Extending WiFi to an outbuilding

[jwickham]

Hello,

I’m trying to extend our WiFi connection at our home.  We have a computer in an outbuilding (about 40 feet away from the modem in another building) and with our current modem/wifi router setup we get excellent internet speed at the modem but terrible internet speed in the outbuilding (via wifi).

Does Google Mesh work in between buildings?  Or is a hardwire connection required?  Do I need a Google router or will Mesh work with another router?

Any comments/suggestions would be much appreciated!  

Thanks!

[Ashepherdson]

While 40 feet might not be a terribly long distance , and generally wifi can travel further outdoors than indoors, there are just a ton of things that can affect range and stability of the signal.  

My nest wifi is accessible 40 feet away from my house yes, however the signal is not consistent because I have many neighbors all running different wifi networks.  If you don't have many wifi networks near you, then yes it could possibly work on the 2.4 GHz band.  

An alternative is running ethernet to the outbuilding, as that will give you a stable connection and should be much more cost effective.  

[jwickham]

Thanks so much! 

We are out in the country - neighbors mostly deer and raccoons -- so maybe it would work?  I should mention, the computer in the outbuilding is located in the basement of that building... another complicating factor I'm sure...

[Ashepherdson]

Indeed that would complicate the matter.  I would strongly suggest using a second router in the outbuilding, and run a ethernet cable to the basement.  Being out in the country is great as there are fewer signals to interfere, but you never know what's in the ground that can interfere! 

[jwickham]

Hmmm, a second router!  Didn't know you could do that...  

So, it would be a wireless connection between the two routers and then an ethernet cable down to the basement?

Currently I'm using the modem and router provided by my service provider (Optimum).  Any suggestions on  the best router(s) to use for this application?

Your thoughts are much appreciated!

[Ashepherdson]

For a wireless connection between the house and the outhouse would suggest a nest wifi in each, so not the nest wifi point but two nest wifi routers.  However there are other options out there such as TP link or Asus that would work for you as well.  

[jwickham]

Yes I was just reading about TP-Link.  They seem to get good reviews.

If you have two wifi routers, do you need two ethernet connections to the ISP?

[Ashepherdson]

No, you would setup the main router with the ISPs modem (hardwired), make sure the ISPs modem is bridge mode, so router function would be disabled(this avoids the double nat issues).  The second router would act as a point, the reason I'm saying use two routers is the nest points do not have Ethernet ports but the routers do. 

[jwickham]

Awesome.  Will investigate.  Thank you again!

[jwickham]

One more question!  If I have one nest wifi router in each building at ground level and then a hardwire Ethernet cable going down to the basement for the computer downstairs, how do I connect the computer to the ethernet cable?  Do I need a nest point downstairs?  (sorry for my total lack of knowledge about this! 🙂

[EdwardT]

Hi folks,

@Ashepherdson and MichaelP, we always appreciate the help!

@jwickham, how's it going with your Google Wifi? Still need our help?

Thanks,

Edward

[jwickham]

Thanks for the follow up Edward!

I just purchased two Nest Wifi routers.  One will sit next to the modem.  The other will sit in the outbuilding and will have an ethernet cable running from its LAN port down to the computer in the basement.   The instructions warn against using "bridge" mode for the primary modem.  I'm going to set this up right now wirelessly and see if it works.  Will report back.

[jwickham · Accepted solution]

Setup is complete!  And successful!  Speedtest reports 255 Mbps at the modem, 175 Mbps on the ground floor in the outbuilding and 85 Mbps in the basement of the outbuilding!  And that's without an Ethernet cable running down to the basement!  I'm very pleased.  Thank you all so much for your assistance.  The Google Nest router is a great product.

[MichaelP]

That's great news! If you do run that Ethernet cable to the PC, it should be able to get at least 175Mbps from what your tests have shown. 

[EdwardT]

Hi jwickham,

Awesome — glad to hear everything is back and working as intended. Please let us know if you have other questions and concerns. We're here to help.

Thanks,

Edward

[EdwardT]

Hi jwickham,

It's me again. I wanted to check back in to see if you have other questions and concerns. Feel free to let me know if you do. 

Thanks,

Edward

[EdwardT]

Hi jwickham,

I'm just checking in to make sure that you've seen our response. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours.

Thanks,

Edward

[MichaelP]

I'll just chime in to add to the advice from @Ashepherdson that in my experience, getting coverage to outbuildings is typically best accomplished by running a cable of some kind (Ethernet, ideally). The Google/Nest WiFi mesh interconnect only runs at 5GHz, which doesn't carry as far as 2.4GHz, so I have not seen good results from trying to use it between buildings. Since you only need connectivity for a computer, you may be able to just run Ethernet out there from your existing router. I would put inexpensive (unmanaged) Ethernet switches on each end of that cable just to provide some better electrical isolation (e.g., from lightning strikes). If you also need WiFi connectivity out there, then an inexpensive WiFi access point could be connected to that network along with the computer to provide WiFi as well.