Extend Wifi 300 Feet?

[npalen]

That should be the way it works but not always true.

When my internet goes out I cannot connect to any of my wifi cameras even though my home network is okay. BUT I can access them from any other network or cell signal that has an internet connection as long as my home network has internet access. Don't ask me how that is possible but it works. I knew it worked over cellular data but just recently discovered my phone app could get to the cameras on my home network from a distant network.

npalen that little $32 travel router I linked to in post #2 should get you out 300' with no problem. I run my entire home network on one linked to a cellular wifi hotspot device. One of my cameras is 400'+ from the house. If you already have wifi or a wired router either one you can add this router and use it to access wifi devices. The only requirement will be the app has to connect through the same network the sprinkler is on. You can't connect your cell phone to a your regular home network and the sprinkler interface to another. You will have to connect your phone to the new router then connect the sprinkler interface to the new router. This MAY sound like it contradicts my above comments but this is just how it works. Once you get both devices set up at home you can probably access the sprinkler from anywhere with the phone app.

Hope that isn't too confusing. Trust me it is simple to set up.

View attachment 710272

So I would need just the one travel router connected to my home router via ethernet cable? Nothing except the controller wifi at the other end?
I appreciate the feedback!

 

[TractorGuy]

So I would need just the one travel router connected to my home router via ethernet cable? Nothing except the controller wifi at the other end?
I appreciate the feedback!

That should work as long as the travel router has some line of sight to the unit you want to control.

Mine isn't totally direct. I have it sitting in a bedroom window sill on the north side of the house and the gate camera is in front on the west side of my property. I also have cameras connected to it from the front and rear of the house and a wyze cam way out in my barn on the opposite end of the house. The wyze cam is probably 300 ft away and the signal has to pass through all the walls of the house.

You really don't have anything to lose. Buying from Amazon if it doesn't work for you you can return it. Report back how it goes.

 

[npalen]

That should work as long as the travel router has some line of sight to the unit you want to control.

Mine isn't totally direct. I have it sitting in a bedroom window sill on the north side of the house and the gate camera is in front on the west side of my property. I also have cameras connected to it from the front and rear of the house and a wyze cam way out in my barn on the opposite end of the house. The wyze cam is probably 300 ft away and the signal has to pass through all the walls of the house.

You really don't have anything to lose. Buying from Amazon if it doesn't work for you you can return it. Report back how it goes.

On order.

 

[Cataclysm]

An inexpensive wireless bridge will work as well if the product you ordered won't. I set this up to have internet in my shop along with a wireless router. Easy to set up and works perfect. I think the range on these are around 1.5 miles.

Amazon.com: Wireless Bridge, UeeVii 5.8G Outdoor CPE Point to Point Long Range Access with 14DBi High Gain 22 Mimo Antenna, PoE Adapter, 2 RJ45 LAN Ethernet Port, 2-Pack : Electronics

 

[TractorTYMe]

I was gonna suggest that too, but unsure of if he had power in the other end?

 

[Smily0]

Just add an outside access point, they easy provide 300 feet addtional connectivity.

Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Networks UAP-AC-M-PRO US UniFi AC Mesh Wide-Area Outdoor Dual-Band Access Point OPEN BOX : Electronics

Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Networks UAP-AC-M-PRO US UniFi AC Mesh Wide-Area Outdoor Dual-Band Access Point OPEN BOX : Electronics

www.amazon.com

I use the UAC-AC-M, not pro model, mounted on the outside of my garage and it easily covers the 300' to my barn. I put another on the barn with LOS to the garage and then ran the ethernet in to act as a bridge to an ethernet switch in the barn connected to some POE cameras. It works great.

 

[npalen]

GL-AR300M Series / Shadow

Modern Mini Smart Router that’s ideal for small business or family vacation. Shadow is pocket-size protection, supporting VPN services.

www.gl-inet.com

I have installed this travel router with the help of TractorGuy. I'm finding that it will transmit at least 300' if line of sight but lose the signal when stepping out of sight.
Wondering what I could install at the garage where I'm wanting to access my wifi for the Rainbird lawn sprinkler controller? Another device mounted to the outside wall of the garage in line of sight? Then would the controller, that is mounted inside the garage, have a chance of picking up the signal?

Edit: I have the model with external antennae.

 

[npalen]

Had a pleasant surprise this morning when checking wifi reception and picked it up with my phone INSIDE my SIL's garage, where the controller is located. Apparently the travel router gets thru the first wall of the garage but doesn't want to go on thru the garage door (metal?) to the far side where I had been trying to pick it up.
Thanks again for your help!

Edit: The little travel router is placed in the picture window of our house so has line of sight thru some trees to my SIL's house.

 

[stevem5215]

Metal will block the signals. Concrete block and brick same problem. For best application outside you want at least an external antenna attached to any unit. Clear line of site makes a difference when the power output is only 1/4 watt.

 

[thebmrust]

Ummm... what?
“When my internet goes out”
cannot happen if also
“my home network has internet access”

That should be the way it works but not always true.

When my internet goes out I cannot connect to any of my wifi cameras even though my home network is okay. BUT I can access them from any other network or cell signal that has an internet connection as long as my home network has internet access.

 

[LittleBill21]

i don't know why people are suggesting travel routers. they have the smallest antenna's possible and are design for single room installs like a hotel.

you want your wifi antenna outside. period. and omni based.

something like this

Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Networks Unifi AC Mesh 1167Mbit/s Power over Ethernet (PoE) White : Electronics

Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Networks Unifi AC Mesh 1167Mbit/s Power over Ethernet (PoE) White : Electronics

www.amazon.com

if you need to bridge to it,

something like this is needed.

