Need Help with Setup

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Need Help with Setup

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Need Help with Setup
Need Help with Setup
2021-06-07 15:59:13 - last edited 2021-06-08 02:21:03
Model: EAP225-Outdoor  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version:

Hi All,

 

Need some help with setting up a stable connection between a house and a garage.

 

I have already purchased an EAP225 as it seemed like the best option, I don't want to go into too much detail but I live in the middle of a three terrace house setup, the garage is around 45 meters away but I have no line of sight and no option to use a longer cable to get line of sight, so the EAP connected to my router will always be in a slightly comprimised spot.

 

Now.. the purpose of this setup is essentially to get wifi signal over to a desktop within the garage to stream content (football,f1 etc etc) the desktop currently has a Netgear A6210 connected to it with a 3 meter extension cable which allows me to get around 7mbps with 1 almost 2 bars over the 5ghz channel, the 2ghz channel has two bars but surprisingly gets basically no internet.

 

Here is that setup -

 

Now with that 7mbps I can achieve what I want, however its not perfect and definately not as stable as I would like. So im here today to ask for advice on how I improve this setup to get potentially more speed but ideally just a stronger connection would do.

 

The options I currently have in mind are -

 

1) Upgrade the A6210 plugged into the desktop to an adapter with a higher gain atenna + get a longer USB3.0 extension cable.

2) Purchase another EAP225 to have the corner of the garage outside which will plug directly into the desktop to create a bridge, this option is a little more expensive than I would like ideally + I have seen some people say its not possible to bridge two EAP225's it would need to be done via meshing them which could have a drop off in speed?

 

Like i say there is no way really to get a clear line of sight for the EAP plugged into router it will always have that corner to go around.

 

Let me know if you have any thoughts / product recommendations / feel free to correct me etc.

 

Cheers.

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#1
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7 Reply
Re:Need Help with Setup
2021-06-08 10:31:11

@Waycomb 

 

Hey

 

Is the garage on the same electrical circuit as the house?   If so you could consider using homeplugs instead, cant say I have ever used them over that sort of distance, but its plausable

 

In relation to the other 225 idea.  Mesh would only be an option if you have a controller to handle the mesh (something like an OC200), but you hadn't mentioned that.   Just thinking out loud here but the issue may be your USB dongle, its never going to get as strong a signal as an aerial based device.    You could using a TP-WA1201 in client mode at the near corner of your garage, have it cabled into the PC/Laptop. 

 

In client mode it will basically act as a super wireless card, you then get the advantage of the 4x aerials and its a lot cheaper than a 225 outdoors.  

 

however, before doing anything I would get WiFi Analyser on your Android device and see what the signal is from your garage corner, ideally, you want less than -65db.  If you are getting -70 or higher then its heading toward dead air and you might want to consider changing the antenna on the existing 225 outdoor to a more directional style, its could get you that extra few db

 

something like a sector (square) antenna pointed towards the garage may help, generally it will add around 10db to the signal from experience.

 

 

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#2
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Re:Need Help with Setup
2021-06-08 11:42:03

@Philbert 

 

The Garage is not on same electric so would not be possible via homeplugs.

 

'TP-WA1201 in client mode' that could be a pretty nice option actually, as one of my short term options was going to get a USB to Ethernet extension set so i could put the dongle closer to the corner anyway, so ill already have a long enough Ethernet cable.

 

Ill do some tests tonight on signal strength and get back to you.

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#3
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Re:Need Help with Setup
2021-06-08 20:07:40

@Philbert 

 

So set everything back up and did some testing, phone antenna signal was pretty non existent tonight for some reason.

 

Just kept disconnecting but the strength when connected was below, couldnt even manage a speed test really, it got around 8mbps before disconnecting.

 

 

However the A6210 dongle slightly more central and about 6 meters further away (deeper in the garage) got a pretty decent signal 2 bars basically at 5ghz and got decent speeds see below. 

 

 

So im thinking about seeing how the dongle gets on when I have a longer extension cable and the EAP225 is in its permenant position and then if i want a more stable connection going for a TP-WA1201 as I will have the ethernet cable to do it and I assume that will get even better signal than the A6210. 

 

2Ghz got a signal of around -71 (but speeds where unusable) , 5Ghz as you can see is around -80, not sure if that means it could just be a lost cause either way but seems to get okay speeds via the dongle even with that signal strength.

 

Let me know your thoughts.

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#4
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Re:Need Help with Setup
2021-06-08 21:56:34 - last edited 2021-06-08 21:58:49

@Waycomb 

 

Hey

 

ok, so you are looking at a signal strength of -70 to -80db which isn't great if honest.  Usually in an installation, we could classify -70 as the limit, any lower it really classified as dead air as the slightest change will drop you off the network.

 

Its not uncommon to see 5ghz with a lower strength that 2.4ghz due to the wavelength.  Its much faster but doesn't penetrate anywhere near as well and is more prone to malformation.   However sometimes the massively higher speeds can compensate for that, which seems to be the case for you! 

 

The good thing is the dongle seems to get a better signal, likely due to the antenna being bigger vs the phone, which would indicate the AP in client mode might be a winner for you.   If you do feel game for it, would be worth considering a directional aerial for the 225, it might squeeze out that extra few db and make it a bit more stable for little cost.  The omni directional that come with it are not what you need for this scenario. 

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#5
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Re:Need Help with Setup
2021-06-09 15:35:17

@Philbert 

 

I wont be able to do anything with the LOS issue that the EAP225 already has so would the directional antenna still help?

 

I think ill see how far i can get with the dongle and if i do need a bit more stability ill get the TL-WA1201 to give me that extra boost + potentially the directional antenna if viable without LOS.

 

Thanks for all your help thus far.

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#6
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Re:Need Help with Setup
2021-06-09 16:20:16

@Waycomb 

 

Directional antenna does have a slightly better strength over distances and through things when compared to an omni directional

 

The bad thing about the onmi you have at the minute is that most of the signal is going across the road or down the wrong direction, basically firing all directions (including into the wall).  Therefore a more directional antenna could remove that wasted potential and instead focus the strength in a more controlled direction, which might tip the balance for you

 

Granted it isn't going to be double the power or anything like that, but could remove some db loss for you and make it more reliable and/or faster.    Something like the one below is what I would go for, my engineers always refer to these as "Claymore" antenna, the old face towards enemy idea!

 

Just bear in mind that its a 2 way street.  Putting a bigger antenna on the sender is great, however not much use if the receiver cant send back anything. 

There was a guy on the forums recently that couldn't understand that.  He had bought a big CPE Access point and could get therefore see the SSID at 100meters away, then wondered why his laptop couldn't connect.  We tried (in vain) to tell him that he needed the same on the other side smiley

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#7
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Re:Need Help with Setup
2021-06-22 22:08:39

Update -

 

Managed to angle the antennas as such on the EAP225 that im getting a solid two bars and a solid 20mbps speed with the Netgear dongle. So that setup is working well for now.

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#8
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