Ethernet cable out of the study window and an outdoor Access Point on the wall is beginning to look like a costly, as well as a slightly untidy option.

The requirement is modest - I'm not setting up a working-from-home office in the garden cabin with lots of IT equipment, just looking for an arrangement which allows us to check emails and browse if we are sitting out there on a sunny day.

Powerline may work if there isn't too much interference.

Otherwise, either I have to try to ensure that the wifi signal from my router is strong enough, or can be boosted/ extended far enough, to cover the cabin. Or I have to have something (maybe a special antenna?) to use on our laptops in the cabin which is able to "pull in" the wifi signal from the router at the limit of the router's range.

I'm not wedded to a £50 limit.

But I don't want to spend megabucks when the requirement is actually pretty modest. And I am wary of any system which requires a lot of setting up, programming, managing via phone apps, and all that.

At first glance the TP-Link Pharos outdoor PtP link looks a bit complicated and sophisticated for my needs.

From my experience, with a similarly aged house and wiring, and experience of others with a variety of houses and electrical wiring, powerline will work fine enough for your purposes.

Obviously the caveat is as others have said, that it still might not work in your very specific circumstances, but having installed it in a variety of houses, it has always worked well enough for me.

In my experience, the powerline devices don't always last forever so picking up second hand devices might be a false economy.

I'm trying to understand the practicalities of the Wireless Access Point (WAP) options suggested by both @smouty and @MHC.

One point that seems to make a difference with WAPs is whether they have Power over Ethernet, or a separate power supply unit which plugs-in to a 240v mains socket.

There is no Ethernet cable into my garden cabin. If there were, I wouldn't be looking at wireless/wifi access options. But there is a 240v mains power supply.

It thus seems to follow that if I were to fit some sort of WAP at the cabin (to capture and retransmit the wifi signal from the router in the house) it would have to be one which got its power from a PSU in a mains socket, not PoE. Am I right?

Or.... would I have to look at putting a WAP close to the router in the study upstairs in the house (with a relatively short ethernet wire from the router, and/or a power supply from the mains in that room) - which would then transmit a signal over a longer range than the Fritzbox wifi is able to do?

May I suggest this as you needs in the cabin seem modest. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Waterproof-Install...
Very simple to install outside your window, and if videos on 'tinternet are to believed, should reach your cabin without issues. It can be wall mounted, or even cable tied to a pole.

The older Unifi AP Pros that I have are PoE but you can also use a PoE injector. The Ubiquiti ones are £10-12 new or a PoE switch starts from £30.

It is a bit of a learning curve setting them up but once done you really don't really need to do anything except occasionally update them. I don't have the Unifi software running unless I need to so they are happy to run 'controllerless'.
Once you have a Unifi setup, it is an absolute doddle to add additional items in the webUI.

My personal experience with powerline adaptors is not great. I have some Devolo units which I used for the same thing, getting internet to the garden and it wasn't great even though both sender and receiver were on their own ring. I would use them as a last resort.

I do have one other thought about an outdoor access point but need to check viability.

Somewhere though, I have some "powerline adapters" that are destined for recycling - if you are interested, let me know, postage and a small charity donation.

In that case, why not just use your mobile 4G/5G. not sure why you would even need to consider extending Wifi, when you can get a mobile contract with lebara or Smarty with enough data for ocassional use for <£5 a month.
A 4G router for £29 if you want to do it properly:
Mercursys 4G router

Edited by wiggsc00 (Fri 28-Feb-25 13:42:44)

I bought my Dad a TP-link thing (the non-Omada version of this I think) https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/28345-tp-lin...

to get wifi down to his garage, which is much more than 20m away. The plan was to mount it outside, bit even inside the house it provided enough wifi for this needs. Mounted outside it would have performed even better, but this saved getting the ladder out!

Also don't rule out the Devolo (ethernet over mains units), I've used them even between different consumer units in my house and down 50m of armoured cable too. You may well be able to pick up a cheap pair (you can get a wifi one for down the garden) and a standard one to use in the house.

Edited by mbames (Fri 28-Feb-25 13:51:48)

Yes, it is costly but a possibility if everything else fails. You would need, the right AP too.