Wi Fi in Garden Room??

[klunk]

I've recently had a garden building constructed as an office for my wife.
It's approx 25 metres from the main house and a further 6/7 metres from the router from my study in the front of the house.

What's the best way to get WiFi into the garden office?

I'd already decided to connect shielded CAT 6 LAN cable from the router in my study and run it underground to her office so that her work laptop has a hardwired connection, but she also insists that she needs WiFi for her phone/Ipad etc?

I've read about range extenders and other systems, but confused as to the most reliable and cost effective methods.

Could I just connect another router to the existing Virgin router via the LAN cable?

Thanks for any advice.

[RobM]

Any WiFi access point that has an Ethernet port as a backhaul and a secondary Ethernet port as a passthrough (for her laptop) will suffice. Plug the Cat6 you've run into the backhaul connection, and the laptop into the other.

Or, a small Ethernet switch and any WiFi access point that can connect to it from there. Plug everything into it and most modern switches (with auto-uplink detection) will work.

Lots of options, I personally use Nest Routers as they have the passthrough connection I mention, but your choice is endless for such a simple setup.

[Mr Pointy]

Stick something like this in the garden room:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-C50.../dp/B07L5YRYF4

[wileeeeeey]

Captain will be along shortly with the correct advice but in the meantime.

What wireless do you have in the house currently?

Backhaul from that to the shed and have the same WiFi throughout would be the best bet I'd have thought.

Might be a chance to upgrade the WiFi in the house at the same time. I've had good success with Nest WiFi at my mum's and Google WiFi my aunt's. Google now sell their old Google WiFi alongside their new Nest WiFi and the Google version is better for backhaul.

[monogroover]

I've recently had a garden building constructed as an office for my wife.
It's approx 25 metres from the main house and a further 6/7 metres from the router from my study in the front of the house.

What's the best way to get WiFi into the garden office?

I'd already decided to connect shielded CAT 6 LAN cable from the router in my study and run it underground to her office so that her work laptop has a hardwired connection, but she also insists that she needs WiFi for her phone/Ipad etc?

I've read about range extenders and other systems, but confused as to the most reliable and cost effective methods.

Could I just connect another router to the existing Virgin router via the LAN cable?

Thanks for any advice.

Yes you could just attach a router to the LAN cable if you have a spare one, but the setup will be a bit different. I've done this in my garage to get a WiFi security cam to work, and so I can use my phone in there.

[ed335d]

I'd already decided to connect shielded CAT 6 LAN cable from the router in my study and run it underground to her office

What cable are you planning to use? Are you burying it or installing it into a buried pipe?

[klunk]

What cable are you planning to use? Are you burying it or installing it into a buried pipe?

Thanks for the advice all.

I was planning to use this -probably bury it in some sort of drainage pipe, but may decide to clip it most of the way along fence gravel board and bury the short run in a pipe to the building

https://www.kenable.co.uk/en/network...383485444.html

[wileeeeeey]

I'm probably talking rubbish but speed over distance drops (can't remember if it's at 20m or 50m, probably neither) so it might be worth looking at CAT6A instead of CAT6 but someone smarter will be along shortly to correct me and confirm. At 25m it might not matter.

Still worth looking at what you have currently in the house for WiFi and if you want to change/upgrade that. Google WiFi 3 pack here is very good in my limited experience and only £190.

https://store.google.com/config/google_wifi?hl=en-GB

What does your WiFi for your currently?

[ed335d]

Thanks for the advice all.

I was planning to use this -probably bury it in some sort of drainage pipe, but may decide to clip it most of the way along fence gravel board and bury the short run in a pipe to the building

https://www.kenable.co.uk/en/network...383485444.html

Main thing is that it's external grade (will usually have a black PE jacket if it is).

If you were planning to put plugs directly on the end of it, you may struggle with that cable. The OD is likely to be too big and conductors in shielded cables are typically larger than unshielded. You can overcome this by putting a socket at each end and using pre-made leads for the final connection. The shield is unlikely to do much if you don't earth bond it.

