Results 1 to 15 of 15

Thread: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

  1. #1
    Squeeler Vini's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Sheffield
    Posts
    1,769
    Thanks
    44
    Thanked
    8 times in 8 posts

    Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    I've been tasked with blanketing a house in Wifi signals and also, the adjoining "granny flat".

    The Granny Flat does not have a phone line, nor does it have network cables running to it. It is approximately 10m away from the nearest room in the main house.

    I can only think of Bridging Wifi from the room nearest to this outhouse. But am concerned about the distance, the interference from bad weather aswell as all the other issues tied to Wifi.

    Not only do I need to extend the Wifi to this outhouse, but I also need to provide better coverage throughout the main residence, which is quite large!

    Say those problems regarding weather, range, etc... dont exist, what options does an ADSL user have?

    I'd like to go with 802.11n, but Netgears DG834N has been discontinued, and doesn't appear to have been superceded, though if it has, it's not with a WDS compatible router

    The only other option I can see, is the Draytek 2820n, which is more than upto the job. But quite expensive. Especially if I was needing 4! (Does WDS require the same hardware?)

    Another option would be "generic" router, "generic" AP+Bridge... Say DG834GT (Example) and a handful of WRT54GL's... Do the WRT54GL's operate in AP+Bridge mode?


    Can anyone think of any other solutions?

  2. #2
    Technojunkie
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Up North
    Posts
    2,580
    Thanks
    239
    Thanked
    213 times in 138 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    Mains powerline networking to bridge the distance, with wifi routers attached to those.

  3. #3
    Squeeler Vini's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Sheffield
    Posts
    1,769
    Thanks
    44
    Thanked
    8 times in 8 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    Quote Originally Posted by mikerr View Post
    Mains powerline networking to bridge the distance, with wifi routers attached to those.
    It's not on the same grid

  4. #4
    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Looking down & checking on swearing
    Posts
    19,378
    Thanks
    2,892
    Thanked
    3,403 times in 2,693 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    is the land between the house and the granny annex owned by the property owners? If so , running cat5e between the two may be a better option, either surface mounted using exterior grade cable, or standard cable run in conduit, or standard/exterior grade run in something like hosepipe and buried in the ground.

    You could use the Draytek 2710 - I think it is a lower cost alternative to the 2820. Netgear to an AP with an external antenna designed for wide area coverage

    http://www.netgear.co.uk/wireless_ac...nts_WN802T.php

    but I have no direct experience with them.
    (\__/)
    (='.'=)
    (")_(")

    Been helped or just 'Like' a post? Use the Thanks button!
    My broadband speed - 750 Meganibbles/minute

  5. #5
    Editable... jimbouk's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Bristol
    Posts
    3,069
    Thanks
    319
    Thanked
    278 times in 226 posts
    • jimbouk's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asrock B450M-HDV R4.0
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 5 3600
      • Memory:
      • Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16
      • Storage:
      • Sabrent Rocket Q 1TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic Core Gold GC-650
      • Case:
      • Lian-Li PC-V1100 ATX
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • AOC CU34G2/BK 34" Widescreen
      • Internet:
      • EE FTC

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    You could get a couple of directional antennas (or make your own) for the jump from one house to the other - just make sure you have a access point/extender with 2 antenna sockets and have one for general wifi and one for the link.

    If it is going to be a permanent link then just invest in a good drill for the walls and run a cable though.

  6. #6
    Banned
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    2,129
    Thanks
    13
    Thanked
    189 times in 160 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    I have similar issues. Ie 3 foot thick stone walls!

    I use directional antennas with a cisco 877w and remote 1210s.

    Works like a charm apart from throughput is not as good when on repeater. More than enough for me to play online with my ps3, surf etc etc.

  7. #7
    Squeeler Vini's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Sheffield
    Posts
    1,769
    Thanks
    44
    Thanked
    8 times in 8 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    is the land between the house and the granny annex owned by the property owners? If so , running cat5e between the two may be a better option, either surface mounted using exterior grade cable, or standard cable run in conduit, or standard/exterior grade run in something like hosepipe and buried in the ground.

    You could use the Draytek 2710 - I think it is a lower cost alternative to the 2820. Netgear to an AP with an external antenna designed for wide area coverage

    http://www.netgear.co.uk/wireless_ac...nts_WN802T.php

    but I have no direct experience with them.
    Hindsight's a wonderful thing, unfortunately, they've finished digging their land up... I've just been landed this 'mission' after all the works been done, the walls plastered and the paint dry. As you do!

    Given the property's worth probably close to £2m, these aint your standard walls or grounds, so little old me suggesting we dig it all up again, or sling an ethernet cable from Window to Window won't go down too well.

    Unfortunately, I think the only solution will be Wifi bridges. I was thinking of a 2820n with a few WRT54GL's.

