How to increase the wifi bandwidth/connection to my neighbors place?

[Solaris17]

wouldn't a range extender be able to do the same?

The short answer is no. The right answer is it always depends on the device responding and the amplification. Directional antenna and cranking transmit power arent real solutions especially if say the receiving device is a cell phone. Because the cell phone for example is going to be under the impression since it is connected that the device will "hear it". However the cell phones transmit power is no where NEAR as high as an access point or router with the TX power cranked or using a directional antenna. So the reception ends up WORSE on the device because instead of failing off to say cellular it sees that its signal is "good" so it will happily retransmit into nothingness.

Upping transmit power is also terrible for things next to the AP or router. Which is why I cringe at people that mention "my X is right next to my router/AP, my signal still sucks." Imagine (In laymans) you are down the street and someone is screaming at you and you cant hear. So instead they use a mega phone so you can hear them and they can speak normally (increase TX power). Seems to make sense. But now imagine you are NEXT to the person with the megaphone. Instead of understanding them and having a conversation no one can hear you, and you cant quite understand them because its SUPER LOUD.

EDIT:: Now with that said, I just couldnt standby and really wanted to clear some misconceptions about wireless. In OPs case it likely isnt that extreme. I mean 10m is a little over 30ft. Its a bit of a gap. He might get away with some kind of repeater or a cheap PtP system. His performance will likely depend a lot on what he wants to spend money on though.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Right, that's where ea-n66 in bridge mode comes into play. String an Ethernet cable from the ea-n66 (that sits in closest proximity to minstreless' house) to his PC or whatever. The ea-n66 in bridge mode gets its signal from minstreless' Ubiquiti or WiFi router. If OP puts the AP closest proximity to clients house, EA-n66 will act as better antenna without feedline losses.

Only problem with this scenario is minstreless' LAN will be at the mercy of neighbor.

Dude, what is it with you and the bridge mode? It's NOT going to help. The issue is that the signal between the two houses is too weak as it is today, as the EA-N66 isn't powerful enough in combination with the Ubiquiti AP ac lite, so there's a weak signal, which means slow connection. This is what the OP wants to remedy.

I maybe asking the wrong question here, but wouldn't a simple range extender do the job? I know I can pick up my router's signal over 10m+, wouldn't a range extender be able to do the same?

Also, OP said he's in northern Norway. If he's close enough to Santa's village, maybe that'll fix it?

Range extender = omni-directional antenna. Also, the OP has an AP already which pretty much is a range extender in this setup.

@Solaris17 thank you! Finally someone that gets the problem.

 

[laszlo]

maybe there is another solution through powerline; if houses are so close than powerline are also intersecting ; i have this in mind:

What Is Powerline Networking and How Do You Use It? | Digital Trends

There's more to networking than using Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Powerline is a third option that fits in the middle. Here's what Powerline is and how to use it.

www.digitaltrends.com

.

 

[TheLostSwede]

maybe there is another solution through powerline; if houses are so close than powerline are also intersecting ; i have this in mind:

What Is Powerline Networking and How Do You Use It? | Digital Trends

There's more to networking than using Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Powerline is a third option that fits in the middle. Here's what Powerline is and how to use it.

www.digitaltrends.com

.

Uhm, no, just no. That's not how those work. They can't go outside of your main breaker box.

 

[bug]

Range extender = omni-directional antenna. Also, the OP has an AP already which pretty much is a range extender in this setup.

I know it's omni-directional, but so is my router. And if I can pick up the router's signal from 10m away, I don't see why he couldn't do the same with a range extender.

 

[laszlo]

Uhm, no, just no. That's not how those work. They can't go outside of your main breaker box.

actually they can go outside as the breaker is a circuit also...

 

[bug]

The short answer is no. The right answer is it always depends on the device responding and the amplification. Directional antenna and cranking transmit power arent real solutions especially if say the receiving device is a cell phone. Because the cell phone for example is going to be under the impression since it is connected that the device will "hear it". However the cell phones transmit power is no where NEAR as high as an access point or router with the TX power cranked or using a directional antenna. So the reception ends up WORSE on the device because instead of failing off to say cellular it sees that its signal is "good" so it will happily retransmit into nothingness.

Not sure how a cell phone is relevant in the context. Reception works both ways, but starting with 802.11ac, there's beam forming on both ends.

