good are the ping times?

I didn't check. There is no power over there yet so I had it running off extension cords as proof of concept. Will do a better test when I have more time or electricity