Author Topic: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable  (Read 3018 times)

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Offline vis1-0nTopic starter

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Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« on: July 25, 2019, 06:30:57 am »
My neighbour shared his (uncapped) Wifi password with me, and I tend to use it later in the month when my LTE data is depleted. However my router does not pick the signal reliably to act as a wireless bridge/repeater. It is great at times, but it seems to waver up and down.

My Teclast tablet picks up his signal fine, not so my Dell Laptop or Samsung phone.

I was thinking of extending the antenna of the router to a more optimal position. What would be the best option on the cable? A 5m cable may get closer to him however the signal loss in the cable will be greater. A 1m cable may make a difference, I was wondering if daisy chaining another (1 or 2) 1m extension cable would be more optimal than a single 5m.

Any thoughts? A Yagi may be better option overall, still would like to hear thoughts on 2x1m vs a single 5m.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2019, 11:08:07 am by vis1-0n »
 

Online NiHaoMike

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2019, 12:50:31 pm »
Move the router closer. Or better yet, get a second router that supports DD-WRT and use it in client mode.
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Offline soldar

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2019, 01:31:10 pm »
I have several installations like that. A WIFI client which can be an Ethernet client or USB client or whatever, then some meters of Ethernet and then the main LAN router so my LAN is not on the same LAN as the neighbor.

Mainly I use stuff that I have lying around and avoid buying specific stuff. Old routers are pretty much free and can do many functions.
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Offline MarkF

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2019, 02:37:41 pm »
If he is really willing to share, work out a deal to split his internet service cost.

Then run an underground ethernet cable between his router and yours.   ;D  ;D  ;D
A shallow (25cm deep) ditch would be plenty.
 

Offline soldar

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2019, 02:58:26 pm »
If he is really willing to share, work out a deal to split his internet service cost.

Not what we are being asked and none of our business if you ask me.

Then run an underground ethernet cable between his router and yours.   ;D  ;D  ;D
A shallow (25cm deep) ditch would be plenty.

Wow. I would not dream of doing that and I am sure my neighbor would also refuse.
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Offline vis1-0nTopic starter

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2019, 06:22:19 pm »
Running a cable across property boundaries is very much illegal here, even if it is a mere data cable.

My LTE package is sufficient for my browsing needs, it is just that family visits have depleted around 5GB in 50 minutes on a couple of occasions. Internet service costs was not the issue, although he is on uncapped ADSL that is not available to me, I am on 20GB LTE data package.

Perhaps a DIY cantenna or Yagi is in order. Maybe a throwaway ESP8266 could be risked outside and serve as a repeater.

Maybe I should have asked in the RF section, I was just looking at a gut answer, my feeling is that 5m cable would have more losses than 2x1m cables.
 

Offline MarkF

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2019, 08:59:48 pm »
If he is really willing to share, work out a deal to split his internet service cost.

Not what we are being asked and none of our business if you ask me.

Then run an underground ethernet cable between his router and yours.   ;D  ;D  ;D
A shallow (25cm deep) ditch would be plenty.

Wow. I would not dream of doing that and I am sure my neighbor would also refuse.

Quote
My neighbour shared his (uncapped) Wifi password with me, and I tend to use it later in the month when my LTE data is depleted.

This is EXACTLY what we are being ask!
How to connect to and use the neighbors internet service.
Whether it is a hard connection or a WIFI connection makes NO difference.
I only suggested splitting the cost and using a hard line.

His neighbor already agreed by giving him his password.
 

Offline soldar

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2019, 09:27:11 pm »
"work out a deal to split his internet service cost."??

I must be missing something. Where did the OP ask about how to work out a deal?
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Offline amyk

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2019, 01:46:19 am »
Is it just me or does the title of this thread sound too much like a joke product?
 

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2019, 02:17:06 am »
"work out a deal to split his internet service cost."??

