[TS29849228]

Our poolhouse is about 100 feet away from the mainhouse, with some stairs and walls inbetween.

Is there an easy way to extend the wifi from main house to pool house?
I do not want to use some cheap wifi extender, they have never worked well for me in the past (they always break within a few months)

Is there a super reliable extender or method you guys know of?

Thanks!

[Techno 9000]

I use two different methods in my place;

A power line Ethernet extender with an Apple airport express at the other end.
A piece of Ethernet cable, again with an Apple airport express at the far end.


The wi-fi provided by the airports is quite good enough for internet browsing and audio streaming to the connected speakers.

[Ickdeep]

Best idea is to run a wire into the poolhouse and set up a router there.

[qba335i]

You can run a wired connection/cable to the pool house and then just set up a wireless access point.

[PoorLurker]

Came in expecting location to be something outside of CA... was shocked to see CA.

Does your poolhouse have a shower? Ever thought of renting it out? Location? My 6 cats and I are quiet and good neighbors.

[King Rudi]

Do it right. Dig trench, lay conduit, install box on the outer wall and install wireless access point. I just installed an AP in a guys garage a few weeks ago. If you have a pool house, being able to afford to do it right shouldn't be an issue. You'll have a reliable connection and another key selling point to your home when that time comes.

[TS29849228]

Our pool house is a full house, kitchen shower living room and bedroom.

I am confused how to run a wire out to the back with a router at the end of the wire.

There is about 100 feet of concrete sidewalk and some trees and plants in the way. The wires just runs in some sort of waterproof cable lining along the sidewalk????

[TS29849228]

And running a cable out to the back: is this something i can do myself?

If so, i just need to buy a 100ft waterproof ethernet cable and a cheap router to attach to it?

THANK YOU ALL

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by TS29849228

Our pool house is a full house, kitchen shower living room and bedroom.

I am confused how to run a wire out to the back with a router at the end of the wire.

There is about 100 feet of concrete sidewalk and some trees and plants in the way. The wires just runs in some sort of waterproof cable lining along the sidewalk????

If you're good with your hands/tools, look up how to do it and plan it out.
You'll need to determine your pathway, then measure, then decide how much conduit/cat6 you'll need. Not hard to do. I would not run conduit along the ground. It can easily be buried. You could also call your local telecom company and have them come look at it and give you a quote to get it done. Digging the trench will be your biggest headache. Do not just bury a cable in the yard. You will end up with connection issues i.e. critters biting cable, etc. I would personally call a contractor or your telecom company and get a quote; it may be easier/more feasible just to pay someone to do it.

[TS29849228]

Originally Posted by Not_Judy

If you're good with your hands/tools, look up how to do it and plan it out.
You'll need to determine your pathway, then measure, then decide how much conduit/cat6 you'll need. Not hard to do. I would not run conduit along the ground. It can easily be buried. You could also call your local telecom company and have them come look at it and give you a quote to get it done. Digging the trench will be your biggest headache. Do not just bury a cable in the yard. You will end up with connection issues i.e. critters biting cable, etc. I would personally call a contractor or your telecom company and get a quote; it may be easier/more feasible just to pay someone to do it.

Thank you, that's what i needed to hear. We have a handy man that does our water/ bathroom/ yard/ garage work. Ill ask him before I call our internet company, which I am sure will quote me a few hundred bucks for this.

Thank you and everyone

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by TS29849228

Thank you, that's what i needed to hear. We have a handy man that does our water/ bathroom/ yard/ garage work. Ill ask him before I call our internet company, which I am sure will quote me a few hundred bucks for this.

Thank you and everyone

Sometimes a few hundred bucks and someone else's sweat equity is worth our sanity. Good luck and enjoy your wi-fi's! Since you are going this route, of course the salesperson in me is going to suggest IP camera's if you don't already have them, with having a pool it may not be a bad idea; just added security and peace of mind.

[TS29849228]

Originally Posted by Not_Judy

Sometimes a few hundred bucks and someone else's sweat equity is worth our sanity. Good luck and enjoy your wi-fi's! Since you are going this route, of course the salesperson in me is going to suggest IP camera's if you don't already have them, with having a pool it may not be a bad idea; just added security and peace of mind.

You're talking to a salesman actually! haha, and we do have a home system set up, i believe it's called arla or arlo. My father did it a few months back!

Very good suggestion, for everyone. Cheers

[stevenc]

If the pool house is on the same electrical circuit as the rest of the house, use a ethernet to powerline adapter. I use them regularly and they are super reliable these days.

I would definitely start there. This kit from Tp Link will even automatically clone your SSID and password making walking into the pool house seemless to users

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AV600.../dp/B00HSQAIQU

[TS29849228]

Originally Posted by stevenc

If the pool house is on the same electrical circuit as the rest of the house, use a ethernet to powerline adapter. I use them regularly and they are super reliable these days.