Personally, I'd use an armoured cable to give it a bit more strength. This one is a standard UTP with an over-armour and jacket, meaning that you can strip these and have a standard cable underneath (which would then be easier to terminate).

https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-c...SAAEgJru_D_BwE

[klunk]

I'm probably talking rubbish but speed over distance drops (can't remember if it's at 20m or 50m, probably neither) so it might be worth looking at CAT6A instead of CAT6 but someone smarter will be along shortly to correct me and confirm. At 25m it might not matter.

Still worth looking at what you have currently in the house for WiFi and if you want to change/upgrade that. Google WiFi 3 pack here is very good in my limited experience and only £190.

https://store.google.com/config/google_wifi?hl=en-GB

What does your WiFi for your currently?

Thanks for your advice wileeeeeey. I wasn't entirely sure if I'd selected the correct cable, but as you say, somebody much more knowledgeable on the subject will surely put me right if I've chosen the wrong one. The current WiFi for the house is from a Virgin Media router.

[wileeeeeey]

And are you running the cable from the Virgin router to the garden Room directly?

Is anything else plugged into the Virgin router?

[klunk]

And are you running the cable from the Virgin router to the garden Room directly?

Is anything else plugged into the Virgin router?

Yes directly from the Virgin router.
I've my work laptop connected to the router, TV in living room and PS 4 in my son's b/room.

[adrianw]

OP, it might be a stupid question but have you tried it, our Wi-Fi gets to the shed with no problem, as far as bandwidth is concerned it happily works with a firestick 4k, including the front door camera.

[klunk]

OP, it might be a stupid question but have you tried it, our Wi-Fi gets to the shed with no problem, as far as bandwidth is concerned it happily works with a firestick 4k, including the front door camera.

No not a stupid question, have tried it before and just checked it again - no signal

[Scepticalist]

There's lots of ways of skinning this particular cat. The most reliable as mentioned is to use your Cat6a/7 cable and connect to a wifi repeater in the room.

Having said this, a quick and easy solution could be to use Powerline adapters. Over a 25m run of (presumably new) cables it should provide more than adequate connection and no need to run any cables at all.

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devolo-9839...s%2C184&sr=8-6

Plug one in the house, connected to your LAN, other one in the garden room. Job done.

[Mr Pointy]

The exterior grade cable you linked to should be fine, even clipped to a fence rather than buried & if you want to bury a short run then just slide some cheap hose over it, although that won't stop you putting a spade through it. It's cheap enough to replace though.

If it were me I'd go for the 5e version & put two runs in so if one goes down you've got a spare:
https://www.kenable.co.uk/en/network...383437146.html

Whichever you go for on no account try & fit RJ45 connectors to the cable - make it off onto a faceplate & use patch cords to connect to the equipment.

[Captain Morgan]

You have a few options to get the service into the garden room, it depends on how much time, effort and money you want to throw at the problem. Most have already been identified but I’ll summarise as best I can.

It helps to know what your current isp and router are to provide more than a general suggestion




1. Lay in a cable either dug into a pipe/conduit and put a router in the garden room:
Cons are obviously you need to lay the cable and run it in the house to your current router.

1A) Use an additional router/access point as switch and wifi access point, use a different wifi ssid, if doing this it’s best to look for a router that can act as an access point or buy a ap.
There can be a issue with running a router in router mode, double Nat which can have some strange network impacts with voip and VPN’s which could effect work connectivity in the garden room.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3175...-problems.html

If doing this I’d consider something like this tp-link ‘in wall’ ap, it gives 1 in, 3 out Ethernet connections and wifi.
https://www.google.com/search?q=eap2...EW&pie=plaji-i

1B) replace / add to your existing router a mesh system of 2/3 nodes depending on your current coverage, hardwire the one in the garden room, this means you would have the ‘same’ wifi ssid through the home/garden

Perhaps something like the tp-link deco m5 or m9



2. Wireless mesh:
Buy a mesh system, it’s unclear how far/many walls are between the current router and garden room so assuming it’s not in the closest room buy a three node system with three channels and put one as close to the garden room as you can. It shouldn’t have major issues crossing 25m of open space and if it does then as long as you buy from a retailer like Amazon you should be ok to return it or put in the cable as above.

Perhaps the tp-link deco m9 plus



3) point to point radio:
You can pick these up relatively inexpensively now (~£100) they replace the Ethernet cable in option 1 with a pair of radios, you’d mount them externally and ideally with a clear line of site, they’ll do around 200mb/s at this price point so more that sufficient for a home office and the bonus is no digging and laying cable.

