I currently have wifi in my house, but I would like to get the connection into a metal building that is around 40 feet from my router. The plan for the metal building is to use it as a man cave. Therefore the internet speeds would have to be adequate for gaming and streaming movies. There is a window on the metal building that faces towards the house. My original idea was to put a wireless repeater in the window and transmit it into the building that way. However I’ve heard that using a wireless repeater will greatly decrease the Internet speeds, so it’s possible that it wouldn’t be fast enough to stream or game. What is the easiest and best way to get the Internet into the metal building?
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power line adapter – aka “lan over mains” – or homeplugs – are more or less out of the box to use. The current standard is also known as Homeplug; and allegedly current models from various manufacturers are compatible with each other. I have no personal experience with mixing makes/models.
You plug one into a convenient mains socket adjacent to the router. connect it to the router with a cat-5/ethernet cabler. Plug a similar adapter into a convenient adapter in the “shed”. Connect your computer there to that adapter with a cat-5 cable – and you done.
Cat-5/ethernet is inherently more stable and fast than wifi in terms of local la; and you’re only limitation re on-line games is the speed of your broadband service.
Devolo (in Germany) werre the first with the technology; and for my money still the best.But they’re only available in the UK and Europe. So in USA/Canada etc. you have t look to other brands. Netgear, Linksys, and TP-link are three that come to mind. TP-link occasionally seem to have problems (for some users at least).
Many of the current brands also offer a module/adapter that when plugged into your lan over mains system allow a wifi connection via that particular module. So you can have both wifi and cat-5 available.
This article:
http://tinyurl.com/njzsmb8
may be a useful read? Note it is a UK based article so naturally if you’re not in the UK (or that place just of the east coast) then you need to research in your area for similar/ kit?
lan over mains is simply connect a cat-5 cable between the router and the “local” module; and another at the remote position to your computer – and that’s it.
Depending on how you go for wifi extender routine – depends on the other steps that “may” be required; and even then it’s not complicated. Some of the wifi via homeplugs are simply (allegedly) plug and go…? Using a wifi extender (as per one of the Netgear such items – which is in effect another router) does require a little setup. The “extender/router” is plugged into the homeplug and then configured to act as an extender from the master/main router to allow wifi (and usually four more cat-5 ports too).
Re #2
PowerLine Adapters allow you to use the house power wiring as a cable connect which saves you having a separate wire. You plug one in near the router then use a short cable to it. You do the same with any other device that you wish to cable connect to the router. This sort of thing:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-cen…
I’ve been using much less expensive ones than those showing in the link, for a long time, and they work fine.
Distance may be a factor; you can only go 100meters on Cat-5; and ideally it ought to be a cable that is suitably weatherproof…
The power line adapter avoids all that hassle; and immediately gives you one cat-5 outlet – and more if you plug in more adapters in “the shed”.
The basics system is truly plug and go – out of the box.
And as I say above adding a wifi module is often much the same.
Adding a router either via a direct cat-5 cable between the house and shed, or connecting the additional router to the house router via powerline adapters, will require a little setup; but it’s actually quite simple. The shed router has to have its default ip address changed; its DHCP server disabled; and the router set to be an extender/repeater. And it has to be permanently/continually connected via the cat-5 or power line adapter to the main router. It can also be done with suitable kit using wifi as the link- but it’s by no means the best way to go.
For simplicity, cheapness, and reliability – use the powerline/homeplug adapter approach. It’s plug in, connect each end – and go!