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Trying to get Wi-Fi to detached garage for home office (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by interestingname1@alien.top to c/homenetworking@selfhosted.forum

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TLDNR- Wifi setup to get signal to 25x30 garage 60 feet from house, service comes in first floor 50 feet further from back of house.

Woe is me. Sorry for yet another question.

We have 1000MBps AT&T fiber. Using the Wi-Fi built into the gateway, we barely get a signal to our detached garage.

I failed to add ethernet when I trenched to run electric. Prefer not to because of grounding issues and now there is a sidewalk crossing the backyard.

Currently the fiber connection comes in towards the front of the house. It's about 50 ft from there to the back of the house. Yard is another 60 ft. Then garage is about 30 ft deep.

Just purchase a set of ASUS XT9 Zenwifi. In testing inside the house I'm only getting around 150 to 160 Mbps on the AT&t gateway Wi-Fi. XT9 is only 100Mbps

If I place the node in the back window of the house, I can get 30Mbps at the closest part of the garage, 10Mbps at the farthest.

Do I need a 3 router system? I could probably run ethernet backhaul to the back of the house, but I don't know that it will solve the issue.

I tried to talk one of the ATT fiber techs into running me an aerial fiber cable between the two buildings but no dice.

I know a lot of things are on sale right now so hoping I can get advice and get something still on discount.

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[–] interestingname1@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Current thoughts -

XT9 is not getting a strong enough signal to the garage.

For time being I have a set of TPLink AV2000 Powerline adapters, Speedtest is only pulling 50/50 Mbps , which should be enough for office work in the garage.

Long term will probably try to improve with either an aerial Fiber run or a PTP Wireless setup(more likely).

I could keep the XT9's(on sale at $350) for this setup, but is it(and any mesh setup) overpriced/a waste if I am using either wired or PTP for backhaul? If so what would make more sense device wise? I could just run the house of the ATT BGW320 Gateway and get a single AP for the garage, or get a matched set of routers.

If I go PTP I would need something that supported POE or would need to add a POE switch.

I'm testing with a Pixel 7 and and Framework PC(Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX210) which both support higher speeds than I am seeing right next to the routers(~250-400 / 300). Is that just the reality of 'top' speeds vs actual? If so does it make sense to back down my ATT service(we do have multiple users and everything is wifi)?

[–] nateo200@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You could get a wireless router for pretty cheap that has detachable antennas and then attach two directional panel/patch/sector antennas. That should do the trick!

[–] interestingname1@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Any examples?

[–] AffectionateJump7896@alien.top 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I know power line is bad in many ways. It is also the most simple, so depending on the use the OP has in mind it might be cheap, easy and suitable.

[–] interestingname1@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Completely forgot about this, I have a set of TPLink AV2000. Garage is on a subpanel fed by the house but I just tested and they work out there.

Speedtest is only pulling 50/50 Mbps , but its as good or better than the XT9 signal out there.

For now this may be good enough. Testing in the house and I'm getting 350/300 connected to the XT9 after changing the cable. About the same(315/270) connected to the BGW320. Testing using speedtest site on Pixel7 and Framework PC(Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX210)

Spouse voted for PTP over more AP's in the main house.

[–] smokedoutpositivesqd@alien.top 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

CPE710 wireless bridge to connect the two buildings. Then configure the xt9 for wired backhaul using the ethernet cords coming from the CPE710s. You'll get 700+ mbit assuming you have everything else correct

[–] interestingname1@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I made an update post, but I'm not getting 700+ right by the router.

I will probably go the PTP route, but in that instance are the XT9 overkill? I.E. why mesh if backhaul

[–] smokedoutpositivesqd@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Are you testing these speeds over wifi or over wireless? Wifi clients that will hit close to gigabit speeds are fewer than most people realize. Test it over ethernet to ensure you are getting your full speed at the tap.

Almost any modern access point system (such as asus's xt series) can be very reliable solid systems, just have to be wired backhaul. Once you dive into wireless backhaul using A N Y of these companies built in wireless backhaul, you will start to have little gremlins. They work fantastic for what they are, but if you're in the home networking sub reddit, you are going to get basically the standard of response of "use wifi for things that there is no other option".