In reply to a post by Taras:

power line such as

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/tplink-tlwpa7517-a...

would be better along with an old router configed as a wireless access point(dhcp off and any nat settings off ). The main problem with cheap wireless extenders is that they can reduce bandwidth by up to half.

powerline though, is a tech that hasn't been updated for a few years now, and really in some ways is a dead tech but does work (it is variable in speed though). But would work for your situation.

That's an idea that appeals. I don't need state-of-the-art cutting edge tech. And I have an old Netgear router. I'm learning that a wired or part-wired connection (eg using the mains wiring) is better because it doesn't reduce bandwidth/speed in the way that a totally wifi extender would. If powerline still works, that may well be the way to go....

I'll start looking at the price and spec of whatever kits are available. The TP-Link TLWPA8631 kit is a bit more costly than the 7517, but has the convenience of passthrough mains power sockets. Ah, choices, choices!

In reply to a post by br1anstorm:

(snip) If powerline still works, that may well be the way to go....

I'm sure that they do work for a lot of people but, when I tried them, I found that they in fact provided less bandwidth than the weak wifi signal I was already getting. I'm not an electrician but my imperfect understanding is that to work effectively, the transmitter and receiver need to be on the same electrical circuit.

In reply to a post by longedge:

the transmitter and receiver need to be on the same electrical circuit.

I use to have a remote door chime that worked in a similar way to these powerline adaptors and like you say it only worked when on the same electrical circuit/ring.

Edited by PCJM40 (Thu 27-Feb-25 13:49:07)

I've had them on separate circuits on the same consumer box and they have been ok - but that was some time back and older technology. It very much depends on how the electrical circuits have been designed and how much noise there is on them. It can work really well but equally can be almost unusable. I have considered them now but the technology isn't fast enough so a wireless mesh inside the house is better but that is for a 500Mb FTTP connection, for a FTTC connection there is a good chance that they could work fine.

newer circuits work better than older ones, the biggest problem with them is that you get constantly variable speeds I've currently still run mine as a bridge till i get my fibre thru to the sitting room.

Edited by Taras (Thu 27-Feb-25 14:56:43)

In reply to a post by longedge:

In reply to a post by br1anstorm:

(snip) If powerline still works, that may well be the way to go....

I'm sure that they do work for a lot of people but, when I tried them, I found that they in fact provided less bandwidth than the weak wifi signal I was already getting. I'm not an electrician but my imperfect understanding is that to work effectively, the transmitter and receiver need to be on the same electrical circuit.

Aaargh... that was an angle that hadn't occurred to me. I'm not an electrician either. But it does seem to make sense that if the two powerline adapters are connected into the same electrical circuit or ring-main, then there will be a decent and relatively noise-free connection between them. Whereas (and this would be the situation in our case) the transmitter adapter would be plugged into a mains socket in the upstairs study (the ring main serving all the sockets on the upper floor) while the receiver adapter out in the cabin would be plugged into an entirely separate mains-supply circuit fed to the outside cabin from a separate breaker in the consumer unit/fusebox under the stairs.

I suspect, unless anyone can correct me, that this would mean the powerline connection via two different and separate mains circuits might not work at all, or would be subject to a great deal of interference or degradation. I could buy a powerline kit and simply try it, but it looks as if it might be a fruitless exercise.

If that is so, then it's back to the drawing board and revisiting the other option of a repeater/extender based entirely on linking directly to the router by wifi. Seems as if a repeater cannot provide better/faster internet connection than the router on which it depends. So the critical requirement is to keep any slowdown or bandwidth restriction to a minimum. And I guess that depends on the tech spec of the repeater itself (which is where I think this business comes in about which channels/frequencies it uses and what "backhaul" is....)

More thinking, more homework, and more ideas needed!

In reply to a post by br1anstorm:

more ideas

20m ethernet patch lead. Throw one end out of the window when you want to internet in the summer house. Coil it up again each evening. £20 plus the cost of a 2nd hand router to give you wireless in the summerhouse. If you are going to cheapskate it at £50, you could do this for £30, or £20 if you already have a spare router. If you do it this way, at least you will find out over the summer whether Internet in the summerhouse is worth spending the money for a permanent cable or whether coiling up the cable every evening is just too much bother.

Can you easily get a cable from the router to outside the house?

If so, get a outdoor AP, mount it on te wall facing te summer house, connect up and off you go ...

In reply to a post by br1anstorm:

More thinking, more homework, and more ideas needed!

If you are happy to plug in a USB antenna into the laptop, and use 2,4mhz, then there are plenty on the bay for about £30, look for "long range wifi", I got one years ago for IIRC £15 as a cheap trial and have been using it ever since in the van, if you want to wait a week or two I could retrieve mine from the van (parked at our other house) and try it from the bottom of our garden where wifi is marginal, to see what speeds might be achieved, in fact I might try it myself just to get some figures on how well it works.

In reply to a post by DFScale:

20m ethernet patch lead. Throw one end out of the window when you want to internet in the summer house. Coil it up again each evening. £20 plus the cost of a 2nd hand router to give you wireless in the summerhouse. If you are going to cheapskate it at £50, you could do this for £30, or £20 if you already have a spare router. If you do it this way, at least you will find out over the summer whether Internet in the summerhouse is worth spending the money for a permanent cable or whether coiling up the cable every evening is just too much bother.

Ah, I like your style! And we think along similar lines. For years I did a similar thing with mains power extension leads. Lacking a weatherproof external power socket, whenever I needed to mow the lawn, run a power drill outside, or a battery-charger on the car, I would sling a 13amp extension lead out of the kitchen window. plug the device in, do the job, and then haul the extension lead back in when the task was done. It worked fine, but became a bit tedious. When I built the cabin, I therefore had an external weatherproof 13amp socket fitted.

So yes, I could do the same with an Ethernet lead. It would work, I guess. And I have an old router to put on the end of it in the cabin. But dangling a cable from an upstairs window, across a patio and lawn to the cabin, would be even more inelegant, and my wife or I would probably soon get fed up with it!

If I can find a neater and more discreet option that works and doesn't cost big bucks or require trench-digging or hole-drilling, I'd rather go down that route. A dangling cable has to be last resort....