You have many options for covering your yard in Wi-Fi, but you have to balance cost, reliability and complexity. It's great to be able to seamlessly connect to your Wi-Fi to devices throughout your home, but frustration often starts the moment you try to connect your Wi-Fi network to a device outside.
You can move your router as close to your yard or front porch as your Ethernet cable will take you, but that won't always solve the problem. With the increasing number of outdoor smart devices like lighting, security cameras and garage door openers, you need to be able to extend your Wi-Fi beyond your home's exterior walls.
It can be tricky, but with the right hardware, you'll be streaming video by the pool and posting pics to social media in the yard in no time. Most of the options that I'll explore don't require you to drill holes or run new wiring outdoors.
And yet, getting reliable, fast Wi-Fi outdoors is going to take an initial investment. Setting it up the right way may cost more now, but in the long run will require little maintenance and give you great coverage. Using a Wi-Fi device that is meant to be left outside is far and away your best bet.
There aren't a ton of cheap options right now, so you have to decide which setup will work best for you. An outdoor Wi-Fi extender, sometimes called a wireless access point or wireless repeater, is perhaps the most straightforward option, since it's the only solution that involves installing hardware outside.
Many of these devices are enterprise-grade, but some manufacturers have recently come out with consumer-grade outdoor extenders, like the Netgear Orbi Outdoor. These devices are made to be exposed to the elements year round and have hardware capable of communicating with your router wirelessly in order to give you great Wi-Fi coverage outside your home.
The first step is to find an extender that's compatible with your current router or purchase a new router and extender to upgrade your entire network. There aren't a ton of wireless extenders designed for outdoors, but a few notable manufacturers are Netgear, Ubiquiti, EnGenius and Hawking. Next, check the ingress protection IP rating on the packaging and the temperature range the device can withstand. The IP rating defines how weather resistant the device is, mainly against dust and water.
The highest rating is IP68, which means it's totally protected against dust and can withstand long periods of immersion underwater. The Netgear Orbi Outdoor is a great choice, if you can afford it. It's not yet available in the UK or Australia. If it's any consolation, the Netgear Orbi is one of the best mesh systems out right now.
Setup is super easy too as you really just need to plug the outdoor extender into an outlet and mount it to a wall. The setup is a little more advanced, but you don't have to drill holes or run new cables. Basically, you set your 5GHz band to wireless bridge mode and the 2.
This makes your 5GHz band a dedicated backhaul link to the router and allows your outdoor devices to connect via 2. This setup limits your speed a little but you should still be able to take full advantage of your 2.
I even spoke with technical support at EnGenius and they were super helpful getting my system set up. Some wired access points use a Power over Ethernet PoE injector adapter that you plug into an outlet indoors near your router. You then just have a single outdoor Ethernet cable that you can bury or run overhead. I would only recommend this option to the more tech-savvy among you.
Another option is to take advantage of an indoor mesh Wi-Fi system, which usually comes with one router and one or two satellite units, and can cover up to around 5, square feet. Most people don't have homes that big, so with the right placement you will get some coverage outdoors. Take a quick inventory of all your computers and other network-ready devices or at least those that need the furthest range and check their Wi-Fi standard; consider upgrading their adapters if any are using an older standard than the one your router is using.
For iPads, tablets, and smartphones, check the specifications from the documentation or look online. When shopping for a USB adapter for a desktop PC, consider purchasing one with a wire so you can place the adapter and the antenna within in an optimum spot.
When shopping for a PCI adapter, consider buying the antenna extension kit, if the vendor offers it, so you can place the antenna in an optimum spot.
For laptops that have a PC Card slot, another option is a PC Card wireless adapter that you simply slide into the slot. Most wireless routers and wireless adapters that have external antennas come with cheap omnidirectional antennas those that send the signals equally in all directions.
If you prefer to do and make things yourself, consider building your own—as explained in our previous guide on how to extend your wireless network with a parabolic reflector. DIY types can try their hand at mounting a homemade reflector onto their router. If you want to double or even triple your wireless network range, you can try adding additional wireless access points APs to the network.
Not Helpful 0 Helpful 0. A Wi-Fi extender should work even if it is a different brand from the router. You are going to need a Wi-Fi router, and a printer. You also need a device to set up the router, such as a computer or phone.
You can buy these at any electronics store, and you don't have to buy anything high end. You can then follow the directions that came with those devices to set them up. I'm assuming that you also want an internet connection, so you will have to call the local Cable or Phone company where your summer house is to get a connection set up, if you haven't already.
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