Looking for a router extender antenna

[dirkinzs]

I work for a small business and we just opened a office location across the street from our retail location. Rather than paying for a second internet connection in the new building we would like to extend the range of our current network to be able to reach both locations.

Our first idea was to install a NetGear Nighthawk ex7500 wifi range extender in the new location but even that cant pick up a strong enough signal to function correctly and there is no mid point where we could install it as it is two separate buildings.

I've started doing some research on antennas to extend the functionality of our existing router rather than trying to just repeat the signal. There are a lot of options and I wanted to make sure I was going down the right path and to see if anyone has a recommendation.

Requirements:
- Cannot be placed outdoors
- Must Span a distance of roughly 250 to 300 feet between buildings and through traffic.
- The router to extend is an Arris dg2460a model modem/router

 

[rontonomo]

at that distance nothing is going to work very well without having direct line of site and without using outdoor antennas

 

[kanewolf]

Yes, you need to get outdoors and above traffic. You could then use a pair of wireless bridge devices to create a point-to-point network between the buildings. Engenius and Ubiquiti both make directional wireless bridge devices. In an urban or suburban setting you would want to use 5Ghz for the link. The Engenius ENS500 or the Ubiquiti nano 5Ghz.

You would configure like this:

Internet router -> ethernet cable -> (outdoors) -> wireless bridge {{{ space between buildings }}} wireless bridge -> (indoors) -> ethernet cable -> switch -> devices or WIFI access points.

 

[dirkinzs]

Yes, you need to get outdoors and above traffic. You could then use a pair of wireless bridge devices to create a point-to-point network between the buildings. Engenius and Ubiquiti both make directional wireless bridge devices. In an urban or suburban setting you would want to use 5Ghz for the link. The Engenius ENS500 or the Ubiquiti nano 5Ghz.

You would configure like this:

Internet router -> ethernet cable -> (outdoors) -> wireless bridge {{{ space between buildings }}} wireless bridge -> (indoors) -> ethernet cable -> switch -> devices or WIFI access points.

Well with the router alone we are able to connect from the other building. The signal is weak but it is definitely there so I don't think we need much, just an antenna that is a bit stronger than the one built into the router.

 

[kanewolf]

Getting a signal in one direction, isn't sufficient for WIFI. For a couple hundred dollars you can build a wireless bridge like I suggest. For less than $100, you could put a single directional access point in (or on) the main building pointed at the remote building. Directional in transmit and receive is the key.