Boosting WiFi from house to workshop

[mejmo06]

I have just moved into a new home with several barns on the property. I would really like to get wifi in at least the workshop if not all three. I am just wondering what my options are and if anyone has any experience with the like. I have read about repeaters and "over-clocking" routers to get better performance. How can I tell if my router could handle that kind of abuse?

 

[smorizio]

your better off using a high powered ap on the side of the house. and a good ant. and a high power usb or pci card.
http://www.ampedwireless.com/products/ua600ex.html
https://gridconnect.com/industrial-long-range-wireless-access-point.html?gdftrk=gdfV25227_a_7c1592_a_7c6907_a_7c1053&utm_source=google&utm_medium=CPC&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Shopping%3A+%5BPLA%5D++-+All+Products+General+All&mm_campaign=477cea803cb14c83d8a99b6c7d0cd349&keyword=&mkwid=sfqwXJIsq_dc|pcrid|59302249153&gclid=Cj0KEQiA_ZOlBRD64c7-gOzvrP0BEiQAAYBnd_J1QjfbkGKpKj2C1s_Rc11kGrVgG_57tl66xHe6DiMaAoMl8P8HAQ

 

[mejmo06]

We are talking about 120 feet from the router source. That is through some walls though. Would this be overkill? I am hoping for a low cost solution...

 

[BuddhaSkoota]

We are talking about 120 feet from the router source. That is through some walls though. Would this be overkill? I am hoping for a low cost solution...

A repeater is designed to be placed at the midpoint between the router and wireless client, so placing one in the barn somewhat defeats its purpose. A wireless bridge would be better suited for this situation. Overclocking? Probably not, but there is 3rd party firmware available that allows you to increase the transmission power, which will also significantly decrease the life of your router.

At minimum, you should try to get a good line-of-sight. Get the router close to a point in your house facing the barn, near a window if possible.

Lowest cost solution: Home made cantenna. These have worked well in many situations.

Someone may be able to provide more suggestions if you post the approximate budget you'd like to avoid exceeding.

 

[mejmo06]

Well, I have several spare routers that are not being used so I would like to try the no cost solution if it could work. http://lifehacker.com/178132/hack-attack-turn-your-60-router-into-a-600-router This is what I meant by "overclocking." Does anyone have experience with how much this will boost my signal and how much it may take off the life of my router?

Also, we have a metal roof so I don't know how much that affects our signal going out. I would preferably put the router in our attic because there are also some dead spots in the house. I feel like this may help that situation as I would get a more centrally located wifi source. However, if the metal roof nixes the signal to the barn I may have to look at another solution.

 

[BuddhaSkoota]

This is what I meant by "overclocking." Does anyone have experience with how much this will boost my signal and how much it may take off the life of my router?

Also, we have a metal roof so I don't know how much that affects our signal going out. I would preferably put the router in our attic because there are also some dead spots in the house.

If you have a compatible router, third party firmware like DD-WRT is a great method of getting more features over stock firmware, including bridge mode. By itself it will not do any harm to your router, but it will allow you to adjust transmit power beyond the designed specs. This creates stress on the components and will shorten the life of your router, by how much depends probably depends on the quality of the router. Testing should be done with default transmit levels, and if necessary, increased gradually until satisfactory results are obtained.

Using a directional antenna is a more effective way of increasing (focusing) the signal, but you would be limited to using it at the receiving end since you will be using the house router around that area. It still is likely to provide good results.

The attic is probably not the best place for your router, especially with the metal roof. If you have a large house with dead wireless spots, you should consider other methods to increase coverage.

Edit: Here's a link for DD-WRT supported routers.