Upping transmit power is also terrible for things next to the AP or router. Which is why I cringe at people that mention "my X is right next to my router/AP, my signal still sucks." Imagine (In laymans) you are down the street and someone is screaming at you and you cant hear. So instead they use a mega phone so you can hear them and they can speak normally (increase TX power). Seems to make sense. But now imagine you are NEXT to the person with the megaphone. Instead of understanding them and having a conversation no one can hear you, and you cant quite understand them because its SUPER LOUD.

Again, I don't get it. Shouting will make it harder for people to understand each other, but I don't see how that translates to making it harder for equipment close to the router to pick up the signal.
Too strong a signal can cause interference, but that's only when you have overlapping signals.

EDIT:: Now with that said, I just couldnt standby and really wanted to clear some misconceptions about wireless. In OPs case it likely isnt that extreme. I mean 10m is a little over 30ft. Its a bit of a gap. He might get away with some kind of repeater or a cheap PtP system. His performance will likely depend a lot on what he wants to spend money on though.

Thank you. 10m mostly over air shouldn't be much of a challenge, unless you're using cheap equipment (which most ISPs provide "for free").

 

[Rei]

Dunno if I could address this issue after all "that going on" in the thread, but my solution would be to get OP or/and his neighbor an extra WiFi range extender such as these:

https://www.totolink.net/home/menu/menu/menu_listtpl/prod/id/52.html

This has worked well for my use case which is similar or a bit worse to OP's case, which is a single router from my home to all three of my shop close by. All I did was connect/sync/pair my WiFi range extender to my router then put one WiFi range extender on one of my shop & the other WiFi range extender on the other two shop which is side-by-side & a bit distance away from my home & other shop. All my WiFi capable device as well as my employee's & customers is able to connect to the internet through my home router with the full bandwidth of my internet provider bandwidth plan.

 

[TheLostSwede]

actually they can go outside as the breaker is a circuit also...

Not down the mains, they can't. Also, mains in Scandinavia is normally 380-400V, as it's three phase. So no, it wouldn't work and wasn't designed to work like you think it does.

Not sure how a cell phone is relevant in the context. Reception works both ways, but starting with 802.11ac, there's beam forming on both ends.

Uhm, no, sadly that's what they sold you on, but it isn't implemented in all products. You need Wave 2 products for it to potentially work. It should work on 802.11ax, but doesn't seem to make much difference from the tests I've seen.
Also beamforming isn't some kind of magic solution that solves all range issues, it mainly just allows for better speeds at the same range.

Again, I don't get it. Shouting will make it harder for people to understand each other, but I don't see how that translates to making it harder for equipment close to the router to pick up the signal.
Too strong a signal can cause interference, but that's only when you have overlapping signals.

Try it yourself, it's easy, go stand right next to your router with your phone and then 2-3m away and you'll see that you'll get better speed 2-3m away from the router than right next to it.
That said, some of this has to do with how the antennas work as well.

Thank you. 10m mostly over air shouldn't be much of a challenge, unless you're using cheap equipment (which most ISPs provide "for free").

Which the OP has, a really basic TP-Link router and the lowest-end Ubiquiti ceiling mounted AP.

 

[bug]

Uhm, no, sadly that's what they sold you on, but it isn't implemented in all products. You need Wave 2 products for it to potentially work. It should work on 802.11ax, but doesn't seem to make much difference from the tests I've seen.
Also beamforming isn't some kind of magic solution that solves all range issues, it mainly just allows for better speeds at the same range.

Beamforming is what a directional antenna would use anyway, I don't see a distinction here.

Try it yourself, it's easy, go stand right next to your router with your phone and then 2-3m away and you'll see that you'll get better speed 2-3m away from the router than right next to it.
That said, some of this has to do with how the antennas work as well.

I did just that, speed was the same next to the router and 3m away. It was actually slightly slower 3m away, as expected.

Which the OP has, a really basic TP-Link router and the lowest-end Ubiquiti ceiling mounted AP.

Yeah, bummer. I burned some cash on a Nighthawk, but during these times when all my colleagues, from time to time, complained about unstable networks, I was happily working from the yard.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Beamforming is what a directional antenna would use anyway, I don't see a distinction here.

Big difference, due to the antenna design. With explicit or implicit beam forming you're still using an omni-directional antenna. As such, Beamforming can only do so much to change the antenna design. See link below for an admittedly quite old test, but it really isn't magic and can't turn an omni-directional antenna into a directional one. Best case, you get a small improvement. Yes, it has been improved on 802.11ax, but the OP doesn't have any 802.11ax equipment. Also keep in mind that the neighbour doesn't even have 802.11ac equipment and thus is unlikely to take advantage of beamforming.