Once set up you would use option 1A or B for the in room connectivity.

Something like this would work
https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/produ...cpe210kit-mnt/

Or

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/produ...-full-kit-pnp/




If it were me I would go with option 2 first as it’s the least effort and not unreasonable cost wise and it keeps 1, 3 on the table.

Next I’d favour 3 simply as it saves digging, if the clip to fence option is workable then perhaps 1.

And lastly 1 if digging a trench.

I hth.

Let me know if you need some more input.

[Captain Morgan]

There's lots of ways of skinning this particular cat. The most reliable as mentioned is to use your Cat6a/7 cable and connect to a wifi repeater in the room.

Having said this, a quick and easy solution could be to use Powerline adapters. Over a 25m run of (presumably new) cables it should provide more than adequate connection and no need to run any cables at all.

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devolo-9839...s%2C184&sr=8-6

Plug one in the house, connected to your LAN, other one in the garden room. Job done.

I had discounted these as I thought (incorrectly) that I’d read they had been tried. I suspect that at best you wouldn’t get optimal performance as you are crossing circuits at the consumer unit in the home and a second cu in the garden room, but it could work.

There are also mesh systems that use the powerline system but they will normally not support three channels and/or Ethernet backhaul which again means whatever you buy use a suppler with a good return policy as you can’t expect to reuse them in another solution.

That said using the powerline suggestion above would give a simple to box solution assuming it works & you don’t need the ssid to be the same in both locations.

[wileeeeeey]

Yes directly from the Virgin router.
I've my work laptop connected to the router, TV in living room and PS 4 in my son's b/room.

Personally I would do this but I appreciate it's about £220 and you might not want to spend that. I wouldn't touch power line adapters but I appreciate milage varies with these.

Buy some ethernet wires, the Google WiFi 3 pack for £189 (2 pack doesn't exist), an unmanaged TP Link/Netgear switch for about £15-£20. Decent TP Link here: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07HP6...X8WWDYEKT3XHD5

Put one WiFi at the TV, one up in your son's room (wire that to the PS4), the last one in the shed. Each Google WiFi has two WiFi slots - one for internet in and one for internet out - s your wife's laptop can connect to ethernet from the ethernet out port, the same as your son's PS4. You could also just wire the PS4 in from the TP Link and put the upstairs WiFi somewhere more central.

This way everything is the same network and you don't have a house WiFi then a shed WiFi. It'll also give you better internet overall and is really easy to set up and manage. If you don't have great phone signal the WiFi will help here with WiFi calling so long as you have semi up-to-date phones (iPhone 5SE/6 onwards I believe).

Even with all this Captain will still have a better suggestion.

[Captain Morgan]

Personally I would do this but I appreciate it's about £220 and you might not want to spend that. I wouldn't touch power line adapters but I appreciate milage varies with these.

Buy some ethernet wires, the Google WiFi 3 pack for £189 (2 pack doesn't exist), an unmanaged TP Link/Netgear switch for about £15-£20. Decent TP Link here: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07HP6...X8WWDYEKT3XHD5

Put one WiFi at the TV, one up in your son's room (wire that to the PS4), the last one in the shed. Each Google WiFi has two WiFi slots - one for internet in and one for internet out - s your wife's laptop can connect to ethernet from the ethernet out port, the same as your son's PS4. You could also just wire the PS4 in from the TP Link and put the upstairs WiFi somewhere more central.

This way everything is the same network and you don't have a house WiFi then a shed WiFi. It'll also give you better internet overall and is really easy to set up and manage. If you don't have great phone signal the WiFi will help here with WiFi calling so long as you have semi up-to-date phones (iPhone 5SE/6 onwards I believe).

Even with all this Captain will still have a better suggestion.

I think you ‘big me up’ too much Wiley ;-)

But pretty much my option 2 above, but with some extra switch capacity. Quite reasonable solution and gives flexibility tp go with 1, 3 or powerline if the home to garden room link isn’t stable.

How’s the unify project coming along, got to isolate your IoT lan yet?

