I have a metal building as my shop and want to put a camera inside as a precaution. Would it be better to just extend the antenna to outside the building or would it help to also add a hi gain antenna on the outside. I can hit the wifi from outside normally but it's not the strongest signal.
Long distance wifi
- Thread starter cmccarter
- Start date
If you have the budget for it and you have a clear and unobstructed line of sight between the buildings, get two of these (Nanostation Loco M5) to create a dedicated wireless bridge between the two buildings: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EHSV4W
Note they do not come with network cables, but they do come with their own proprietary PoE injectors, so you need 2 network cables for each radio, one to go from your router/switch/camera to the PoE injector, and another to go from the PoE injector through the wall of the building to the radio which must be mounted outside in a place where it can see the other radio without obstructions (walls, windows, trees, vehicles, etc all count as obstructions). Set them to the minimum possible output power and otherwise follow this guide to link them together: https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/205142890-airMAX-Configure-a-Point-to-Point-Link-Layer-2-Transparent-Bridge-
What I linked above is the 5 ghz version. If that costs more than you are willing to spend, here is the 2.4ghz version which is a little cheaper. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EGI3CI You could use a pair of these the same way. The difference is the 2.4 GHz radios cost a little less but they use a more commonly used radio frequency which means they will likely not operate quite as fast as the 5 GHz radios would. Also, 2.4 GHz radio penetrates obstructions better. You could buy just one of these and put it on the outside of your shop pointing back at your house and connect it directly to your home router, but then it would be sharing bandwidth with your home wifi and slowing down your other wifi usage. That is why I recommended the 5ghz version first since it won't be likely to affect your home wifi usage as much.
Note they do not come with network cables, but they do come with their own proprietary PoE injectors, so you need 2 network cables for each radio, one to go from your router/switch/camera to the PoE injector, and another to go from the PoE injector through the wall of the building to the radio which must be mounted outside in a place where it can see the other radio without obstructions (walls, windows, trees, vehicles, etc all count as obstructions). Set them to the minimum possible output power and otherwise follow this guide to link them together: https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/205142890-airMAX-Configure-a-Point-to-Point-Link-Layer-2-Transparent-Bridge-
What I linked above is the 5 ghz version. If that costs more than you are willing to spend, here is the 2.4ghz version which is a little cheaper. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EGI3CI You could use a pair of these the same way. The difference is the 2.4 GHz radios cost a little less but they use a more commonly used radio frequency which means they will likely not operate quite as fast as the 5 GHz radios would. Also, 2.4 GHz radio penetrates obstructions better. You could buy just one of these and put it on the outside of your shop pointing back at your house and connect it directly to your home router, but then it would be sharing bandwidth with your home wifi and slowing down your other wifi usage. That is why I recommended the 5ghz version first since it won't be likely to affect your home wifi usage as much.
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