Amazon.com

 

[thebmrust]

Networking 101 (going off fuzzy memory)

To preface, WiFi is NOT “the internet”.

Let’s simplify:
One device is a “node”
A node can connect to other nodes (computer to printer, or computer to computer).
When multiple computers connect to each other, that is a “network”.

A network (multiple nodes connected) can be configured to connect to each other in three ways:
Wired
Wireless
Mixed (wired and wireless)

Note: wireless can be radio waves or non visible light waves (infrared).

Dissimilar networks need a router to connect.

A router is a smart traffic cop in a busy city. It gets the visitors to homes and businesses efficiently as well as locals out of town efficiently. Speaks many languages.

An intranet is a stand alone network inside a network. An intranet can have a node that connects to an external network, but often, the intranet is physically cut off from outside connections. (Think alphabet organization computers in a secure building.)
An extranet is a private network inside a public network. Usually sales people and their databases connected via VPN.

The internet is the whole of allcomputers interconnected.

The World Wide Web is the contents of those connected devices.

With this summary, here’s what can happen:
1)The SIL “remote” node is connected via wifi access point.
2)That access point has an external antenna that points to another access point in another location.

ProTip: water in tree leaves, concrete and metal all degrade signal. Distance also degrades signal but you can still send 2.4 gHz signals many MILES in a point to point (line of sight) connection.

3) The home “local” access point is connected to a switch (dumb traffic cop) or a router.

4) The router is connected to the internet modem (provided by your internet service provider).

the “local” AP can be the same device (the router) that goes to the modem. But it’s often better to have the AP a separate device that can be modified for a better point to point antenna.

I pulled all this from old memory from a long time ago. There may be some technical errors but I didn’t set out to write a book, just a hint of a summary.
This tech & equip was popular when DSL was rolling out in the 2000’s and friends were sharing their internet connections with distant neighbors who didn’t have DSL yet. Those “last mile” neighborhoods. Nowadays most people think wifi is the internet.

Antenna:
Omni: sends receives radio signal like a balloon (all directions). Shortest send/receive distances.

directional: sends/receives like a garden hose (works great pointed at something, goes farther in that one direction.

Hit YouTube or a general search for a “pringles cantenna” or its equivalent. I might have even mentioned an unused pair of satellite dishes. DirecTV was most popular back in the day. Not sure what/if any difference between Dish and DirecTV was/is in this application.

 

[newbury]

An inexpensive wireless bridge will work as well if the product you ordered won't. I set this up to have internet in my shop along with a wireless router. Easy to set up and works perfect. I think the range on these are around 1.5 miles.

Amazon.com: Wireless Bridge, UeeVii 5.8G Outdoor CPE Point to Point Long Range Access with 14DBi High Gain 22 Mimo Antenna, PoE Adapter, 2 RJ45 LAN Ethernet Port, 2-Pack : Electronics

Be careful, these have 10% negative reviews.
The Ubiquiti products mentioned above are high grade. They also have a U6 LR which claimed a 600' reach and is IP54 rated (fully protected against solid objects and splashing of water from any angle.).

 

[TractorGuy]

i don't know why people are suggesting travel routers. they have the smallest antenna's possible and are design for single room installs like a hotel.

I suggested the travel router I use because it is cheap and has a 400' range.

400+ft Internet, WIFI, & Cameras

The subjects of long distant wifi and wifi security cameras come up from time to time so I thought I would share my setup. It works well and is about as low budget as you can get. My internet wifi system consists of a ZTE Velocity Hotspot Router on AT&T connected to a AR-GL300-EXT travel...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[Grumpycat]

I'd do something like this. For $200 is said to be good for 6 miles. Needs ethernet at each end so if you need WiFi in the 300' shop just add any old WiFi router/access point you want.

Amazon.com: LiteBeam ac Gen 2 LBE-5AC-Gen2 5GHz Airmax 2X2 MIMO 23dBi 450+ Mbps CPE (2-Pack) with Ethernet Surge Protector ETH-SP for Outdoor High-Speed (2-Pack) : Electronics

Amazon.com: LiteBeam ac Gen 2 LBE-5AC-Gen2 5GHz Airmax 2X2 MIMO 23dBi 450+ Mbps CPE (2-Pack) with Ethernet Surge Protector ETH-SP for Outdoor High-Speed (2-Pack) : Electronics

www.amazon.com

 

[LittleBill21]

I suggested the travel router I use because it is cheap and has a 400' range.

400+ft Internet, WIFI, & Cameras

The subjects of long distant wifi and wifi security cameras come up from time to time so I thought I would share my setup. It works well and is about as low budget as you can get. My internet wifi system consists of a ZTE Velocity Hotspot Router on AT&T connected to a AR-GL300-EXT travel...

www.tractorbynet.com

should have looked at the actual link of yours, travel routers generally don't have the ability to add antenna's

 

[TractorGuy]

should have looked at the actual link of yours, travel routers generally don't have the ability to add antenna's

In my original suggestion I DID stress to order the external antenna model.

I'm not sure if the longer antennas gained anything. I used it with the same camera distance for a couple of years using the little 3" antennas that came on it. I added the longer ones to try and get past the occasional lack of signal during certain weather conditions. It didn't change much if anything.

On a clear day I can walk out in front of my camera that is 400' from the router and look at my movements almost in real time. That signal has to go all the way to the house and all the way back beyond the camera to my phone. Sometimes it has a lag but the signal is pretty good. I plan to test it a little closer to the gate soon. Hard to beat for $32!