Wireless Internet in the Garage

[petroid]

Since my garage is detached and far enough from the house that my wireless internet signal is very poor, I can't use my laptop out there or if I use my phone, it uses my cellular data. This is annoying if I'm loading ammo or working on something and want to consult a website for guidance. Well, I got to thinking....I know, bad idea, right?

I knew I had a wireless router that wasn't in use and was wondering if I could use it as an access point or bridge to the other router. A little google-fu took me to the dd-wrt website. It details how to do all kinds of things with routers, switches, hubs, access points etc. After about thirty minutes of tinkering, I was able to reconfigure my old wireless router that was collecting dust in the closet and make it into a wireless bridge.

I have now effectively extended my wi-fi signal not only to the garage, but for about a hundred yards past that. Now when I'm sitting in the woods behind the house waiting for Bambi or Red Fox to stroll past, I can pass the time with Castboolits on my phone and not have to worry about using up all my precious data. It will work great for my kids, too. They get bored sitting in the deer blind with me, but now they can occupy themselves with their electronics and not be fidgeting around all the time. I know they should be paying attention to the woods and not their games, but if they need something to sweeten the pot to get them in the blind and that helps keep them there, I call it a win.

[labradigger1]

Tagged for later, I have the same issues here

[HollowPoint]

About a year or so ago I was seriously thinking about dropping my internet provider. It seems that they had gotten into the habit of raising their rates repeatedly.

I live in the city and have free wifi hotspots in every direction from my home. The problem was that neither my laptop nor my desktop computer had an antenna strong enough to reach any of these hotspots. I too went on line in search of wifi wisdom.

I ended up buying a roof mounted antenna that now allows me to connect to the internet for free. Our city offers free wifi; as well as our school system and local performing arts facility. (among others) These hotspots are over a mile from my home but I'm still able to connect using them at any time of day. The speed that I receive data at isn't much slower than with my paid-for internet connection.

The downside to using some of these free wifi hotspots is that they have certain protocols in place that will not allow me to log onto any website having to do with guns, outdoor sports or adult content. I can do without the adult content but alot of my interests lay within the shooting and outdoor sports realms so my hotspots of choice are those that don't censor out guns and hunting. Heck, a couple of these hotspots won't even let me log onto our game and fish department for hunting and fishing updates.

If my internet provider raises it's rates any further, I still may drop them like the proverbial hot potato. For now, I'll hold on and use my wifi connections as a back up.

HollowPoint

[wordsmith]

Petroid - If you want serious outdoor wifi power and range, you may want to look at Ubiquiti. I use their products for my long range multi-mile real time game cam systems, and they work like clockwork.
https://www.ubnt.com/products/#broadband/wireless

Hollowpoint - you may want to look into using a Virtual Private Network provider and seeing which free hotpoints allow VPN passthrough - many do in my experience. That prevents them from seeing what / where you're going, and protects you from packet sniffers. I use Private Internet Access personally - cheap and works well. There are many many choices.

[petroid]

Thanks for the heads up in ubuquiti. Talking with a buddy earlier about wireless game cams. Mostly just goofing around but that sounds cool

[NavyVet1959]

I would have probably just run a hard wired CAT-5/5e/6 cable to the garage via underground and with sched-40 1/2" PVC as conduit and then setup a WAP / router in the garage.

[RogerDat]

DD-WRT leverages the fact that many routers and wireless devices are "crippled" by the manufacturer software that prevents you from taking full advantage of what the hardware is actually capable of. Cheaper to make them all the same, then put a software "governor" on the ones for the home market, remove the governor for the business and office market. $50 router for home can be the same hardware inside as the $500 office or commercial router. Just held back by the software they installed. E.G. the wireless radio might be held down to 9 or 12 mw while actually able to operate at 25 to 70 mw. Four meg of ram installed but system only allowed to access one meg.

The operating system in a router (or many if not most devices) is based on free versions of Linux or Unix operating system, the software they run is *Nix software so geeks just create their own copy of the operating system, with their own unrestricted software and give it away. Not really any different than rooting an Android phone. All Android phones can be mobile hotspots, the phone company puts a block on that feature that requires payment to unblock and allows them to charge that data as separate. Free unlocked version of the phone OS does not have that restriction.

There is some minor risk, warranty getting voided and/or turning the device into an expensive doorstop aka "brick" from not following directions and paying attention. On the other hand people that cast and reload without blowing the gun, house or garage up are probably pretty good at doing careful step by step work.

[footpetaljones]

HollowPoint,

A VPN should allow you to bypass any site restrictions.

[HollowPoint]

HollowPoint,

A VPN should allow you to bypass any site restrictions.

I'll have to do some more research into "VPN". I don't know what that is exactly. Although, I did come across that acronym when I bought my Android smart phone and was considering using it exclusively as my hotspot.

I came across a few different ways of safely connecting to the internet via wifi but, I'm not tech-saavy enough to understand how it works. It's a frustrating thing to be ignorant about stuff like this; especially when stuff like this can really help you financially and otherwise.

I guess I'll have to do a google search of the acronym "VPN" and find out what it's all about.