[Scepticalist]

I had discounted these as I though (incorrectly) that I’d read they had been tried. I suspect that at best you wouldn’t get optimal performance as you are crossing circuits at the consumer unit in the home and a second cu in the garden room, but it could work.

There are also mesh systems that use the powerline system but they will normally not support three channels and/or Ethernet backhaul which again means whatever you buy use a suppler with a good return policy as you can’t expect to reuse them in another solution.

That said using the powerline suggestion above would give a simple to box solution assuming it works & you don’t need the ssid to be the same in both locations.

I use TPLink AV2000 Powerline to get internet to the garden shed - 15m run. I get about 180mbps which is plenty for virtually all usage.

[wileeeeeey]

I think you ‘big me up’ too much Wiley ;-)

But pretty much my option 2 above, but with some extra switch capacity. Quite reasonable solution and gives flexibility tp go with 1, 3 or powerline if the home to garden room link isn’t stable.

How’s the unify project coming along, got to isolate your IoT lan yet?

Working really well so far. As you can imagine once set up and working I haven't touched it since really. We had a house alarm installed the other week so I set up a second SSID which I'll eventually VLAN off.

My wife's down in the dining room while we're painting her office and she's 3m away from an AP with 81% but I think that's due to how bad her work laptop is. She got a new laptop a few weeks ago and it still has a VGA port on the side...

Once we've put flooring down in this room and finished more painting a few more rooms I'll build the cabinet and start messing with VLANs. Here it is in all its current glory...

[Captain Morgan]

I use TPLink AV2000 Powerline to get internet to the garden shed - 15m run. I get about 180mbps which is plenty for virtually all usage.

That’s good, is that with a consumer unit in the shed too?

[Scepticalist]

That’s good, is that with a consumer unit in the shed too?

Just the TPlink 9020 kit.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-netw...a9020p-kit/v3/

One in the house hardwired to the router, one in the shed hardwired to computer. I've got an outfdoor AP so I dont need it to do wifi but they do a kit with Wifi that I could use if I have your use case - the Wifi unit has a network port too so both hardwired and wifi connection possible.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-netw...l-wpa9610-kit/

[klunk]

Main thing is that it's external grade (will usually have a black PE jacket if it is).

If you were planning to put plugs directly on the end of it, you may struggle with that cable. The OD is likely to be too big and conductors in shielded cables are typically larger than unshielded. You can overcome this by putting a socket at each end and using pre-made leads for the final connection. The shield is unlikely to do much if you don't earth bond it.

Personally, I'd use an armoured cable to give it a bit more strength. This one is a standard UTP with an over-armour and jacket, meaning that you can strip these and have a standard cable underneath (which would then be easier to terminate).

https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-c...SAAEgJru_D_BwE

I've just been talking to my electrician who's wiring the building.
He's running power up from the house through an armoured cable.
He thinks I can run the LAN cable you've suggested below alongside the armoured power cable without any interference.
Is that correct?

https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-c...SAAEgJru_D_BwE

[Scepticalist]

Should be fine, I'd still use external grade and decent quality - network cables are resistant to electrical interference so not too many worries there.

[Captain Morgan]

Just the TPlink 9020 kit.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-netw...a9020p-kit/v3/

One in the house hardwired to the router, one in the shed hardwired to computer. I've got an outfdoor AP so I dont need it to do wifi but they do a kit with Wifi that I could use if I have your use case - the Wifi unit has a network port too so both hardwired and wifi connection possible.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-netw...l-wpa9610-kit/

A consumer unit is the ‘fuse box’, often when folk have issues with powerline its related to the internal wiring and crossing from circuit to another. More so if you cross circuit to cu to cu to circuit.

[Captain Morgan]

I've just been talking to my electrician who's wiring the building.
He's running power up from the house through an armoured cable.
He thinks I can run the LAN cable you've suggested below alongside the armoured power cable without any interference.
Is that correct?

https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-c...SAAEgJru_D_BwE

If your sparks is installing the cat cable then option 1A or B in my post above will cover you

[klunk]

If your sparks is installing the cat cable then option 1A or B in my post above will cover you

Thanks Captain, there's a lot for me to think over, but at the moment I'm leaning towards option 1A, but still weighing up all of the pros and cons.

