Could be deemed OT - But its Not - Internet / email range query

[steve_a]

Nige, I'd suggest you buy a Wi-Fi card for the house computer then move the router to where you can get a decent signal all over, including the garage. If that fails then it might be time to see if you can upgrade the firmware of the router. Different geo regions have rules about power and frequencies, so if you get somthing like ddwrt on it you can probably select a region with a higher power output and/or unused freq range.

Of course it probably wouldn't be legal, so that is all theoretical...

Finally you can also buy a high gain antenna for the garage PC.

[CwazyWabbit]

Don't forget if you make the router high power you will also need a higher power wireless card/adapter for the PC, no point transmitting high power from the base station if the pccan't transmit enough to get back.

Good antennas are really worth looking into, especially some external ones

[task]

Don't forget if you make the router high power you will also need a higher power wireless card/adapter for the PC, no point transmitting high power from the base station if the pccan't transmit enough to get back.

Good antennas are really worth looking into, especially some external ones

You mean like the ones I quoted a page back?

My parents live in a rural location and receive their broadband through WiFi, over a distance in excess of a mile, so beaming to your garage should be of no issue. You don't need massive speed for your intended use so that works in your favour. There is a science to long distance WiFi, a few years ago I helped set up a long range connection for a guy who was shoving CCTV over WiFi using roughly the same principal.

As suggested above you can save money by re-using different routers and bridges with different firmwares and on different channels/powers to avoid interference. One of the "groups" I belong to has a member who managed to create a nice brown circle on the side of a evergreen tree by using a P-to-P connection on a massive power.

[CwazyWabbit]

You mean like the ones I quoted a page back?

.......

One of the "groups" I belong to has a member who managed to create a nice brown circle on the side of a evergreen tree by using a P-to-P connection on a massive power.

Yep, I was agreeing with you task

For an extreme distance example...... http://boingboing.net/2005/07/31/defcon-wifi-shootout.html

[task]

Yep, I was agreeing with you task

For an extreme distance example...... http://boingboing.ne...i-shootout.html

I SO want to go there one day. Perhaps I should start saving!

[mad_pete]

As mentioned I'd look to extend the wireless to the workshop. How did you get power down there ?

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Me ... a spade ....and a 24" trench ....and armoured cable ........and a few crates of beer

NEVER again

Some super ideas and help here, my 8 year old IT Brain needs to try to work through them

Keep the thought coming whilst I superheat my "IT Brain Cell "

Nige

Nige

[zim]

usb internet dongle. means you can take it out and about with you if required

[landroversforever]

usb internet dongle. means you can take it out and about with you if required

But Nige's phone signal isn't so great . As you have power down there.... the easiest thing to try would be to borrow a pair of homeplugs to test it, if it works get your own

[mad_pete]

I agree if you can borrow a pair there is nothing to be lost be giving home plugs a try.

[MrKev]

or you could try:

"There you go my lovely, a brand new washing line for you!"

[zardos]

You could try a point to point Wifi Solution like http://www.wifigear.co.uk/deliberant-5ghz-18dbm-mimo-ptp-kit good for 2 - 20 Km

or

You could try a ethernet laser bridge like http://www.wifigear.co.uk/geodesy-pico-next-laser-link-100mbps-20-350-meters

But not cheap

[SimonTemplar]

My wife and I both work largely from home, and need a fast internet connection, as we both handle a fair amount of data. We use ethernet cables and a regular router. My wife bought some big blue plugs called 'Devolo HomePlug adapters - dLAN Highspeed II' that have a regular three pins on one side, so they go into a normal electrical socket, and you plug the ethernet lead into them. Our router plugs into the wall using an ethernet cable and one of these plugs. Now any other computer in the house picks up internet from any regular electrical socket as long as it is plugged into the wall using an ethernet cable and one of these HomePlug adapters. My wife works upstairs in the study, I am downstairs in the kitchen, we both have very fast internet as long as the router is also plugged in somewhere in the house. I can plug the computer in in any room and still pick up internet as long as I use the blue plug and the ethernet lead.

