Need help with extending wireless network

At our church the vicarage is in the church grounds but physically separate, the minimum wall-to-wall gap is about 2 metres.

We're looking at the possibility of somehow connecting the router in the vicarage to the church office to enable the PC there to be on the internet and to use the fancy office printer from the vicarage. Straight line distance is perhaps 30 metres.

An Ethernet cable run would be less than 100 metres, across the 2-metre gap and through the church buildings, to the office; though this would be quite a significant routing exercise, and would need the capability of affixing RJ45 connects to the cable.

The other solution would be to use a wireless link. 10Mbps would be perfectly adequate. Cost is important, i.e. low cost.

I'm not sure whether power line networking is feasible. The main 3-phase supply comes into the church and one phase, IIRC, goers to the vicarage, the other 2 phases are used for the church and the hall, associated rooms, and the office. So I'm not sure whether power line networking would work across different phases.

Assuming we can get the Ethernet to the office, would a simple 4-port hub be all that's needed there?

Any helpful thoughts would be appreciated.

For cost and simplicity use Cat5e cable. As it will be outside you should use external. Your DO NOT terminate it with RJ45 plugs but in wall mounted boxes with an RJ45 socket and that only requires a standard IDC tool. You then use a short patch lead from socket to the original router and similarly at the other end.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/philex-rj45-module-outlet-... is an example of what you should use. Personally, I don't like that brand and prefer MK, but there are plenty around to choose from.

http://www.fscables.com/Data/Structured+Wiring/Exter... Go for duct grade NOT SWA (armoured). FS will often sell by the metre and prices competitive.

Powerline will not work across phases.

Thanks for that. I've been looking this evening at the situation and running external cable could be 'challenging' due to the various paths and the like in the way. And I'm not surprised about the powerline option, worth a try though

If it's achievable I'd prefer some sort of wireless solution. For example, and forgive the undoubtedly incorrect terminology, connect a wireless (Access Point?) to a spare LAN port on the router and position it near to an outside wall facing the office. Then put something similar in the church office. That would then go into a switch/hub (?) to which the office PC and the printer could be connected. Although the router in the vicarage is wireless I assume a more specific repeater is needed rather than just using the existing wireless signal from the router.

We would need to able to use the office printer from the vicarage without the office PC being switched on, but as I believe it's already possible to take a laptop into the office and connect to the printer via Ethernet I assume this point is a no brainer.

A wireless bridge is what you need to create.

http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-outdoor-bridging.htm

This allows you to have an antenna outside, and then route ethernet into the room, and host an ethernet switch to switch you can connect devices with cables.

if you can sit the router near a window or as close to where it needs to be as possible you could get someone with a smartphone to do a "site survey" and look at the wireless strength in the other location.

You don't need any special hardware or software on the router connected to the internet, but the client AP does need software support

I would however recommend using a second, separate AP for the job especially since you can get appropriate ones for less than £10 each.