Multiple distance-separated antennas on one wireless router?

[TommyG2014]

So I was trying to come up with ways to extend my local wireless signal in my house. One option seemed to be to run an ethernet cable through the floor, under the house and to my garage and add an additional wifi router at that point.

Which got me thinking...

What if I ran just a separate/additional antenna to the location. Then I thought, why couldn't I just hardwire some number of antennas to a single router all around my house?

I assume I'm probably missing something important, but I can't figure out why it wouldn't work. Possibly existing routers might not work, but potentially it seems like a router could be built that would work with multiple antennas in this manner.

 

[Alabalcho]

YOu will need (very) expensive antennae cable to do that. Moreover, on most routers different antennae are working on different band, making your task even harder.

Connecting additional Access Point(s) is the best solution. If/when you buy a router, look for one which can be switched into Access Point mode.

 

[orlbuckeye]

They now have WI-fi extenders from many vendors.

 

[TommyG2014]

YOu will need (very) expensive antennae cable to do that. Moreover, on most routers different antennae are working on different band, making your task even harder.

Connecting additional Access Point(s) is the best solution. If/when you buy a router, look for one which can be switched into Access Point mode.

I guess my question was more of a theoretical one (assuming cost, etc. was not an issue). For example, the new Dlink 890 has 6 antenna, 3 of which look like duplicates. Rather than setting up an access point, it seems like you could just put extend the antennas to another part of the house.

On a more practical point, I'm not familiar with what kind of antenna wire would be required for something like this.

 

[TommyG2014]

They now have WI-fi extenders from many vendors.

See my prior answer re this being more of a theoretical question.

Also, it seems like wireless extenders are generally not considered very good solutions

 

[bill001g]

You would have to really dig to find out why that router has 6 antenna. That device has 3 radios in it and it likely have a couple of connection combinations. It also may use 4 antenna for 4x4 mimo if it supports it.

Years ago when you used only 1 antenna for a connection you could think about messing with the antenna. Now days they are using features like MiMO and beam forming that have dependencies on the placement and spacing of the antennas. This really is the only things that makes a difference between a 150,300,450,600 router based on how many antenna they use and their ability to figure out how to extract the intentionally interfering signals.

The antenna wire is the same that has been around for years it is pretty standard 50ohm microwave cable. You get massive DB loss /foot unless you pay a fortune for the cable. The good stuff tends to be almost 1/2inch around and extremely stiff. You also have to have excellent skills in soldering connectors on this because you can lose more in a bad solder joint than the cable itself.

 

[stanlam]

So I was trying to come up with ways to extend my local wireless signal in my house. One option seemed to be to run an ethernet cable through the floor, under the house and to my garage and add an additional wifi router at that point.

Which got me thinking...

What if I ran just a separate/additional antenna to the location. Then I thought, why couldn't I just hardwire some number of antennas to a single router all around my house?

I assume I'm probably missing something important, but I can't figure out why it wouldn't work. Possibly existing routers might not work, but potentially it seems like a router could be built that would work with multiple antennas in this manner.

I just got this completed today and it works!!!!

The wire I bought is expensive but it has excellent reviews. Here the link...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C2C8NE4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

The router I have is the ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router. I only bought one set of wire and extended one of my antennas outdoors so the reception is much better. I will buy another antenna wire and put it on the other side of my house.

If you read the amazon.com reviews, one person wrote "I've used two of these extension cables with the ASUS RT-N66U router. The router is in the basement with the center antenna intact, and I used the cables to extend the left and right antennas into the opposing ends of the house on the first floor. With this configuration, not only do we get full coverage in the house but signal can be seen outside the house covering approximately one square acre of property! That's huge coverage and shows the true-ness and reliability of these cables! "

 

[bill001g]

I just got this completed today and it works!!!!

The wire I bought is expensive but it has excellent reviews. Here the link...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C2C8NE4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

The router I have is the ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router. I only bought one set of wire and extended one of my antennas outdoors so the reception is much better. I will buy another antenna wire and put it on the other side of my house.

If you read the amazon.com reviews, one person wrote "I've used two of these extension cables with the ASUS RT-N66U router. The router is in the basement with the center antenna intact, and I used the cables to extend the left and right antennas into the opposing ends of the house on the first floor. With this configuration, not only do we get full coverage in the house but signal can be seen outside the house covering approximately one square acre of property! That's huge coverage and shows the true-ness and reliability of these cables! "

It only work better in your mind. You split the antenna like you are and you lose the ability of the router to run mimo. You will immediately make your router into a 150m since it can only use 1 antenna.

LMR-240 is crap microwave cable. You need to run at least lmr-400 or better yet lmr-600. Even at the short length you have the LMR-240 will lose more than the antenna adds. You would have to have put much larger antenna on the cable just to stay even with the loss.

 

[stanlam]

I just got this completed today and it works!!!!

The wire I bought is expensive but it has excellent reviews. Here the link...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C2C8NE4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

The router I have is the ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router. I only bought one set of wire and extended one of my antennas outdoors so the reception is much better. I will buy another antenna wire and put it on the other side of my house.

If you read the amazon.com reviews, one person wrote "I've used two of these extension cables with the ASUS RT-N66U router. The router is in the basement with the center antenna intact, and I used the cables to extend the left and right antennas into the opposing ends of the house on the first floor. With this configuration, not only do we get full coverage in the house but signal can be seen outside the house covering approximately one square acre of property! That's huge coverage and shows the true-ness and reliability of these cables! "

It only work better in your mind. You split the antenna like you are and you lose the ability of the router to run mimo. You will immediately make your router into a 150m since it can only use 1 antenna.

LMR-240 is crap microwave cable. You need to run at least lmr-400 or better yet lmr-600. Even at the short length you have the LMR-240 will lose more than the antenna adds. You would have to have put much larger antenna on the cable just to stay even with the loss.

I never even heard of MIMO, so I'm guessing you are pretty smart. I'm pretty sure what you are saying is accurate. What I did was I tested my wireless router with all 3 antenna installed the normal way. I was getting downloads of 40 MBPS and uploads of 4 MBPS. Then I removed 2 antenna's off the router and just used the one antenna that is hooked up to the 20 feet extension. My download speed dropped to 30 MBPS and uploads are still 4MBPS. I'm guessing my download speed dropped because the MIMO is not working. However even at 30 MBPS is way better than what I was getting in the past which was only 6 MBPS.

 

[bill001g]

I guess if you are willing to trade coverage for speed it is better. This is the messy definition of "coverage" where speed is including the with signal levels.

Mimo is the intentional transmission of overlapping signals. Each antenna is actually sending a different signal at the same time. When you eliminate a antenna you eliminate a signal.

 

[orlbuckeye]

http://www.tested.com/tech/web/454692-best-wi-fi-extender-if-youre-out-wired-options/