HollowPoint

[wordsmith]

I guess I'll have to do a google search of the acronym "VPN" and find out what it's all about.

HollowPoint


There are many good technical explanations out there, but think of it as a safe "tunnel" through which you can pass data, and you're close. There are many ways to create a VPN, with varying levels of difficulty and security. What I had suggested earlier (Private Internet Access) is a VPN provider that connects you to it's servers securely and through which you can pass all your data, so that everything between your home computer and / or phone, across the wifi connection, through the internet access providers servers on which you're transmitting data, and on to the VPN providers servers is encrypted and therefore they can't see where you're going or accessing.

The tricky part is that most VPN server addresses are known, and if the wifi access point you're accessing has decided to block VPN access (by not allowing VPN passthrough traffic), the VPN connection to your VPN provider will fail. You will just have to search until you find one of the providers that allows VPN passthrough, and you're in business. There are ways around VPN blocks that are beyond the scope of this discussion. Hope this helps.

[cheese1566]

I would have probably just run a hard wired CAT-5/5e/6 cable to the garage via underground and with sched-40 1/2" PVC as conduit and then setup a WAP / router in the garage.

Thats what I did.

i was able to run a Ethernet cable through the extra 2" pvc underground conduit I laid when I ran phone/cable out my detached garage when placing power and gas to it from the house.

i had an extra wifi router so I googled and learned how to configure it for an extra access point on the same network. iPads and wifi on my phone in the garage and outdoor patio.

[NavyVet1959]

Thats what I did.

i was able to run a Ethernet cable through the extra 2" pvc underground conduit I laid when I ran phone/cable out my detached garage when placing power and gas to it from the house.

i had an extra wifi router so I googled and learned how to configure it for an extra access point on the same network. iPads and wifi on my phone in the garage and outdoor patio.

Whenever I run conduit like that, I leave a piece of twine nylon twine in the conduit that is long enough that I can use it to fish more cable through there if necessary at a later date. Actually, I usually use a piece of twine that is TWICE as long and the conduit so that I can bring the line back to where it started.

[6bg6ga]

You can also use direct burial cable in place of your schedule 40 pipe if so desired.

[NavyVet1959]

You can also use direct burial cable in place of your schedule 40 pipe if so desired.

Nawh, I like having something with a bit of substance to it in case I'm digging. The sched-40 pipe is heavy enough that the shovel will stop before I go through it. I wouldn't consider direct burying wire unless I was going to be digging 3 ft down and it was a pretty heavy wire like you see for line voltage coming into a house.

[cheese1566]

Whenever I run conduit like that, I leave a piece of twine nylon twine in the conduit that is long enough that I can use it to fish more cable through there if necessary at a later date. Actually, I usually use a piece of twine that is TWICE as long and the conduit so that I can bring the line back to where it started.

thats what I did too! Wow, we think alike!

i actually ran an extra 2" pvc conduit while the trenches were open. I ran coax and phone and the string for future runs. I ran the string and left the rest of the ball of string connected for future runs.

[NavyVet1959]

thats what I did too! Wow, we think alike!

i actually ran an extra 2" pvc conduit while the trenches were open. I ran coax and phone and the string for future runs. I ran the string and left the rest of the ball of string connected for future runs.

I started doing that after having run CAT5 internet cable and then having to go back and run new phone cables to the same jacks at a later date. Decided that having a sting left there permanently make it easier next time around. Sometimes, you can luck out and the workers will not have stapled the phone cable to the studs so you can just pull up the new cable by the old cable, but more often than not, someone thought that cables would *never* go bad, so they just staple them to the studs. :(

Of course, these are the same idiots who think that it makes sense to have some sort of random wiring topology that goes from room to room instead of all coming from a central location with a 66-block. I've also rewired that...

[shunka]

The downside to using some of these free wifi hotspots is that they have certain protocols in place that will not allow me to log onto any website having to do with guns, outdoor sports or adult content.
HollowPoint

You may find that one of these proxy servers will let you get thru the hotspot "firewall"
Proxies (https://proxy.org/cgi_proxies.shtml)

[rondog]

VPN = Virtual Private Network, if that helps.

LAN is Local Area Network, WAN is Wide Area Network.

[Reverend Al]

In my case I didn't have an extra router to play around with so I went down to my favorite computer store and over the counter they sold me a simple little USB "plug & play" unit. I came home, popped it into an open USB port on the old computer system that I put down here in my new reloading shop, installed the drivers from the supplied disc, and 5 minutes later I was connected to our upstairs WIFI system and onto this site. Easy peasy ...

[smilie=w:

[petroid]

In my case I didn't have an extra router to play around with so I went down to my favorite computer store and over the counter they sold me a simple little USB "plug & play" unit. I came home, popped it into an open USB port on the old computer system that I put down here in my new reloading shop, installed the drivers from the supplied disc, and 5 minutes later I was connected to our upstairs WIFI system and onto this site. Easy peasy ...