Does Beamforming Really Work? - SmallNetBuilder

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

www.smallnetbuilder.com

also, see

802.11ac: A Survival Guide

Chapter 4. Beamforming in 802.11ac You can’t depend on your network when your transmission is out of focus. —Mark Twain, as network administrator In wired networking, the biggest innovation … - Selection from 802.11ac: A Survival Guide [Book]

www.oreilly.com

Where modern MU-MIMO beamforming might have an actual impact, is if you have a couple of devices that supports beamforming connected to a 4x4 router, as then, at least in theory, both devices should see optimal performance, presuming they're both 2x2 devices. However, it doesn't mean you're going to get vastly improved performance or signal strength in a place where the signal was weak before.

I did just that, speed was the same next to the router and 3m away. It was actually slightly slower 3m away, as expected.

I don't know what magic equipment you have then, but having work for a router manufacturer, I have never seen this to be true. I also don't see that at home.
I have a 20-ish Mbps drop in performance when hold my phone right above the router, compared to when I stand 2-3 metre away from it.

Yeah, bummer. I burned some cash on a Nighthawk, but during these times when all my colleagues, from time to time, complained about unstable networks, I was happily working from the yard.

I have an R7800 as my main router, but I also have two TP-Link devices set up as APs, as I simply don't get enough range from the R7800 to cover the entire house. Admittedly I live in a narrow, but tall house, made out of concrete and metal, which makes it quite hard for Wi-Fi signals to penetrate the entire house. However, when I only had the R7800, there were a lot of places in the house where I had dead spots or where the signal would just drop out all of a sudden.
It's simply not possible to presume that because a certain setup works in your house, it will work for everyone else.
If you live in a wood house with plasterboard walls, you're going to have a lot better Wi-Fi reception from a single device, than if you have concrete or brick walls for example.
I actually get reception in the parking garage under our house from my R7800 and a stronger signal there, than I get on the third floor, where I get no signal.

 

[bug]

Big difference, due to the antenna design. With explicit or implicit beam forming you're still using an omni-directional antenna. As such, Beamforming can only do so much to change the antenna design. See link below for an admittedly quite old test, but it really isn't magic and can't turn an omni-directional antenna into a directional one. Best case, you get a small improvement. Yes, it has been improved on 802.11ax, but the OP doesn't have any 802.11ax equipment. Also keep in mind that the neighbour doesn't even have 802.11ac equipment and thus is unlikely to take advantage of beamforming.

Does Beamforming Really Work? - SmallNetBuilder

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

www.smallnetbuilder.com

also, see

802.11ac: A Survival Guide

Chapter 4. Beamforming in 802.11ac You can’t depend on your network when your transmission is out of focus. —Mark Twain, as network administrator In wired networking, the biggest innovation … - Selection from 802.11ac: A Survival Guide [Book]

www.oreilly.com

Where modern MU-MIMO beamforming might have an actual impact, is if you have a couple of devices that supports beamforming connected to a 4x4 router, as then, at least in theory, both devices should see optimal performance, presuming they're both 2x2 devices. However, it doesn't mean you're going to get vastly improved performance or signal strength in a place where the signal was weak before.



I don't know what magic equipment you have then, but having work for a router manufacturer, I have never seen this to be true. I also don't see that at home.
I have a 20-ish Mbps drop in performance when hold my phone right above the router, compared to when I stand 2-3 metre away from it.


I have an R7800 as my main router, but I also have two TP-Link devices set up as APs, as I simply don't get enough range from the R7800 to cover the entire house. Admittedly I live in a narrow, but tall house, made out of concrete and metal, which makes it quite hard for Wi-Fi signals to penetrate the entire house. However, when I only had the R7800, there were a lot of places in the house where I had dead spots or where the signal would just drop out all of a sudden.
It's simply not possible to presume that because a certain setup works in your house, it will work for everyone else.
If you live in a wood house with plasterboard walls, you're going to have a lot better Wi-Fi reception from a single device, than if you have concrete or brick walls for example.
I actually get reception in the parking garage under our house from my R7800 and a stronger signal there, than I get on the third floor, where I get no signal.

Now you're completely off the farm. How did we end up discussing concrete walls and metal, when the OP just needs to send the signal pretty much through open air?
I simply stated over air the signal should not have any problem covering 10m, so the OP should be able to solve the problem with a range extender.
Also, I don't have any magic equipment, just an R8000 and a Nokia phone.