WiFi Extending

[zurch1818]

I'm trying to find a good option to extend WiFi from my wife's aunt and uncle's cabin to her grandma's cabin. Right now, they bought a WiFi extender and the performance is pretty terrible.

The signal has to travel 200' or so through the woods...so it's only really a 2.4Ghz signal the can get there...which is should be fine. When the wifi extender works, we get maybe 5 to 10 megabits per second tops...not earth shattering but more than enough to check mail and some basic internet  searching. It just isn't always reliable, which is why I'm asking for alternative solutions.

At our house, we have a Google WiFi mesh network that works really well. I just don't know if meshing it will be sufficient given the length or if a different strategy would work better. Like I said above, we don't need a huge amount of speed.

[nate82]

I don't think WiFi is going to work here.  I know there are some outdoor WiFi extenders but I have heard mostly negative things about them.  You could also try a WiFi booster but you are going to run into the same problem more than likely.  Another option could be coax cable and use MoCA, but that will require you to dig a ditch from one cabin to the next.  Assuming the land is owned by both parties and no one else you should be able to dig a ditch and lay the coax cable from one property to the next.  

https://www.screenbeam.com/wifihelp/wifibooster/what-is-moca-why-do-i-want-it/

[LouisEly]

The #1 thing that reduces WiFi range is interference from other WiFi signals, followed by concrete walls.  If the cabins are off in the woods, then there shouldn't be other WiFi interference and thus a mesh system might work, provided the cabins don't have concrete walls.

How does your wife's aunt and uncle currently get WiFi in their cabin?  Cable, fiber optic, satellite?  If cable, you can just split the cable outside and run that cable to the other cabin, but that cable will need to get inside grandma's cabin.  If grandma's cabin doesn't currently have cable going into it... then that's going to require professional installation, unless there's a garage that has electrical power you can run the cable into.

But for the time and effort it would take to dig a 200' ditch to bury the cable... why not just get internet installed at grandma's cabin by the same provider at her aunt/uncle's cabin and put it on her aunt/uncle's bill?

[zurch1818]

The cabins are in the woods...so wifi interference (outside of itself) would be a non issue. Additionally, the cabins are made of wood (at least where the signal would be traveling). Also the properties are right next to each other.

Her aunt and uncle have cable (Spectrum) and her grandma does not have a cable connection...so running a line is definitely not worth it. The cabin is super retro (no garage), so it will be a major undertaking. Also, I think it is just not worth having the aunt and uncle pay for cable. The cabin is only meant for the summer.

There is a shed between the cabins. Maybe I'll just rig a mesh network though the full length is too weak.

Thanks for the suggestions and input on this.

[AKCheesehead]

I have a wireless link that beams wifi from my neighbor to me. They just have to be pointed at one another, one in my window and one in theirs. Supposedly they can shoot it 3km. The 150 ft or whatever it is is no problem, I think It cost 80-90. So if the cabins have a clear shot you might try that route 

[Baldkin]

On 7/18/2025 at 12:54 AM, AKCheesehead said:

I have a wireless link that beams wifi from my neighbor to me. They just have to be pointed at one another, one in my window and one in theirs. Supposedly they can shoot it 3km. The 150 ft or whatever it is is no problem, I think It cost 80-90. So if the cabins have a clear shot you might try that route 

 

To add on, this is what you're looking for. 

https://www.radiolabs.com/product-tag/point-to-point-bridge/

[AKCheesehead]

On 7/19/2025 at 8:49 PM, Baldkin said:

 

To add on, this is what you're looking for. 

https://www.radiolabs.com/product-tag/point-to-point-bridge/

Yup something like that.  The cheapo set I got on amazon works well enough for me to stream, and I didn't even take particular care on the installation, just leaned them in the windows and generally pointed at one another.

[zurch1818]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I just got done setting up the extended network. Now I'm rocking 25 megabits/sec at the far end of the grandma's cabin!

I decided to order one of each...an el cheapo Amazon P2P bridge link and a new 3 node mesh network and return the loser.

I couldn't get the link to work consistently but I got the mesh network to work very reliably. Maybe I just went too Amazon cheap? My best guess is actually the existing router was garbage. The aunt and uncle said after I had it set up that they noticed improved performance at their house. They actually had Spectrum coming out to look at it tomorrow because it wasn't working well.

I didn't try it...but I bet I could get higher speeds if I used the link with this new network...but the 3 node mesh network cost was right at my budget. Yes it's about 10x slower than at the aunt and uncle's right next to the router...but it is very good speed for what we need. I know some people out in the sticks would kill for 25 megabits/sec.