Trying to cover 500 ft distance with WIFI

MStewart40 · Jan 8, 2018

Hi, I'm sorry if this topic has been done before but all info from previous posts I could find were really outdated. We live out in the country and have Fixed Point High Speed Wireless Internet service. I'm wanting to boost our wifi to cover our house and yard, we currently just have an in house wifi router which is sadly lacking at best "ASUS RT-AC 66U" doesn't even cover the whole house. So I was thinking maybe an outside antenna to cover our yard and a couple of out buildings, but have no idea which one, or maybe there is a better solution. The real distance to reach out is no more than maybe linear 200 ft, but it seems with all this wifi stuff you have to shoot for far and expect short. Any help as to what system or antenna to achieve this would be greatly appreciated.

kanewolf · Jan 8, 2018

Your best choice is to add one or more WIFI access points. You may want an omnidirectional WIFI access point for the yard. Then you add a point-to-point wireless bridge to the building with an indoor WIFI source for devices. All of these devices use an ethernet connection to your primary router.

There are a couple of companies that make light commercial hardware that are suitable for home use. Ubiquiti and Engenius.

For example with Engenius hardware you put a ENS202EXT -- https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833168118 to cover the yard with 2.4Ghz signal. Then a pair of ENS500 (5Ghz) -- https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833168116 to create a wireless bridge link to the building

vmfantom · Jan 8, 2018

MStewart40 :

For starters, you might expect one of the RT-AC66U's radio chains to output 20.38 dBm at 5.775 GHz (per QuieTek's test report), plus 2 dBi of gain from its stock antenna. At 500 feet with no obstructions, that would attenuate the RSSI to -68 dBm which is near the threshold for seeing packet loss. Obviously, you've got a house in the way, so the various types of indoor obstructions you have would eat away at the RSSI.

Now if you add a 2 watt amplifier to one of the radio chains, the RSSI would improve to -50 dBm (again, this is free space path loss without accounting for specific attenuation constants applicable to doors, glass, drywall, etc.). If you really wanted to knock it out of the park, you could run LMR-400 cabling between the RT-AC66U and an outdoor antenna for -35 dBm as-is or -19 dBm with the 2 watt amp (reading the measurement right at the antenna), and that's before factoring in the true gain of whichever antenna you'd want to use outside. So if you had a 12 dBi antenna in the yard, you might expect those readings to improve to -23 dBm, or -7 dBm with the amp. You could get a 12 dBI omni fiberglass antenna if your other buildings are mostly equidistant form wherever you'd put the antenna.

Having an amp on just one radio chain versus all 3 might make the MIMO spatial streams a bit wonky, but you'd have better throughput overall at the far ends of your house and property.

nigelivey · Jan 8, 2018

Kanewolf has provided you with the correct answer, not only does it make sense to someone who doesn't operate in the world of RF, it's clear and concise.

nigelivey · Jan 8, 2018

vmfantom :

MStewart40 :

For starters, you might expect one of the RT-AC66U's radio chains to output 20.38 dBm at 5.775 GHz (per QuieTek's test report), plus 2 dBi of gain from its stock antenna. At 500 feet with no obstructions, that would attenuate the RSSI to -68 dBm which is near the threshold for seeing packet loss. Obviously, you've got a house in the way, so the various types of indoor obstructions you have would eat away at the RSSI.

Now if you add a 2 watt amplifier to one of the radio chains, the RSSI would improve to -50 dBm (again, this is free space path loss without accounting for specific attenuation constants applicable to doors, glass, drywall, etc.). If you really wanted to knock it out of the park, you could run LMR-400 cabling between the RT-AC66U and an outdoor antenna for -35 dBm as-is or -19 dBm with the 2 watt amp (reading the measurement right at the antenna), and that's before factoring in the true gain of whichever antenna you'd want to use outside. So if you had a 12 dBi antenna in the yard, you might expect those readings to improve to -23 dBm, or -7 dBm with the amp. You could get a 12 dBI omni fiberglass antenna if your other buildings are mostly equidistant form wherever you'd put the antenna.

Having an amp on just one radio chain versus all 3 might make the MIMO spatial streams a bit wonky, but you'd have better throughput overall at the far ends of your house and property.

Do you honestly believe this level of detail is required to help the OP or are you having another "tech off" with yourself? LOL

vmfantom · Jan 8, 2018

kanewolf :

Since those are for 2x2 MIMO 802.11n at up to 300 Mbps Phy rates, what would you recommend for someone wanting to make the most of the 1300 Mbps Phy rate on the RT-AC66U's 5 GHz band?

kanewolf · Jan 8, 2018

Unless the OP has gigabit WAN service, I wouldn't recommend any changes. The potential AC bandwidth is not relevant for most equipment. In the yard, 300Mbit for phones and tablets shouldn't be a disadvantage. If there is an outdoor TV, I would recommend a wired connection. Just as I do with any stationary streaming device.

MStewart40 · Jan 8, 2018

Thank you both for the replies. It certainly is a complex issue extending wifi range, it's going to take some research to absorb all the info you both have shared.

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