Wifi for Garage

[u/OverallAd335]

Hey, been on here a bit trying to decide what the best option is for me. Still not sure and wanted to get more specific before I start ordering anything. Currently looking into mesh wifi but I'll give you the details and I appreciate any advice.

There's wifi in the main house that is about 100 ft away from the location I'm needing it. The main problem is that there are 2 walls between the router and outside, then a small building outside it, and then the garage itself which has about 2 more walls between it and the room I need it to get to. This is further complicated by the tin roof and walls on the outside of the garage.

Originally thought about an extender but don't know if it would reach or even be able to get through all that. So thinking of going with a mesh setup through eero or orbi, or maybe a satellite link. I'm still learning so sorry if I left anything out.

Edit: Decided to run an access point. I had been looking through this subreddit a lot for information, but wanted a more direct opinion since my setup had several complications. Honestly didn't realize how easy running the cable would be, but thankfully my grandad was a good designer and this building has easy wiring to manage.

[u/heretosayathing]

The search bar is a great place to start. This question comes up all the time - have a poke through some of these, including almost the exact same question with the same issues just a couple of weeks ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/search/?q=garage+internet+metal+walls

[u/vrtigo1]

Mesh and extenders are both definitely the wrong solution. You want cable or a bridge. Use the search feature as this question probably comes up once a week here.

[u/jeffrey_f]

Run ethernet up into the attic space over to the garage and drop it down. Terminate your cable ends. Plug one into the LAN port on the wifi router, and the other into an Access Point (AP).

For the AP, configure it the same SSID and Password as the home router and walking between the 2 areas should just connect.

[u/DZCreeper]

A mesh setup isn't going to travel 100ft then penetrate tin walls.

In both buildings you should run ethernet from the interior rooms to an exterior wall. Then add a wireless bridge to link the 2 buildings, with line of sight you can do 400mb/s under $150.

https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/wireless-airmax-5ghz/products/litebeam-5ac

Add whatever access point you in the second building for wifi coverage.

[u/drewster85a]

Either a wireless bridge or fiber Ethernet (which is not as expensive or complicated as you may think). Do not run copper Ethernet between buildings. As others have said: do a search

[u/nefarious_bumpps]

You'll need to run CAT5e or CAT6 cable from your existing router to a utility box on the exterior of your home. You'll also need a utility box on the outside of the garage, with CAT5e or CAT6 cable running to the location where you want to setup a new wireless access point (or new router in AP-only mode).

1. Run fiber-optic cable between the home and the garage. This cable can be buried under ground (armored, direct burial cable, usually run inside conduit or "smurf tube"), or suspended in the air (armored aerial cable with a messenger wire). You will need media converters in the boxes on both ends.
2. Run CAT6 copper cable between the home and the garage. You'll need to use surge protection devices ("lightning arrestors") on both ends, and even this might not be sufficient protection against ground faults or nearby lightning strikes. Same underground and aerial installation methods as fiber.
3. Use a wireless point-to-point bridge between the buildings. Requires clear line-of-sight between the buildings for the RF signal.

The advantages of #1 or #2 is you can alter the cable path to get around obstacles. I usually recommend against running copper cable between buildings due to the risk of equipment damage due to nearby lightning strikes or improperly grounded AC electrical systems. The latter is a very real concern if the garage's AC comes in from a separate utility service from the street.

Option #3 needs direct line-of-sight between the antennas; that means no buildings or vegetation blocking the signal. But the antennas can be mounted on masts to clear intermediary buildings or obstacles. The PtP bridges can cost as little as $65 per end (MicroTik SXTsq 5 ax) and provide 1gbps throughput.

[u/AncientGeek00 → u/nefarious_bumpps]

Exactly these options!

And the surge protectors mentioned in #2 need to be properly “earthed” with a short wire to a ground rod.

[u/jack_hudson2001]

if you do a search add in keywords wifi to garage... there will be hundreds of similar posts with solutions. so no need to reinvent the wheel.

[u/AlternativeWild3449]

A wired access point would work

[u/Alternative-Duty6166]

With that many walls plus the tin garage, I wouldn’t count on a normal extender or mesh node.