WI-FI In Detached Garage

[Jim Becker]

Both at my old shop and at the new one, I have a hard Ethernet cable between the house and the shop. In the shop, I have a mesh system node (access point) which provides both wireless connectivity in the shop as well as one hard Ethernet port for my CNC machine's controller computer which does not have wireless capability. You may be able to get away with just a high quality Mesh system and wireless backhaul to/from the shop, but that's not guaranteed, depending on building materials. BTW, just for clarity, the Mesh network either replaces your router (not ONT fiber interface that you're calling a modem...no "modem" with fiber) or goes in behind it and is used only for wireless.

[mike stenson]

Mine it setup behind the cable modem, with that set in bridge mode. The biggest issue I've had with wifi mesh backbone is that it's inconsistent, but that's due to the building materials. If I had a conduit, I would for sure backhaul mesh points (all of my other ones are ethernet backhauled, it's been a huge improvement in the house). All ubiquity equipment here too.

[Jim Becker]

Mine it setup behind the cable modem, with that set in bridge mode. The biggest issue I've had with wifi mesh backbone is that it's inconsistent, but that's due to the building materials. If I had a conduit, I would for sure backhaul mesh points (all of my other ones are ethernet backhauled, it's been a huge improvement in the house). All ubiquity equipment here too.

Does your mesh system have a third radio for backhaul? That often helps, but buildings do still get in the way.

[mike stenson]

Does your mesh system have a third radio for backhaul? That often helps, but buildings do still get in the way.

Yep, but I live in a mud hut. Seriously, the external adobe walls block pretty much every signal. Cell, TV, radio, the works. Got internal adobe walls too. All the same thickness. The thermal mass is nice though.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I have a wifi signal in the detached shop building without having to do anything special. The house is 34 feet long and the box is at the far end from the shop. Then there is a 6' porch and 16 feet of open air between the house and shop, so I am about 60 feet to the spot where I set my computer on the occasions I take it out there. The house has aluminum siding. I get less signal out in the shop, but enough to do things.

[Doug Garson]

OK, no WIFI expert here but how about this? Assuming you just need a WIFI network in the garage to control the heater without connecting it to the internet. Then you don't need it to be connected to your house WIFI or the internet. If this is the case, why not just install a router in the shop, set up a WIFI network with no internet, connect your phone to the shop WIFI network and use it to control the heater? Again, no expert here so maybe the experts can shoot my idea down but thought I'd throw it out there.

[Doug Walls]

Assuming you just need a WIFI network in the garage to control the heater without connecting it to the internet.

The app that's used to control the heater needs an internet connection.

[Jim Becker]

Yep, but I live in a mud hut. Seriously, the external adobe walls block pretty much every signal. Cell, TV, radio, the works. Got internal adobe walls too. All the same thickness. The thermal mass is nice though.

Yea, I had similar issues at our old property where the walls were 18"+ thick limestone and a bunch of foil faced insulation in the part of the frame structure that were not part of the addition we added in 2007. The shop was also block walls. So hardwire backhaul was not an option. It was also the only way to get cellular inside the buildings because of terrain plus building materials...we initially used a micro-cell in the house, but moved to WiFi calling once it was available. Here at the new place, no issue with the house, but my new shop is post frame and clad in steel. So pulling a hard Ethernet was a no-brainer, especially since the electrician who did the power feed put in a second conduit for me to use for that. 150' "as the worm crawls" plus in-building tails.

That Adobe must be great for more even temps over the year.




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[Doug Colombo]

Mesh network should fix the issue ! Have one both an our home and in the condo complex up north. 5 internet access points with mesh network covers the complete complex.

[David M Peters]

Another vote for trying a mesh system - I keep a node out in the shop which is a good 50' from the primary node.

And if it doesn't work you can just return it.. no digging required.

[Bill Howatt]

He said he has a conduit, why not just pull the Ethernet cable and be done with it and have a high reliability connection. Anything wireless at a distance is always in need of trying and testing.

[mike stenson]

He said he has a conduit, why not just pull the Ethernet cable and be done with it and have a high reliability connection. Anything wireless at a distance is always in need of trying and testing.

Exactly. It's trivial to pull cat6e in a conduit. It's also dead reliable. Wired is always better than wireless.

[Michael Burnside]

Exactly. It's trivial to pull cat6e in a conduit. It's also dead reliable. Wired is always better than wireless.

Amen to that. When I built my house I pulled cat6 wires to 4 locations on the ceiling upstairs and 3 down and 1 in my shop. Having 8 wired access points is dead reliable and you don't have to worry about making sure you have a dedicated backhaul channel or spotty interference.

[Tom M King]

Tie a piece of cloth that doesn't quite fill up the conduit to a roll of masons line . A shop vac or even home vac can suck it through with the roll of line spinning on something like a dowel. Use that to pull the cat6. Any time you pull a wire through, pull another masons line along with it for the next time.

[Doug Walls]

(not ONT fiber interface that you're calling a modem...no "modem" with fiber)

Well, at least I'm learning a bunch of new acronym's! I had to look up "ONT"

I think this would be my ONT fiber interface?
IMG_0348.jpg
The gray cat-5 cable goes to my ArrisNVG589B modem/router,
https://www.att.com/media/att/2013/s...ice_nvg589.pdf or as AT&T calls it a gateway.

The connections are pretty simple,
Connections .jpg
It looks like all I would have to do is attach an ethernet cable to one of the yellow connections, run it out to the garage & connect it to the green (WAN) connection of the second router?

But it also sounds like it could be a little tricky to get the two routers to link together, being that I'm new to all this WI-FI stuff & computers in general.