Run Wifi antennae through walls

[alec.nicolai]

Would I be able to run extended wifi router antennae throughout my walls to increase performance and connectivity in each room?
I mean to actually run antennae inside my walls to increase the output of each antenna.

 

[BFG-9000]

At WiFi frequencies, losses in coax cable are very high, so you want the cables as short as possible, as in inches count. So you can go through a wall but the antenna should be directly on the other side of it, or the losses will become so great that it would actually be better to keep the antenna on the router (unless the walls are steel or something)..

 

[alec.nicolai]

At WiFi frequencies, losses in coax cable are very high, so you want the cables as short as possible, as in inches count. So you can go through a wall but the antenna should be directly on the other side of it, or the losses will become so great that it would actually be better to keep the antenna on the router (unless the walls are steel or something)..

What I mean to say is to wire antenna extensions directly to the existing ones, whether that be by cracking the plastic casing that most have surrounding them, or finding another way to extend existing antennae. If the walls were made of a conductive material, not including the drywall and paint, would it theoretically be possible to run the signal from the walls themselves?

 

[BFG-9000]

Patch panel antennas will come with short cables attached. If your original antennas unscrew, just get antennas that fit those connectors and have a couple feet of cable. If they don't, they generally clip on inside using laptop-style u.FL connectors. Every connection, and every inch of cable will cause losses at such high frequencies so extending them further than that is a bad idea.

There's a reason that businesses that need top Wifi performance put an AP in every room instead of running long antenna wires--it's because long antenna wires don't work while ethernet doesn't care if it's 330 feet long and performance will be exactly the same.

And no, but if the walls are conductive they should make great reflectors. A patch antenna works best if there is a reflector behind it and a wall-sized one would work quite well.

 

[alec.nicolai]

Patch panel antennas will come with short cables attached. If your original antennas unscrew, just get antennas that fit those connectors and have a couple feet of cable. If they don't, they generally clip on inside using laptop-style u.FL connectors. Every connection, and every inch of cable will cause losses at such high frequencies so extending them further than that is a bad idea.

There's a reason that businesses that need top Wifi performance put an AP in every room instead of running long antenna wires--it's because long antenna wires don't work while ethernet doesn't care if it's 330 feet long and performance will be exactly the same.

And no, but if the walls are conductive they should make great reflectors. A patch antenna works best if there is a reflector behind it and a wall-sized one would work quite well.

Alright thank you. I thought it seemed like a good idea in order to get signal to every corner of a house but I can see how that could cause problem. I take it this is why a wireless mesh system has been created?

 

[BFG-9000]

Mesh is a way to avoid having to run wires to a lot of APs. The good ones use a separate radio on a different channel as the "backhaul" connection so bandwidth isn't impaired, while the bad ones operate like range extenders with a single radio to cut bandwidth in half. All of them cost a lot more than a bunch of normal APs, if you can run ethernet cables.