Boosting distant wifi signal? CPE advice?

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VampLena

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May 31, 2010
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I'm currently living somewhere, that my only option for wifi is a 4g lte solution and I'm pretty fed up with it, rationing internet data and such.

I've discovered a plethora of public hotspots about 400-500 yards away, so upon doing research, I discovered OPEs could be my solution, since one of these hotspots has a fairly clear LOS from my bedroom window down the road 450 yards. So I'm looking for something to connect to the hotspot and provide reliable access to it.

I've heard of ubiquitous products like the nanostation, airgrid and tplinks cpe510, and looking for advice on which device would be best in my situation. I'm looking to connect my laptop, phone, iPad, and wireless printer to such a network.

Thanks for any help, guys
 
Solution
atljsf
no, it will not shield the cable form a lightning, but it will help mitigate the signal on the cable form other signals, up to a certain point as you say
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if the signals are fee, you could make a wifi antenna with high gain

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-Build-WIFI-24GHz-Yagi-Antenna/

there is some comercial antennas but they are expensive, really expensive so your best bet is try to follow one of those dyi high gain wifi antenna tutorial
 
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Antenna is not usfull by itself., amazed the guide did not say about getting your time machine and going back to 2004 to get your wrt54g router!

Just beacuse there is wifi signals does not mean they are open and there is huge security risks of using open hot spots, and dont in any way expect that you should be able to stream high def movies and high bandwidth downloads on an internet plan you are not paying for.

You are right on the money on looking at ubiquiti products, they are very affordiable and provide a reliable profesional product. Nanostation + outdoor grade ethernet cable + your own router will work if you have clear line of sight. If not then you may need the bullet and a parabolic or yagi style antenna.
 
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Yes, those public hotspots are suppose to be unlimited, a couple are optimum hotspots but there is also a restaurant down the road where they said they had no issue with me pulling thier public wifi signal if I can manage to get the right equipment, but as atljsf points out, ANYTHING is better then the crappy 10 gigabyte monthly bandwidth I currently get with t mobile 4G hotspot, especially after they throttle me down to to 2g speeds.

So even if I need to jump between public hotspots (there are about 4 arrayed around where I live), then it would be better then the 4g hotspot.

As for hardware, is nanostation reccomended then? If so, the 2.4 ghz or 5 ghz? I have a tp link travel router I was using with the 4g box until I discovered it sucked down bandwidth hardcore, lol, , would that work with the cpe? Thanks, guys.

 
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You need to match the frequency band to the hotspot you want to connect to.
Now 5ghz is "faster" but does not penetrate objects (like walls) well so most likely any seignal that is going to be outside for your antenna to pick up will be on 2.4 ghz band.

The tp-link travel router will work fine connectivity wise, no idea how it performs in regards to providing signal throughout your home.
 
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So Im on the right path to solving my issue, can anyone reccomend which CPE I would need then? The TP Link one looks good, as it makes it easy to set this up, but then those nanostations are highly rated it seems, but theres Nanostation and Nanostation Loco. So Please help me choose which to get.

Thanks.
 
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Forget about the TP-Link equipment.

Get a regular nanostation, not a loco.
THe loca has more power and longer range but in fact that is not goood for your situation.
With FM radio you can just throw up a super powerfull transmitter and broadcast away. WiFi on the other hand is two way communication thus it is not just about how powerfull your antenna is, but also how powerfull the source's antenna is. So with the loco model the increased range wont really give you anything when trying to connect to a normal omnidirectional router.

Then you can connect the nanostation to whatever router you have/want to use.
 
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This setup is using a single router (so single radio) as a wireless repeater with one antenna on roof connected via antenna cable and the other antenna to talk to your devices
This setup is significantly inferior for these reasons:
1) No security) Because there is no NAT or firewall between the hotspot and your devices there is no first layer of security protecting your devices from others connected to that hotspot. This means that other people could easily cast movies to your chromecast/roku/etc, can print to your printer, access any file shares; not to mention what a tech savy person could do. The NAT of your router is the initial layer of defense, think of it like the walls of your network.
2) Single radio) Your single radio now has to work as a middle man to communicate with hotspot, then communicate with your devices. This means whatever speed you would normally get from the hotspot router will now be cut in half.
3) antenna cable) The longer the antenna cable the more loss you have so 20 ft of antenna cable means you loose power between router and antenna.

Ubiquiti nanostation + another router fixes all of these problems.
Router functioning as a router with incoming connection in WAN port means you have propper issolation from other people's devices connected to hotspot.
You have double the "workforce" as you have 1 radio to talk to hotspot on nanostation and 1 radio to talk to your devices
You are connecting the nanostation and router with ethernet so no loss there, and the nanostation will only have a few inches of antenna cable inside of it.
 
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I think they really need to increase production of these nanostations (non loco). Im having a really hard time finding a Nanostation M2 or M5 readily available, the only ones i've been able to find thus far easily gotten, are the loco versions.

These must be really good devices to be so hard to get. Amazon is back ordered, and selling them at almost 90$ bucks, ebay isnt any better.
 
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about the loco instead of the diy antenna, the price and mounting process is different, alot different

https://www.ubnt.com/airmax/nanostationm/

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Nanostation-NSM5-802-11a-Hi-power/dp/B00HXT8KJ4/ref=pd_sim_147_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00HXT8KJ4&pd_rd_r=KNBNXCR22Y844DP49BR9&pd_rd_w=iuIql&pd_rd_wg=FgVrZ&psc=1&refRID=KNBNXCR22Y844DP49BR9

and the values, those are ideal values on a area without much networks ymmv

if you are planning to use it outside, remember to shield the utp cable with something like stp cable protected inside something like this

https://www.amazon.com/Dorman-86634-Black-Conduit-Split/dp/B0049DNUTW/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1489201099&sr=1-2&keywords=conduit+half+inch

the utp cable will not stand well the sun and as some used to say, it is perfect to use as a lightning rod
 
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There is nothing wrong with the loco other than it will cost you more. You can also look at the airgrid devices. The airgrid is actually a older product and used more for point to point because the beam is narrower. It will work to a point for your application.

The key problem will be the equipment on the far end. It is not really designed to work this way, normally both ends have outdoor antenna. All you can do is try it and see.

It may also be ubiquiti is not manufacturing as many of these units. They have started selling 802.11ac units and also units that support mimo to increase the speeds. The pricing of the newer units is not that much more so more people may be buying those.
 
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You can use the loco just fine, I was just trying to match your antenna ability to be closer to that of the hotspot. To powerfull of an antenna is like you having a PA system and large speakers, whlle the other end just trying to yell 4 blocks away.

I think bill nailed it on price/supply reasoning. On amazon the less powerfull non-loco is $81 and the loco is $46.
 
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If this is a permanent install then using some type of conduit like atljsf suggested would be a very good idea. Proper outdoor grade ethernet will hold up to the elements but the sun will eventually take its toll on it.

STP by itself wont help you against lightening protection, and frankly if you have so much RF noise to degrade standard UTP then your wifi is not going to really work anyways. You can get lightening suppressors though:
https://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-Ethernet-Protector-Lightning-Protection/dp/B00FY7GMEW/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1489203781&sr=1-6&keywords=cat6+lightning
 
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