UKC

Appealing to the UKC techies.

I'm trying to get a decent wifi signal to a static caravan about 25m from the house. I have stuck a range extender in the entrance of the house, but it does not seem to have much success in increasing the signal above the actual router. I'm toying between trying to add a router in the static to act as a bridge, or seeing if an antenna booster might work on the van.

Anyone had experience using a router as a bridge or an antenna. I'm guessing the actual antennas on laptops aren't that sophisticated.

In reply to Bellie:
I'm not a techie , but had a similar problem when using my iPad in the garden at the rear of the house where I got no signal , one day I saw a router in a charity shop, and I bought it for a pound, got some cable , linked them and stuck the second one to the rear, and that solved the problem .

No technical knowledge needed ( just as well as I don't have any)

Edit. By they way, I have no idea why that worked, I would be happy to know if it was boosting the signal, or acting as an antenna , bridge or whatever .

In reply to Bellie:

http://www.acdctv.co.uk/product/accessories/high-power-long-range-802-11gn-...

In reply to Bellie:

Does the caravan have electricity, preferably cables running from the house to the caravan?

If so you could try some. Never used them myself
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-WPA4220KIT-Powerline-Configuration-Smart...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-k...

My garden is considerably smaller and I use a wifi range extender. As you say it does not throw a signal much further than the router. This is the one I have
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ZyXEL-WRE2205-300Mbps-Wireless-Extender/dp/B00HNZAR...

In reply to Bellie:

Thanks for the replies. I'd looked at the antenna in the link. It looks like it could do the job... just peeved at not getting one instead of the range extender. The extender is a BT one, with decent spec... but not much improvement in signal.

The caravan has power but it comes direct from the fuse board to its own supply box, so is not part of the actual ring main. I hadn't thought about powerlink adapters - shame as I thought it might work initially.

I've got some instructions on using a router as a repeater/bridge so I'll give it a whirl and see if it improves things tomorrow. I might as well try that first as I have a few knocking about the place. If no improvement I'll give that antenna a go.

I've still got the trench dug for the pipes and cable runs and had thought about running some Cat 5 from the range extender - which is next to the pipe outlet. But the BT openreach guy said Id need to run the cable at least 1m away from the powerline to stop interference to my router and the van's one. Not sure how much loss I'd get on about 25m.

In reply to Bellie:

If the caravan is on the same electrical circuit (all on the same side of a meter or main consumer unit) then use Powerline Adapters to create a link. Should work perfectly. TP-Link have worked well for me.

In reply to Bellie:


Screened cable (cat5e or cat6) with the screen returned to a good local ground at one end will minimise coupling, though might still be problems if you have large spikes on your mains (lightening strikes or similar) disrupting data or damaging routers. Distance isn't a problem provided you are only expecting 100Mb - rated for 100m. As one of the others has commented, the power line extenders will work between any circuit on the same fusebox (and often beyond!) so that will probably be safest and easiest.

In reply to Bellie:

The external aerial is on order so I'll see if that, combined with the range extender does the trick. I couldn't go down the power link route due to it being a completely separate fuse box. I tried the bridging method, but my thoughts have been confirmed by the Caravan club website, that the wifi signals don't penetrate caravans well - hence the aerial suggestion looking the best option and easier than ducting some Cat 5e down the garden.

Thanks for the replies.

In reply to Bellie:


They should work as long as they are on the same meter

http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/powerline.html

In reply to Bellie:

Quick update. External aerial fitted as in Mountain Llama's link. Works a treat.

In reply to Bellie:

That's good to know.

Cheers

In reply to Bellie:

Could u run an ethernet cable?? Old school but effective, then stick a router inside the caravan

In reply to phja:

That would have been my next option, but the aerial picks up the signal from the range extender and gives full bars on connectivity! The laptop acts as a wifi hotspot too now and so the smartphones work better as well.

In reply to Bellie:

Great news, glad it did the trick.

Cheers Davey

In reply to Bellie:

You could build a wireless bridge with a couple of pringle cans and a few washers.
http://www.cantenna.com/

In reply to Bellie:


The aluminium shell of most caravans was my first thought...

Big windows, though.