I must be missing something. Where did the OP ask about how to work out a deal?
I agree that's not really relevant to the problem stated. Maybe there's already an arrangement to share costs, maybe the neighbor is just a good neighbor, maybe he offers the neighbor something other than money (e.g. care for the pets) as compensation, etc...

I would say that a repeater would probably be the best solution, and while dual radio repeaters are fairly common nowadays, a router in AP mode connected to another router in client mode allows physically positioning both in their optimum locations. Avoid the super cheap single radio repeaters since that would halve the bandwidth of the network, or more accurately double your traffic contribution to the network. With a dual radio repeater, set the AP side to a different channel and there won't be any interference. It would actually *reduce* the bandwidth impact on the first network (albeit unlikely to be noticed) since the repeater would have a better connection, allowing higher bitrates.
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Offline vis1-0nTopic starter

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Re: Wifi Extension Cable
« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2019, 11:18:37 am »
I would say that a repeater would probably be the best solution, and while dual radio repeaters are fairly common nowadays, a router in AP mode connected to another router in client mode allows physically positioning both in their optimum locations.

I have a couple routers tested, the reception is marginal and positioning the router optimally is extremely awkward already with the use of electrical extension cables weighing the router down against the window. I just wanted to get either a 5m or 2x1m cable to extend the router antenna away from the router but placed optimally at the window.

I do have a unopened high powered router that I will test next. Thanks, moving on I think.
 

Offline David Hess

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2019, 01:24:21 pm »
A Ubiquiti Nanostation locoM2 can be had for less than $50 to bridge between your wired and his wireless network.  It uses passive PoE so placement is only limited by where you can route an Ethernet cable.
 

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2019, 11:55:25 pm »
Just get a fairly cheap router that supports DD-WRT and has removable antennas. Build a nice high gain antenna for it (a "biquad" is one good start) and it will probably work well enough. If you're really dealing with hard conditions or just want to have some fun, find a discarded satellite dish and replace the LNB (save that for future experimentation!) with your Wifi antenna.
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Offline Monkeh

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #13 on: July 27, 2019, 12:07:32 am »
Just get a fairly cheap router that supports DD-WRT and has removable antennas. Build a nice high gain antenna for it (a "biquad" is one good start) and it will probably work well enough. If you're really dealing with hard conditions or just want to have some fun, find a discarded satellite dish and replace the LNB (save that for future experimentation!) with your Wifi antenna.

Yes, buy some really old pile of crap and put ancient firmware on it, then build a hokey antenna for it..

Or just buy something decent.
 
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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #14 on: July 27, 2019, 02:24:10 am »
Not everyone has the budget for enterprise hardware or the desire to learn how to configure it. Also, enterprise networks are typically designed to serve a large number (dozens to thousands) of devices all asking for a little bandwidth all the time while home networks typically only have to serve a dozen or so devices with generally only a few, maybe just one, using a lot of bandwidth at a time. 40MHz in the 2.4GHz band does not make sense in a large office since running two 20MHz APs instead yields better overall bandwidth for the network, but at home in a sparse neighborhood, it can boost performance. Hence some enterprise hardware doesn't even have the option for 40MHz in the 2.4GHz band, something I found out configuring an older Cisco AP for use at a family member's home.

Whether to use OpenWRT or DD-WRT is debatable, best to get hardware that supports both so you can try them out and go with whichever one you find better.
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Offline vis1-0nTopic starter

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #16 on: July 27, 2019, 06:08:59 pm »
:-//
Get a high gain Yagi and find a good spot to mount it.
https://www.banggood.com/Yagi-2_4GHz-25dbi-WiFi-RP-SMA-Antenna-For-Wireless-Router-Outdoor-p-84566.html?rmmds=buy&cur_warehouse=CN
Yep, that has been in my cart. The good spot to mount it was the whole reason for this thread, that comes with 1.5m of cable and maybe another 1m would be perfect. I think I will trust the gain to overcome the losses due to the extension and extra length.
find a discarded satellite dish and replace the LNB (save that for future experimentation!) with your Wifi antenna.
Coincidentally I already have an unused (9 years, sheesh!) dish mounted on the wall facing my neighbour.
 

