Need help with an unorthodox wifi setup

M

Morlock

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Messages
508
I need some help planning a wifi setup. I can't get normal broadband at my house for less than an arm and a leg, and there are too many trees for a satellite setup. My next door neighbor has agreed to let me get service set up at his house, and use wifi to connect to it from my house. I did some searching and there are some powerful and affordable outdoor wifi antennas available. E.g., here:

https://www.amazon.com/Antenna-World-G2424-Directional-Parabolic/dp/B00NQGVMSE

Thing is, I don't know if a range extender going to be able to penetrate my mobile home, which has certainly proven a reliable attenuator of cellular signals up to this point (service is pretty crappy outdoors too, though). On top of that, I don't even know what the wi-fi equipment I'll need at my house is called: a wi-fi receiver antenna? Or are all wi-fi antennas assumed to be both transmitters and receivers, and all I need at my end is another wi-fi antenna? Looking at these prices (the top-reviewed model is only $45), I figure it might be best just to go in planning on setting up an outdoor receiver at my house, too; that way I don't have to wonder if the signal from my neighbor's house will be strong enough to penetrate my house.

I haven't measured the distance between our houses, but I'm guessing it isn't more than 300 feet. I have a window facing his house, so maybe I should just try installing the antenna (from above link) on my neighbor's house first, and see if my notebook can pick up the signal through the window? And then if that isn't good enough, maybe try an omni-directional antenna on my roof?

Help me out here, I have no idea what I'm doing. :D

Edit: sorry to anyone who read that before I edited it. Link fixed.

Edit2: On third thought I guess I'm going to need an external antenna on my house, too, because my devices will obviously need to communicate with my neighbor's house, and I'll need something just as strong to push the signals back. Duh. Just don't know if I should plan on buying the same kind linked above, or what.
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
What type of broadband? If it’s cable:
https://cables4sure.com/rg6-outdoor...R_l30KaeOGL8kyudwvJu2bRCcWKTA0w8aAszAEALw_wcB
(Not necessarily this seller, it was just the first in a google search)

And this for a 1 day rental:
https://www.homedepot.com/tool-truck-rental/mobile/Cable-Installer/TP400CL3/index.html

Rent the digger and run cable from your house to their access terminal outside their house. If they have cable too, than it’s more complicated.

Wifi is doable, but there are a lot of variables. Especially if this expected to be your primary connection.
You need good antennas on both ends. There are 2 wifi bands now so which do you repeat?
You’ll want repeating routers capable of handling the bandwidth so that means you’re already looking at $100 minimum per router. If you’re house is large enough to want extenders, that’s even more APs.
Trees blocking view or rain? There goes netflix.
Game at all online or your kids? Insane ping so that’s impossible even on a good day.

Not trying to talk you out of it, just giving points to think about. Ive done something similar before when I was young and dumb, but the neighbors were less aware of it. :)
 
Vengeance, thanks, will do.

Stick, I'm not sure yet what kind of setup I'll be dealing with. The neighbor I referred to doesn't have an ISP, but he's wired for AT&T, which he says was installed about 4 years ago. I checked with a few availability sites, and he can get Comcast or AT&T.

But I also talked to my other neighbor about this last night, and I think they're willing to let me use their network, if I help with the bill. They have Comcast, but we didn't get into details because we were having dinner with their parents. They would be much better candidates than my other neighbor because they already have an ISP, and their house is a good bit closer. I haven't measured it yet, but I think it's probably well under 100 meters, meaning, I can probably get away with cat5 or 5e.

Wifi is doable, but there are a lot of variables
Click to expand...

Yeah, not least of which is the dizzying variety of products available.

I don't care much about latency. I would like to game, but would be ecstatic to get broadband that I couldn't game on, too. Anything worthy of the name "broadband" will be far better than what I've been putting up with for years.

Same thing with streaming. I am 100% fine with torrenting everything, like I have been for years over freaking sneakernet.

I don't need any wifi, or any networking at all inside my house, except to connect to my desktop. If I can just get an ethernet cable plugged into my PC, I'm happy.

Ive done something similar before when I was young and dumb, but the neighbors were less aware of it. :)
Click to expand...

Lol. Yeah, totally on the up and up for my setup. :) I still haven't read anything about what I can do to keep my traffic "separate" from theirs, haven't found out what their service plan is or whether they have a data cap. I was just searching for ways to restrict the bandwidth to my PC so I don't hog their bandwidth (I've got a big backlog of stuff I need to download so the first month or two, I'm gonna be maxing out whatever my allowance is), and that seems pretty easy to do at the router.

I'm still reading up, there's a lot to consider. I've got my fingers crossed that 1 the closer neighbors are still cool with it in the morning and 2 they'll be cool with running cat5.
 
If I am able to use ethernet, do I need a modem or a router on my end, or can I just plug right into my mobo?
 
If you are using ethernet, no router needed but you will need either DHCP enabled on his end, or manually assign an IP address on your machine. This way, your pc will be available on his network. I would get your own router, use his connection on the WAN port, and setup your own LAN behind that. This way, there will be a hardware firewall between your houses. He can still snoop on your traffic unless you use VPN or something, but most people its above their heads so to speak.

This might be a shot in the dark, but if you and your neighbor share the same output from the power transformer on your street, then it might be possible to use powerline ethernet adapters.
 
Nox, thx. It's definitely not above this guy's (the neighbors with Comcast) head. He's a senior IT guy at an IT company. B2B network services are all he does all day. :)

Will look at the router options you suggest though.

I was wondering about powerline ethernet too, but assumed it had to be on the same system/house. I don't think we share a transformer, though; I have one in my backyard, and there's nothing else connected to it (aside from the line in from the road).
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I talked to the closer neighbors last night. They have AT&T, not Comcast, and they're cool with extending their wifi, but not with an ethernet cable. Unfortunately, their router is at the opposite end of their house from mine, so I'm going to need something at the closer end to boost the signal, and then probably something at my end like a parabolic wifi antenna. Plus whatever I'll need to hook my ethernet card up to the parabolic antenna.

Say:

https://www.amazon.com/Antenna-World-G2424-Directional-Parabolic/dp/B00NQGVMSE

and

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Router-300Mbps-TL-WR841N/dp/B001FWYGJS?tag=top10786-20
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top