WiFi Expansion project for my home

[Franco_Barba]

Hello everybody, I'm new here and this is my first post.
I'v been searching to find an answer but I could not find anything that matches what I want to do.

I want to have a extremely huge WiFi coverage, stability and speed.

I have a 180m2 (1900 Square Ft) house with a large back yard and a front back yard.

Right now I have the Asus RT-AC66U
(http://www.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTAC66U/

Which is working really good, I have good signal and speed link in almost all the house, all the back and front yard. The house has two levels and the router is on the main level in the office by the left side of the house.
So the problem is that far in the back yard the signal is a little weak, and in the kitchen there is low signal close to the sink which is surrounded by walls and kitchen electronics, its a U shape kitchen. upstairs the signal is good but it is not at its maximum. And the most important thing is that I want my wifi to reach some distance outside my house, right now I can drive about 40 meters down the street and I have poor signal and slow speeds, but I get signal, depends on which direction I drive.

So what I want to do is to replace the 3 antennas on the RT-AC66U with 3 powerful antennas relocated with cables.

One on each side of the house and on up in the roof of the house elevated with some kind of small tower.

My idea is to have wifi for example in the coffee 4 blocks away, or when I'm coming home catch the wifi a couple of blocks before I get home, and have perfect maximum signal in every single spot of the house

I'v been reading that the usage of long cables to relocate the antennas generate a huge loss of signal, so I was wondering if there isn't another type of cable or quality that doesn't loss signal, Some blinded cable or fiber optic, does that exist for antennas? or use amplifiers in the middle. Like the fiber optic wires crossing the oceans to connect all the continents.

And what antennas should I use for achieve what I want, especially for the roof.

I don't really want to use multiple devices or any kind of wired connection, I'm desired to do everything 100% wireless no matter how much it can cost.
I want to use the 5.0Ghz with the 802.11AC wifi, as soon as ac adapters and ac devices become available I will switch everything. But as I have iPads and iPhones I need to keep the 802.11N too

I would appreciate any ideas!

 

[postmortemIA]

what you want is generally solved by multiple access points. Ideally they would be connected to each other by Ethernet so that you don't lose 1/2 of bandwidth.

I have used DD-WRT in my home for 2nd AP:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_Access_Point

 

[Franco_Barba]

Thank you for your answer.

I don't really know exactly how that works, with that configuration, you have just one network? I mean, you connect to BlaBLa Wifi 5.0 and no matter to which area you go, you are connected to the same network with no interruption?

And how do I reach long distances 360 arround my home? Is there any Giant super powerful antenna and or Signal booster that could reach a large distance in diameter? like 0.5 miles 360 degrees if more better

 

[postmortemIA]

Thank you for your answer.

I don't really know exactly how that works, with that configuration, you have just one network? I mean, you connect to BlaBLa Wifi 5.0 and no matter to which area you go, you are connected to the same network with no interruption?

And how do I reach long distances 360 arround my home? Is there any Giant super powerful antenna and or Signal booster that could reach a large distance in diameter? like 0.5 miles 360 degrees if more better

How it works is that each AP is on different channel. So yes, you can roam anywhere when you get signal without interruption. Every WiFi device I have seen handles multiple APs with a same SSID and a different channel just fine.

Now, I can't help you with antennas setup, not my expertise, but two APs will surely have better range than one.

 

[JackMDS]

One can not borrow technical solutions from an other domain and apply them when it is Not appropriate.

When you deal with Massive transmitters working (as an example) at the 20 Meter band (14 MHz)you can run hundred feet of Coax to an outside Antenna.

That is Not a functional solution with 2.4/5 GHz signal, 3 feet is more or less the secure length of coax that would work well.

WIFI is extended by CAT6 cable and Access Point at the end.

Indoor you lay a CAT6 cable and then use regular secondary Wireless Router to cover a dead spot.

Here how - Using a Wireless Router as a switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Out Door the priciple is similar but you have to install a special weather protected outdoor Access Point and feed it via POE.

Example - http://www.caworldwifi.com/2.4GhZ-Outdoor-wi-fi-access-points/

 

[VirtualLarry]

My idea is to have wifi for example in the coffee 4 blocks away, or when I'm coming home catch the wifi a couple of blocks before I get home

1) ask the coffee house to install their own wifi for customers
2) what would you be doing with wifi a few blocks before you get to your house WHILE DRIVING?

 

[Franco_Barba]

I know that this doesn't has a lot of seance but I want to access my own network with my internet from as far as I can, the coffee has their own WiFi but I don't want to use it it's slow and if the technology and hardware for using my own from there exist, I want it.

And when I approach to my house driving, I want to get my Wifi from as far as I can, I just want it, so if I'm by the pound 3 blocks away I can connect my laptop ti the internet of my house, or even let a neighbor use it if I want to.

I don't really want to run wires or repeaters if a 100% wireless technology exist.
What I would like to is to install something like a tower with all the antennas or equipment needed to have lighting fast N/AC 5.0Ghz connection to my home WiFi in a 360 radius around my home with the longest range possible.

I'm willing to invest in this if it is possible to build, it will make me just happy

I just don't know where to start from, my objective is clear, have central network operating in the latest WiFi technology reaching with perfect signal the longest distance possible in 360 degrees.
But I'v been searching the web for something of this characteristics and didn't found anything, so I don't even know if the technology needed for what I want is available or where to get it.

 

[Franco_Barba]

One can not borrow technical solutions from an other domain and apply them when it is Not appropriate.

When you deal with Massive transmitters working (as an example) at the 20 Meter band (14 MHz)you can run hundred feet of Coax to an outside Antenna.

That is Not a functional solution with 2.4/5 GHz signal, 3 feet is more or less the secure length of coax that would work well.

I know that for example with the fiber optic cables that travel across the oceans the use signal boosters between segments.
Doesn't that exist for 2.4/5.0 Ghz signals? so 3ft cable a booster, another 3ft another booster and like that. Or a better cable

 

[mammador]

Similar to others have said, I would recommend this:

- Have a centralised router with a large subnet mask (/24 should be sufficient for any household).

- Utilise several access points around your house, linked by Ethernet to the router.

- Configure the access points to broadcast a singular SSID, with exact network key for all devices. Also utilise WPA2 security (with AES encryption).

As for picking up wifi in your local coffee shop, well there are long range wifi access points. They are more used in corporate/organisational/industrial settings, and not in home use (at least I can't think of many used in home settings). You could just as much buy 3/4G for your phone (if your area has good data coverage).

 

[mammador]

I know that for example with the fiber optic cables that travel across the oceans the use signal boosters between segments.
Doesn't that exist for 2.4/5.0 Ghz signals? so 3ft cable a booster, another 3ft another booster and like that. Or a better cable

Most home WLAN applications are short-range, say 50 metres or so.

One thing to consider is that Ethernet cable signals degrade after 100 metres or so. For remote areas of your house (,i,e. far from the router) you may need fibre cabling.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The idea of a super-powerful wifi antenna on the roof may be appealing, but there are FCC limits on the amount of power that you can put out, and you would need an equally-strong signal from the wireless client.

Just get a 3G/4G USB device for your laptop and call it a day. What you want to do isn't feasable.