  8. #8
    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Looking down & checking on swearing
    Posts
    19,378
    Thanks
    2,892
    Thanked
    3,403 times in 2,693 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    Is there any ducting where the services go from the main building to the annex? (Clutching at straws now!!)
    (\__/)
    (='.'=)
    (")_(")

    Been helped or just 'Like' a post? Use the Thanks button!
    My broadband speed - 750 Meganibbles/minute

  9. #9
    Senior Member gss03's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    725
    Thanks
    6
    Thanked
    28 times in 28 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    Quote Originally Posted by Vini View Post
    Hindsight's a wonderful thing, unfortunately, they've finished digging their land up... I've just been landed this 'mission' after all the works been done, the walls plastered and the paint dry. As you do!

    Given the property's worth probably close to £2m, these aint your standard walls or grounds, so little old me suggesting we dig it all up again, or sling an ethernet cable from Window to Window won't go down too well.

    Unfortunately, I think the only solution will be Wifi bridges. I was thinking of a 2820n with a few WRT54GL's.

    I'd use the Draytek and then also get some Draytek WP700 (I think that's the model) access points.
    They can also be used with PoE switches from memory.
    Take a look at seg.co.uk as it'll list the prices for the access points.

  10. #10
    bored out of my tiny mind malfunction's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Lurking
    Posts
    3,923
    Thanks
    191
    Thanked
    187 times in 163 posts
    • malfunction's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte G1.Sniper (with daft heatsinks and annoying Killer NIC)
      • CPU:
      • Xeon X5670 (6 core LGA 1366) @ 4.4GHz
      • Memory:
      • 48GB DDR3 1600 (6 * 8GB)
      • Storage:
      • 1TB 840 Evo + 1TB 850 Evo
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 290X
      • PSU:
      • Antec True Power New 750W
      • Case:
      • Cooltek W2
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell U2715H

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    What devices are they intending to use on the WLAN? If they just want to be able to use a laptop anywhere why not suggest a 3G card (assuming they have appropriate signal)? If not you pretty much have to use directional antenna (probably outdoor ones if the walls are thick). Scan have a few:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Index.aspx?NT=1-0-49-62-0

    They aren't cheap but if someone can afford a mansion...

  11. #11
    Banned
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Blackpool
    Posts
    983
    Thanks
    15
    Thanked
    38 times in 20 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    Catenary wire high level? Basically a tensioned steel wire fixed between the two buildings which you can attach a cat5 cable to with cable ties.

    We've used that solution for exactly this purpose on a farm house before now.

  12. #12
    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Gateshead
    Posts
    15,196
    Thanks
    1,231
    Thanked
    2,291 times in 1,874 posts
    • scaryjim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Dell Inspiron
      • CPU:
      • Core i5 8250U
      • Memory:
      • 2x 4GB DDR4 2666
      • Storage:
      • 128GB M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Radeon R5 230
      • PSU:
      • Battery/Dell brick
      • Case:
      • Dell Inspiron 5570
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • 15" 1080p laptop panel

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    I used to live in a community in North Yorkshire. My cottage was about 180 - 200m from the main buildings. In the main buildings we used consumer-grade (D-Link, from memory) 54G WAPs with consumer-grade high gain antennae (so nothing fancy like outdoor / directional antennae). I could, fairly reliably, pick up the wireless network from the main house in my cottage, as long as I sat by the window! If there are facing windows between the main house and the granny flat you should be able to set up wireless bridging with consumer-grade WAPs without too much difficulty. AFAIK most consumer grade WAPs will support bridging and WDS as long as you pair them with the same model of WAP: for instance this cheapish Edimax does...

  13. #13
    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Internet
    Posts
    19,185
    Thanks
    739
    Thanked
    1,614 times in 1,050 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    I've used a couple of WRT54's with Tomato via the WDS method. Very easy to set up and worked well
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

  14. #14
    Squeeler Vini's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Sheffield
    Posts
    1,769
    Thanks
    44
    Thanked
    8 times in 8 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael View Post
    Catenary wire high level? Basically a tensioned steel wire fixed between the two buildings which you can attach a cat5 cable to with cable ties.

    We've used that solution for exactly this purpose on a farm house before now.
    We specialise in Catenaries, but hadn't thought about that. Unfortunately the distance and variation in land level means this isn't really a feasable option.

    I paid a visit yesterday, and to say I had slightly underestimated the size of the house and thickness of the walls. Would be a massive understatement!

    They would need about 4 repeaters to do what they're wanting to do, inside. To send the wireless to this granny flat, you'd need a set of well place antennas.

    In the end, we've decided to run a cable from building A to building B, which is going to be by far the best solution. Just a shame it wasn't run underground when the renovation was being done.
    Last edited by Vini; 15-10-2009 at 10:44 AM.

  15. #15
    Squeeler Vini's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Sheffield
    Posts
    1,769
    Thanks
    44
    Thanked
    8 times in 8 posts

    Re: Blanket Wifi Throughout 'Big' House (and Granny Flat)

    Oh, and they have 5 power circuits, so Powerline Adaptors were useless

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •