Options For Dual Radio WiFi Repeater with External Directional Antenna?

[ViRGE]

I've been asked to help with a WiFi project and I'm a bit out of my league here, so I'm hoping you guys can offer some good advice.

An acquaintance wants to extend WiFi coverage from his house out to his workshop. The shop is about 300ft away with a good line of sight, but as it stands the distance is just too great for devices in the shop to reach the house. The obvious solution here is a repeater, the problem is trying to figure out what to get.

At 300ft and considering the lack of reception with normal devices, I'm thinking that this calls for an external directional antenna pointed at the house. This should be sensitive enough to pick up and send back signals. At the same time he wants to be able to have this shop as a second network, so rather than using a one radio extender this would be a two radio extender capable of bridging the wireless connection and sending it back out as a new network for the shop.

So what are my options here? Something like the Hawking HAW2R1 would seem to be just what the doctor ordered based on the specifications listed. But the product has very mixed reviews. Is there anything else like this out there that would do the job for better and/or cheaper? Extenders are easy enough, but the ability to plug in an external directional antenna starts to make things very complex very quickly.

 

[JackMDS]

I am not familiar with the Hawking per-se.

However if it is working well it is Not expensive because it includes a High gain Directional Antenna and Dual Radio.

When using a regular Wireless Router as a Repeater the Bandwidth after the Repeating is always cut into half since the Single Radio is Flip-Floping between Receiving and Transmitting. According to Hawking specs, it has Dual single Band Radio that was designed for working a Repeater so it will provide the full bandwidth that is Received at this spot.

The total outcome depends on the Environment, if the source is a Wireless Router inside the house, and the Repeater is placed inside the Work Shop the out might be questionable.

The basic installation should include unit at the Source (house) that is connected via cable to the main house Router and configured as an Access Point, then placed in a Window facing the Workshop. The Repeater in the workshop should be installed in a Window facing the House.

Using the Hawking and Wireless Router for an Access Point the cost should be around $200.

An alternative solution can be achieved with less Expensive Wireless Routers, but you will have to get three of them so the total cost might end up being the same.

In Sum.

Option 1. “May be I am Lucky” Buy the Hawking put it in the Workshop and configure it to work.

Option 2. Buy an inexpensive Wireless Router configure it as an Access Point* installed in a Window facing the Workshop, configure the Hawking to connect to it.

Option 3. Do not buy the Hawking. Buy three inexpensive Wireless Routers that can be flashed with 3rdparty firmware. One Router installed as an Access Point* connecting with cable to the main house's Router.

Second Router configured as a Client Bridge**, placed in the workshop's window, and facing the Access Point.

Third Wireless Router connected via cable to the second Router and providing wire and Wireless service inside the Workshop.

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* Using Wireless Cable/DSL Routers (or Modem/Wireless Router) as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

** http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Bridged



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[azazel1024]

You could just have the access point in the main house with directional antennas pointed at the shop. Yagi antennas aren't that expensive. http://www.amazon.com/Yagi-WiFi-Ante...i+wifi+antenna

Since you mention a shop 300ft away, I assume neighboring networks are not an issue. Just assign the AP using the antenna(s) on a seperate channel away from what the main house network is using, give it's own SSID (if you really want it to be a seperate network) and call it a day. 15dB of gain should be plenty (well, unless the thing is dang farady cage) and 25-30 degrees of coverage is overkill at 300ft unless that is a REALLY big garage. I haven't tried Yagi antennas with multi radio routers, but I don't see in principal why it wouldn't work fine if you need more performance. A cheap single or dual antennas 2.4GHz router with removable external antennas and pigtails to the Yagi(s) mounted outside and you are golden.


Another option is that if the shop is connected to the same main ciruit breaker as the house, use powerline adapters between the house and the shop to bridge the network and use a regular access point/router out in the shop.

I am doing sort of both options. I need wifi about 80ft away from my house and about 100ft from where my closest AP is located. Signal is bad to horrible there right now (-75 to -85dB). I got a cheap TP-LINK (TL-WR841nd) router with removable external antennas. I am mounting the AP in my garage with 3ft pigtails to mount the 5dB omni antennas outside my garage and operating it in 20MHz mode so as to not step on my main house router/APs. Should get the signal out there just fine.

I also have a shed located about 80ft from the location (garage wall where it would go is also about 100ft from the location). I've been toying with powerline routers and then mounting the AP in the shed (I need to re-run power to the shed anyway. Its wired, but when I reconnected it (I bought the house last year) nothing is getting to the shed, so it must be a break in the wire running out to the shed), but I figure it doesn't gain me much right now. Its 20% closer with no difference in any physical obstructions and powerline might get a slower connection than the 100Mbps connection the cheap router has + 100ft of open air distance instead of powerline networked (which is likely a usable 30-60Mbps) + 80ft of open air distance.

I'll find out in a few weeks when it warms up and I can run the cat5e from the garage to my basement switch (that is, if the connection is suitable. I see no reason why it shouldn't be).

Long term I am replacing the structure with a combo shed/studio and I want good, high speed connection for the studio. Admittedly instead of extending it through repeaters, since I have to upgrade the wiring anyway (I am just going to run direct bury rated 14AWG for now as I just need a single outlet and a light in the shed) to 10AWG 240V, at that time I'll run fiber to the shed (and probably coax, for giggles and stuff) through buried conduit.

That likely isn't an option here with the shed 300ft away, as that is a lot of trenching, but if he wants a REALLY high speed option, that is it. Fiber isn't all that expensive. I don't know about 300+ft of it, but when I looked at 150FT of dual mode fiber with LC connectors, I think it was something like $60. Granted, its probably 20+hrs of work to trench, lay it and cover for just my 100ft run, let alone 300ft, but that does get you Gigabit speeds (and probably future upgradability to 10GbE) to his workshop.

In the mean time, powerline or Yagi(s) and an AP in the mainhouse. I'd pick that over repeaters.