[smilie=w:

That's an easy fix for that situation. My issue was that my wireless network didn't cover much of my garage or back yard. Since I did have an extra router, I was able to fix the problem for free. I had previously used that same router as a client only before I got my ISP's router relocated to my computer desk so that I could run an ethernet cable to the PC. I had it set up to do the same thing your USB dongle did, since my desktop didn't have a wireless card. Now it's wired in, and the extra router was freed up to be even more useful.

[RogerDat]

Leaving a fish line in the wire run should be something everyone does. Length should be a little more than 2x the run. This allows you to pull all the way through and still have line left over to pull the line back for next time.

I use thin wire for long runs but nylon twine or thin rope works well too.

[Boolit_Head]

Be aware Cat 6 does have limitations on the length of the runs before you need a repeater.

[NavyVet1959]

Be aware Cat 6 does have limitations on the length of the runs before you need a repeater.

It would suck having to go back to 10Base5 to get more distance. I hated having to deal with 10Base5 and the vampire taps.

10Base2 is good for 200 meters
10BaseT is good for 100 meters
100BaseT is good for 100 meters
Once you get to Gigabit Ethernet speeds though, the Cat6 wire length limit goes down a bit.

I don't have an internet connection fast enough to worry about it though. I have a 12 Mbps DSL plan, so Cat5 is plenty.

[Boolit_Head]

Yup it's not recommended to run cat 5 or 6 further than 290 feet. Cat 6 is very picky to punch down if you are actually going to run the qualification test on it. My normal method of punching down cat5 would not pass for cat6. All the legs to the posts had to be equal lengths.

[stanford]

If you really want to get internet connection in your garage this is what you need to do. http://www.cnet.com/topics/networking/best-networking-devices/power-line-adapters/ Look at the article and decide which adapters that you will need, this is what I use at my house so the kids don't have to use wireless.

1. Plug one side of the adapter into your router.
2. Plug the other adapter into an outlet in your garage, *NOT* a powerstrip, but directly into the outlet.
3. Plug the cable into the adapter and into your laptop.

This will give you speeds about 10x the speed of wireless and there are no wires to run. The signals are run through the power lines in your house and provides the internet connection that you need.

[stanford]

In the past I used to wire everything with cat6 cable wherever I needed a drop. Once these devices were presented to the public that was my way of not running cables anymore. Wireless is too unreliable, you can connect cameras or whatever you need to these devices and you have a stable consistent connection.

[NavyVet1959]

If you really want to get internet connection in your garage this is what you need to do. http://www.cnet.com/topics/networking/best-networking-devices/power-line-adapters/

I remember the X10 devices that were for controlling things over your home wiring and how many problems I had with them. Lights going on or off when they weren't being told to and them not going on or off when told to. As such, I'm not very trusting of any technology that attempts to share the power line for signaling / data transfer. Wireless serves a need -- some devices can't be hooked up to a wired connection. For the most part though, I will run a CAT5+ cable to at least one RJ-45 outlet in every room. But then again, I also wire all my phone outlets to support 3 lines and use Type-66 blocks for distribution (star topology) instead of hybrid bus/star topology that you see in most houses.

[stanford]

Funny you mentioned the X10 devices, I just went through the garage over the weekend and tossed out a whole lot of junk that I have accumulated over the years. My entire setup of X10 devices was one of them, I had the whole setup, alarms, motion detectors, light controllers etc. I always had issues with those devices too, sometimes they worked okay and other times they didn't.

These powerline adapters I have been using for years, I stream video from my NAS down to the tv in the living room. Works pretty good and I have not had any issues with interference etc. Almost forgot, I still use some of the X10 devices to control lighting for my parrots in the garage. Avoids me having to turn the lights off and on manually.

[NavyVet1959]

Almost forgot, I still use some of the X10 devices to control lighting for my parrots in the garage. Avoids me having to turn the lights off and on manually.

I found that I had to set up timers to turn off everything multiple times each day to keep lights from being on all the time.

If I was motivated enough to want the automated X10-type systems these days, I would just use an Arduino controller and some relays.

[Whiterabbit]

no wireless internet access in the workshop??

Me too! I love it!

Now all I have to do is figure out how to kill cell service in there so I have a plausible excuse as to why I didn;t respond to my my wife's calls and I am set!





You are trying to break something that is perfectly fixed!

[NavyVet1959]

no wireless internet access in the workshop??

Me too! I love it!

Now all I have to do is figure out how to kill cell service in there so I have a plausible excuse as to why I didn;t respond to my my wife's calls and I am set!

You are trying to break something that is perfectly fixed!

Faraday cage?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

[petroid]

no wireless internet access in the workshop??

Me too! I love it!

Now all I have to do is figure out how to kill cell service in there so I have a plausible excuse as to why I didn;t respond to my my wife's calls and I am set!





You are trying to break something that is perfectly fixed!
Foil hat!

[Good Cheer]

A couple of years ago the point of installation was too far and on the wrong side of an internal brick wall. Gave too little signal for a location at the other end of the building. So I stood up an old cookie sheet behind it to bounce back the signal radiating out of the building. Worked just fine until we had it relocated to where it needed to be.