[SOLVED] Wifi with Range Extender

[eggie55]

I ran cat 6 LAN wire to my shop (170 feet) from my modem with the ability to provide wifi service. I also purchased a TP ethernet network switch so I can plug in the range extender. Will this provide a better signal or am I on the wrong path here?

 

[kanewolf]

I ran cat 6 LAN wire to my shop (170 feet) from my modem with the ability to provide wifi service. I also purchased a TP ethernet network switch so I can plug in the range extender. Will this provide a better signal or am I on the wrong path here?

A better what kind of signal?
Are you asking if the switch will improve the ethernet?
Are you asking about WIFI? You don't want an "extender" with an ethernet connection. You want an access point. An extender might have an AP mode.

 

[eggie55]

Thank You for your reply.

1. A wifi signal using the extender.

2. I put switch in my question as a point of connections I was making. If I understand it right the switch allows for several ports to connect to one for use at least with wifi.

3. My thought with the extender was for my juice box for my electric car. It is wifi driven as far as settings are concerned. It doesn't have a LAN port to plug into, hence I though the extender would help? I was setting up the extender in a POE mode.

 

[bill001g]

So what you have done is run a cable out to a remote location and put a "extender" on it. You plug this cable into a switch which really makes little difference because as you state it just adds ethernet ports.

This should work fine but you want the so called "extender" to run in AP mode and not in repeater or something else. Note this has nothing at all to do with using PoE to provide the power to the unit.

 

[eggie55]

Thank You. Makes a bit more sense. I just have to better explain what I'm trying to do and what acronyms I'm using to do that.

 

[gggplaya]

Your nomenclature is off, but the concept of what you're trying to achieve is correct.

Ethernet to shop-->network switch with POE ports in shop to add more ethernet ports and provide POE-->Access point inside shop to serve up wifi access inside the shop.

 

[eggie55]

Ok. Still at a loss of what I'm doing and just trying to retrace my steps. I have the ethernet cable going from the house (modem) to the shop and the ethernet cable is plugged into the network switch box. I plugged the extender into the network switch box and configured the extender as an access point. The extender shows that it is getting a wifi signal. My phone shows that it connects to the IP address with the extender. How can I test that it is working in the shop, meaning, trying to connect a wifi enabled item? I have a wifi camera mounted in the shop, but it isn't connecting. I also have an EV juice box and Iam having the same problem. Now I feel defeated.

 

[bill001g]

So I would first turn off the extender and verify that the phone DOES NOT connect to the main router when you are in the shop location. If you have overlapping wifi signals it can confuse devices and may mean you don't actually need the extender.

Now turn on the extender and see if the phone properly connects to the extender and function on the internet. I would suspect some wifi setting in the extender. These boxes tends to be too fancy some times. Maybe manually set the SSID and password in the extender wifi settings to be sure it is using what you think it should.

 

[gggplaya]

I would connect the ethernet port in the garage to a laptop first, before anything else just to make sure internet is getting to the switch.

If the laptop works fine with ethernet, then we know for sure that it's a configuration problem with the access point.

 

[eggie55]

Got it. Thank you for the replies. I will do more testing. I'm using the IP address from my router. When I walked out to the shop the IP is the same with one exception. It has an extension on the IP address which I assumed the extender took over for wifi. I will take my lap top out to the shop and see. It is funny though that when I turn off my Bluetooth on my phone and use wifi, i.e. youtube, it brings it right up.

Could it be that I wired the ethernet cable in the wrong configuration? (I had to put a connector on one end) therefore it is not getting the correct signal. I guess Ill find that out when I test it with my laptop.

 

[gggplaya]

There are 2 ways to pin ethernet. Both ends must be the same depending on which you choose.
568-A and 568-B.