A big thanks to everybody for all your contributions. I'll let you all have an update on which route I went on this.

What I'm not clear about (probably really stupid question) the wall plate below doesn't need a separate electrical feed does it - is that correct?

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/produ...RoCis0QAvD_BwE

[ed335d]

I've just been talking to my electrician who's wiring the building.
He's running power up from the house through an armoured cable.
He thinks I can run the LAN cable you've suggested below alongside the armoured power cable without any interference.
Is that correct?

https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-c...SAAEgJru_D_BwE

That'll be fine. A domestic power cable won't radiate too much EMI, you'll be heavily underutilising the bandwidth of the Cat 6 cable and both cables will have a degree of metal (i.e. the armours) around the conductors which will provide a degree of screening.

[Captain Morgan]

Thanks Captain, there's a lot for me to think over, but at the moment I'm leaning towards option 1A, but still weighing up all of the pros and cons.

A big thanks to everybody for all your contributions. I'll let you all have an update on which route I went on this.

What I'm not clear about (probably really stupid question) the wall plate below doesn't need a separate electrical feed does it - is that correct?

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/produ...RoCis0QAvD_BwE

It uses power over ethernet it will have a cigarette box sized unit in the box with two Ethernet sockets and a power cord.
One end connects to the incoming connection from your router the other (poe out) to the access point, you can put it either at the home or the garden end. But it must connect to the back port on the ap not one of the bottom three ports.

Also just to note you can damage non poe devices if you connect them to a live poe port.

Personally I put Poe injectors as close to the ap as possible to minimise the chance of plugging a live ethernet cable into a non Poe device.

Also when setting up the ap check in the app that port3 has Poe out turned off

[ed335d]

[MartynJC (UK)]

There's lots of ways of skinning this particular cat. The most reliable as mentioned is to use your Cat6a/7 cable and connect to a wifi repeater in the room.

Having said this, a quick and easy solution could be to use Powerline adapters. Over a 25m run of (presumably new) cables it should provide more than adequate connection and no need to run any cables at all.

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devolo-9839...s%2C184&sr=8-6

Plug one in the house, connected to your LAN, other one in the garden room. Job done.

Another vote for powerline adaptors that can end in either Cat5 alone or with wifi as well. Easy to set up - no extra wires needed as long as the signal uses the electrical circuits from house to your shed.

Such as this from tplink:

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-netw...-wpa8630p-kit/

[klunk]

That's great - thanks very much

[Gee252]

I have exactly the same setup to my garden Room (bar) external grade cat 6 from a switch in the loft, down back of drainpipe and then in flex conduct to a wall plate plugged into a wireless access point bought for about £40.
Have a TV in their with 4k Netflix, etc plenty of phones, iPads and Alex connected and l still get nearly the same speed as in the house.

[julian2002]

Is it worth getting a mesh network system? I.e. do you have wi-fi grey or black spots in your house ? If so then it probably is and if you have a cat 6 cable already installed, just put one of the mesh nodes in the garden room.

[jwillans]

Another vote for powerline adaptors that can end in either Cat5 alone or with wifi as well. Easy to set up - no extra wires needed as long as the signal uses the electrical circuits from house to your shed.

Such as this from tplink:

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-netw...-wpa8630p-kit/

While Powerline adapters will probably work, I would expect the office to be on a separate circuit to the house. In this situation, Powerline adapters tend to work perform less well.

Given he has Ethernet to the office, then the simplest route is to add a WiFi access point.

[klunk]

I received the EAP 235 in the post today, but now realise I need to purchase a POE injector/switch.
Is there a particular type that I need or do they all pretty much do the same job?

Thanks

[Captain Morgan]

I received the EAP 235 in the post today, but now realise I need to purchase a POE injector/switch.
Is there a particular type that I need or do they all pretty much do the same job?

Thanks

Almost any will do such as
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-...8684741&sr=8-3

[klunk]

Almost any will do such as
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-...8684741&sr=8-3

Thanks Captain

[Captain Morgan]

Thanks Captain

NP, Apologies for not noticing they didn’t come with one, the ceiling mount version does and I’d assumed they would.

[klunk]

NP, Apologies for not noticing they didn’t come with one, the ceiling mount version does and I’d assumed they would.

No worries, thanks again