We have a detached garage, which while not as far as yours is a fair way from the house. There is mains power in there, and my laptop also picks up internet in there - at the same speed as in the house, fast enough for me to work from - as long as I use one of the plugs and the ethernet lead. So in theory, as long as your garage is powered off a feed that also goes to your house, this would work for you.

The kit was not expensive for the difference it has made - when we have builders in I just move my work to a different room. I worked outside in the summer on an extension lead, completely the same speed I get in the house.

So it sounds as though this would work for your setup. Happy to post more detail of the kit we have - but would have to ask my wife for the details

Anyway, not sure that I have worded this very clearly but it sounds as though it could work for you. Food for thought, anyway, I hope.

ST

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Due to the kindness of a forummeer on here I have a pair of Homeplugs coming to me

I will see what damage I can do with these to me / house wiring / PCs and report back

Fingers crossed

Nige

[V8CAMEL]

can you see anyother networks on the wireless that arent yours?

are any of them the btopenzone or btfon?

[BogMonster]

How secure are these Homeplug type things? I may have a similar issue in due course. Just wondering how far the signal goes, whether it is encrypted etc.

When in UK I have two solutions now; I have a Three "Mi-Fi" mobile wifi thing which gives a short-range wifi network to anything that can use standard wifi, and is brilliant - 8MBit down / 1 MBit up when I did a speed test. Or I can configure my HTC phone to give a wifi network off its data service but it's slower. But neither are much good if the phone signal is dodgy... they do work on GPRS/EDGE but it's pretty painful.

[CwazyWabbit]

The more recent versions are definitely encrypted and require a pairing operation when adding extra ones. I'm not sure about the early ones.

[landroversforever]

To get into the network you would have to be able to plug into the power sockets on the house, so secure enough. Unless they do work house to house. (hmmmm network gaming with a mate over the road )

[gazelle]

I have five homeplugs in different places around the house and the detached office (which is attached to the house with a 50m armoured mains cable). Bought the Max Value 200Mbit ones from Amazon.

The one down the end of the long cable is reported to run a bit slower than the rest, but it is not noticable in the real world. It is better than the connection from the wireless router in the house.

The do need to be paired to each other, and one of the existing networked ones needs to be involved in the pairing. They also work fine at the end of daisy chained extension leads.

Important : Nige,

Just follow the instructions for pairing in the house with them next to each other to make sure it worked before you take it out to the garage. I spent a while running down the garden to press the correct button within the minute before it timed out until sense prevailed. Much easier if they are along side each other. They will remember that they have been paired even with the long walk to the garage!

Good luck

Martin

[CwazyWabbit]

To get into the network you would have to be able to plug into the power sockets on the house, so secure enough. Unless they do work house to house. (hmmmm network gaming with a mate over the road )

You would need to be on the same phase as the other house and I recall some blurb about the electric meter having an attenuating effect on the signal. But I haven't tested this myself.

[elbekko]

I found the ethernet over power adapters quite rubbish. It worked, somewhat, but the moment it had to cross into another circuit the signal would get pretty bad. Streaming video and such was completely out of the question.

Ultimately we got out the 38mm drill and the RJ-45 crimper... much better.

[landroversforever]

Our home plugs work very happily over two different ring mains. Downstairs has the router plugged into it, and all the PCs are upstairs

[SimonTemplar]

I'd agree with that, ours run both upstairs and downstairs, over three floors, and in the detached garage, and can stream video very quickly. I don't think that we are running a particularly expensive system, and much of our wiring is (dangerously) old. Guess it is just luck of the draw regarding the strength of local supply..?

I need real-time financial data for work, so I expect that any frailty in the signal delivery would show up pretty quickly on my system. I gave the brand name of the plugs we use in an earlier post in this thread.

ST

[SPendrey]

It will vary from product to product, but the Devolo units offer device to device encryption essentially rendering eavesdropping useless. So they are secure in that respect, plus of course there is the physical aspect of needing access to the home's wiring (something you don't get with WiFi).

In terms of performance, the main thing that ruins the signal is interference from other 'noisy' machinery on the same ring, i.e. a refrigerator, a washing machine etc. However, given Nigel's original intent (internet access) I'd doubt dropping from a theoretical 85Mbps to a real 10Mbps (that's my guess over the 300yds) will still result in decent enough internet access.