Extending BT router to my Garage

[Allex50.]

I have a garage with a metal roof but stone walls. The BT router is in the back room of the house which faces the garage some 20 – 30m away. The garage is supplied with an RCD distribution so I assume a mains extender (TP Link AV2000) will unlikely work so I’m looking for a wireless solution. I want to get a phone signal there from my router and a wireless security camera (which does not light up the area so discrete).

It would be nice also to record sessions in the car port area (opposite side of the garage) where we play Table Tennis but that would be useful also for night security.

Of course, I don’t want to buy some kit only to discover it does not perform well. Any advice on kit available in UK appreciated. Thanks.

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[UK Sentinel]

Welcome and an interesting scenario you have, in essence the main question is how much bandwidth do you believe you need to the garage.

Three options spring to mind and yes RCD mains distribution can be tricky and unreliable especially if on a separate phase, ring and can block or attenuate the high-frequency data signals used by powerline adapters.

Only option for a Powerline adapters is to live test and see what happens, Ebay as similar sell used powerline adaptors for around £20-30 for testing purposes and you can always re-sell afterward.

 

1. Point-to-Point Wi-Fi Bridge

• Uses two outdoor units (like Ubiquiti NanoStation or TP-Link CPE series) to beam signal from your house to the garage.
• Mount one unit outside the back room facing the garage, and the other on the garage wall.
• Once linked, you can connect a Wi-Fi access point or camera inside the garage.

 

2. Outdoor Mesh Wi-Fi System

• If you prefer a simpler setup, use a mesh system with outdoor-rated nodes (e.g. TP-Link Deco X50-Outdoor or Netgear Orbi Outdoor).
• Place one node outside the house and another inside the garage.
• Ensure line-of-sight or minimal obstruction between nodes.

 

3. Ethernet Cable (more reliable)

• A buried or externally routed CAT6 cable from the house to the garage is still the most stable option.
• Connect to a Wi-Fi 6 access point inside the garage for full coverage.

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[Allex50.]

Thanks for a quick and thorough response. I will try the 1st option as I can easily run a cat5 from router htrough the same back wall (just a 30cm hole needed. I understand the Cat 5 cable also needs surge protection or is it the mains cable socket?

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[UK Sentinel]

Some form of Ethernet surge protectors would be advisable if you are opting for a Point-to-Point Wi-Fi Bridge, just incase for lightning strikes etc.

Mains surge protection is also a nice to have, but this adds additional cost etc. maybe also consider Cat5e as minimum you should be using.

Category	Transmission Speed	Bandwidth
Cat5	100Mbps	100MHz
Cat5e	1Gbps	100MHz
Cat6	1/10Gbps	250MHz

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[Grisu]

I think there is no need for any protection for 30m only to the garage.
I have 3 houses connected via LAN for years with no problems distance about 50m.
They all have the same mains from street and so are one same voltage potential.

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[Superhands]

Best to do an ethernet run, those lengths are fine, and cat6 is cheap these days and perfect for the use case.

 

Fairly easily to just generally run a cable and pin it to the skirting etc. But when I had Ethernet run in my house, the least disruptive but hidden way to do it was rod it up the cavity, across the loft, and then down the cavity in the intended room. Saved any open heart surgery to run cables.

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[Allex50.]

The garage is detached so no cable. I think P2Point is good but those units look complicated.

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[UK Sentinel]

You could consider option 2 as a simpler approach with the use of a single TP-Link Deco X50 acting as a large external network node, this will give a network wifi boost, but will require testing to ensure wireless signal penetrates beyond the garage walls etc.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBkYs58F9rM

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