Offline David Hess

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #17 on: July 27, 2019, 06:20:09 pm »
Coincidentally I already have an unused (9 years, sheesh!) dish mounted on the wall facing my neighbour.

I do not know if you can still find them but mounts to hold a Ubiquiti Nanostation Loco at the focus of those satellite dishes used to be available.  Later Ubiquiti released various low cost dish antennas with the WiFi AP built in.
 

Offline MyHeadHz

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #18 on: July 28, 2019, 02:09:19 am »
Just make one of these:

Code: [Select]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk-nj_BwoBE
« Last Edit: July 28, 2019, 02:10:59 am by MyHeadHz »
 

Offline vtwin@cox.net

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #19 on: July 28, 2019, 01:31:06 pm »
my former brother in law "shared" his neighbor's internet connection for about five years. He was an OR nurse and was rarely home, so the $200/mo expense wasn't justified in his mind. Instead he slapped the neighbor $50-$75/mo and piggybacked off his. This was way back before the days of internet-enabled cell phones. He used a manual lawn edger to create a shallow trench into which he ran about a 50-75' run of cat-3 cable (I supplied) which he tied into his neighbor's router, and bought a cheap 10mb switch for his house. AFAIK the cable was still there when he sold the place 5 years later and moved to south carolina. I doubt the cable company was ever wise to it, since the cable was buried, and in the neighbor's house it just looked like another cat-3 run from "somewhere" to the router.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2019, 01:32:50 pm by vtwin@cox.net »
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Offline soldar

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #20 on: July 28, 2019, 02:36:59 pm »
I know quite a few people with this kind of arrangement, including myself. Telecomms are not interested in selling you basic internet access for $15 /mo. They want to sell you a package with phone, TV, and a ton of things you do not need for "only" 86.60 plus tax plus pay per view plus a few more charges.

Wifi works well in the sense that the primary user always has priority because the secondary user is further away.

I have had good luck with RTL USB adapters (clients). In some cases I would add a reflector. 

I have my separate LAN which gateways into the neighbor's LAN. I don't want to be sharing my LAN with the neighbor.
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Offline MyHeadHz

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #21 on: July 28, 2019, 02:49:55 pm »
Those stories reminded of another more long-range device that's rather inexpensive and could work well in this application- LoRaWAN.

Code: [Select]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n8t62anxIQ
Instead of a physical cable it uses small dishes, but it's basically the same thing.  You can also remove it to use it elsewhere if you like.
 

Offline madires

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #22 on: July 28, 2019, 03:02:23 pm »
A small WiFi panel antenna might do the job. And don't forget the coax cable's attenuation (short = better).   
 

Offline soldar

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #23 on: July 29, 2019, 08:43:15 am »
Those stories reminded of another more long-range device that's rather inexpensive and could work well in this application- LoRaWAN.

Code: [Select]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n8t62anxIQ
Instead of a physical cable it uses small dishes, but it's basically the same thing.  You can also remove it to use it elsewhere if you like.

A brief digression if I may. I have noticed you use code tags when you don't want the youtube video to show. Often I also want to provide just the link to the video but not have it show and play in the post. The workaround that I found is to add a time to the video link and that way it won't parse. Adding ?t=0 (or any other time in seconds) will show the clickable link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n8t62anxIQ?t=0

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Offline SteveyG

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Re: Wifi Router Antenna Extension Cable
« Reply #24 on: July 29, 2019, 10:25:30 am »
I've used this style with good success: https://www.banggood.com/custlink/KGmK8HpTqF

The Yagi is also a good solution.

Personally I'd run a fibre if they are literally next door. If not, I'd at least run the dish or Yagi at their end too.
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