My indoor wifi is great, but can I get it outdoors too?
During the summer months, people are spending more and more time outdoors and naturally they in many cases they will want to take their devices such as tablets and smart speakers with them!
Your wifi inside your house may be good on the whole but how do you get it to be strong outside too?
As your router/devices are located inside the house, naturally they will have to penetrate the walls to provide a signal outside therefore weakening it and furthermore, by the time it reaches the end of your garden it may be almost non-existent, especially if it is a big garden.
What is the best solution?
In our opinion, an outdoor access point provides the best coverage and the strongest signal for the majority of premises.
The comprises of a weatherproof access point mounted on your premises, usually high up in a good location such as on a pole or on the side of a building with an ethernet cable running into the inside of your house back to your router. By using this method, your full internet speed is carried via the cable to the access point outside and then broadcast outside. Many access points will broadcast on both 2.4ghz and 5gh and can be capable of covering distances of up to 200-300 meters. That would cover most gardens!
What about any getting the internet to any buildings inside my garden/yard?
Every property is different, and although a building may not be far away from the access point the walls of it may mean a weaker signal going into the buidling.
In those cases, to get the best possible connection from your main router to your outdoor building is either:
- An ethernet cable connection between the two buildings, or
- A wireless bridge between your house and the building.
A wired connection is usually preferred however depending on distance and the garden, running a cable between the two buildings may not always be possible. If it is though, this usually a quicker and more solid connection.
If a wireless bridge is needed, this consists of two devices, each one located on each building. The device located at the house runs via cable to the main router into the house like an access point would and the device on the other building also runs into the building via cable. The wireless signal is then transmitted from one to the other. Setting the devices up so they are in a clear line of sight to each other is crucial for optimal signal strength, however when set up it can be possible to broadcast it for a distance of several miles if needed.
These kind of set ups are ideal for home users wanting to use wifi in their garden or another building on their property, outdoor recreational spaces and businesses such as hospitality and accomodation and ones that cover a wider area.
For further information and advice on the best system for you, please contact us.