I would definitely start there. This kit from Tp Link will even automatically clone your SSID and password making walking into the pool house seemless to users

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AV600.../dp/B00HSQAIQU

.... holy moly.

I gotta do some research on this. But if this is sort of like a "plug and play" set up, that is a winner right here.

Thanks, will look more into it starting with the 2100 customer reviews on amazon haha

[stevenc]

^ Lol for $70 just order it and try it out. if it doesn't work, return it.

It will work though, i use them in a dozen different sites without issue. Maybe have to change out a dead unit once every 2-3 years and replacement units are $20 a sender.

[UncleWede]

IF there are telephone poles in the back yard (ASSuming pool is in the back) then your local internet provider can just pull another line off the poles and give you a complete set-up in the pool house. Then when you rent it to PoorLurker you can charge him that separate line.

BUT, I would never rent it out to Skunkwerks

[TS29849228]

Originally Posted by stevenc

^ Lol for $70 just order it and try it out. if it doesn't work, return it.

It will work though, i use them in a dozen different sites without issue. Maybe have to change out a dead unit once every 2-3 years and replacement units are $20 a sender.

Done

[BEM-S4]

Before you start digging up the yard look into Netgear Orbi. It's a mesh network system. They even make one that's meant to be used outdoors. So you'd have however many units you need to blanket your house plus one in pool house and be done.

I use it the coverage is excellent. I have XFinity gig -> cable modem -> norton core -> netgear orbi everything is secure and VERY FAST with excellent coverage.

The problem with extenders is you effectively slow your entire network. Mesh in essence just makes a huge coverage area with optimized performance.

[WingZeroX5]

Run an outdoor rated CAT6, TPLink EAP access point, and a POE switch.

[zx10guy]

Don't waste your time on that TP-Link. It's nothing more than another fancy repeater.

The suggestion by Not_Judy is what you want to consider doing with running Ethernet out to the pool house. You want to do a conduit. Probably a 2" would be best with a chase rope to facility pulling any new cables through the conduit. This will allow future cable runs without any hassle. If you opt to do this, pull at least 2 runs of Cat6a. In the grand scheme of things, the cabling is a minor part of the cost compared to the labor involved in pulling/laying down the cable. Next, I would use a unified wireless system and not a wireless router made to work as an AP or an independent AP. A unified wireless system will allow centralized management of the system and the APs added to the network will operate as a true unified fabric. Not some cobbled together system trying to fake being a unified system. In addition to centralized management, a unified wireless system will allow real roaming between APs and proper RF management. An example of such systems are Ubiquiti, Meraki, Aerohive, and Aruba Networks IAPs.

If the above doesn't work for you and you have a good clear line of site to the pool house, you can do a wireless mesh system. With the above products I've mentioned, you would use two APs with external antenna capability. Install a directional antenna on the exterior of both buildings aimed at each other. The antennas would then be wired to the APs inside of both buildings. The wireless backhaul would be over 5GHz and at the pool house the wireless clients would connect over 2.4GHz. This provides the best optimal wireless mesh configuration.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

PS....I used to do consulting for Federal Agencies with wireless projects like this.

[xQx]

If you can't run conduit and you're going to go Wifi, do the job properly with two ubiquiti nanobeams.

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Don't waste your time on that TP-Link. It's nothing more than another fancy repeater.

The suggestion by Not_Judy is what you want to consider doing with running Ethernet out to the pool house. You want to do a conduit. Probably a 2" would be best with a chase rope to facility pulling any new cables through the conduit. This will allow future cable runs without any hassle. If you opt to do this, pull at least 2 runs of Cat6a. In the grand scheme of things, the cabling is a minor part of the cost compared to the labor involved in pulling/laying down the cable. Next, I would use a unified wireless system and not a wireless router made to work as an AP or an independent AP. A unified wireless system will allow centralized management of the system and the APs added to the network will operate as a true unified fabric. Not some cobbled together system trying to fake being a unified system. In addition to centralized management, a unified wireless system will allow real roaming between APs and proper RF management. An example of such systems are Ubiquiti, Meraki, Aerohive, and Aruba Networks IAPs.

If the above doesn't work for you and you have a good clear line of site to the pool house, you can do a wireless mesh system. With the above products I've mentioned, you would use two APs with external antenna capability. Install a directional antenna on the exterior of both buildings aimed at each other. The antennas would then be wired to the APs inside of both buildings. The wireless backhaul would be over 5GHz and at the pool house the wireless clients would connect over 2.4GHz. This provides the best optimal wireless mesh configuration.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

PS....I used to do consulting for Federal Agencies with wireless projects like this.

What this guy said!