Best way to connect?

[Troezar]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to wirelessly connect to a router and then have a wired connection with a wireless device at the other end?

Basically a friend has an ethernet cable from their kitchen to their bar at the other end of the garden, terminated with an RJ45 connector at each end. We need to get the connection from the router to the kitchen end (wirelessly) then create a wireless connection in the bar.

 

[kosymodo]

First thing that came to my mind was Wireless Extender connected to router via WiFi, ethernet cable connected to ethernet port on Wireless Extender, other end of ethernet cable connected to Wireless Access Point broadcasting a SSID to the happy bar-goers. Others may have a better idea, this though would be a cheap way to do it

 

[WJA96]

Run a cable from the router to the kitchen and either join them with a female/female RJ45 joiner or a switch. For the bar WLAN add a Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC-Mesh access point.

 

[kosymodo]

Run a cable from the router to the kitchen and either join them with a female/female RJ45 joiner or a switch. For the bar WLAN add a Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC-Mesh access point.

The downside to this is that it ignores the fact the OP wants to connect the router to the kitchen wirelessly...apart from that it's definitely the way to go

 

[Hyburnate]

You'd have to use a bridge.

 

[WJA96]

The downside to this is that it ignores the fact the OP wants to connect the router to the kitchen wirelessly...apart from that it's definitely the way to go

It'll be AWFUL. Two sets of consumer wireless and a long cable. You couldn't sensibly use it for anything other than laggy web-browsing. I actually do this stuff day in, day out and what the OP has asked for will be very, very poor.

 

[Sparx]

What's the distance between kitchen and garden bar? And is there a pretty clear/open line of sight?

The best way as some have alluded too, would be to run a Cat6 cable along the edge...

But if you can't do that and want to do it wirelessly 'properly' then personally, assuming you have power at the bar and fairly decent LOS - I'd get 2x NanoBeam's (pointing at each other from kitchen and bar for the uplink), then paired with a fairly cheap AC Lite AP for the bar area WiFi (cost approx £250). This is assuming the distance is quite far.

Alternatively, if the distance isn't that far and LOS is decent you could just get a single UniFi AP AC LR (long range AP) and beam it from the kitchen to the bar area. Likely be cheaper and easier overall to do for £95 ish.

 

[Troezar]

It'll be AWFUL. Two sets of consumer wireless and a long cable. You couldn't sensibly use it for anything other than laggy web-browsing. I actually do this stuff day in, day out and what the OP has asked for will be very, very poor.

Definitely not ideal but they won't be running a new cable through the house, it's quite big and newly decorated. Wired is obviously a much better solution but it's a matter of making the best of things as they stand.

 

[Troezar]

What's the distance between kitchen and garden bar? And is there a pretty clear/open line of sight?

The best way as some have alluded too, would be to run a Cat6 cable along the edge...

But if you can't do that and want to do it wirelessly 'properly' then personally, assuming you have power at the bar and fairly decent LOS - I'd get 2x NanoBeam's (pointing at each other from kitchen and bar for the uplink), then paired with a fairly cheap AC Lite AP for the bar area WiFi.

Alternatively, if the distance isn't that far and LOS is decent you could just get a single UniFi AP AC LR (long range AP) and beam it from the kitchen to the bar area. Likely be cheaper and easier overall to do.

The cable runs under the garden to the bar, looks like about 10m. The main issue is connecting the cable that terminates in the kitchen back to the router without running more cable through the house.

 

[Caged]

The only way to wirelessly connect to a consumer router with more than a single device is a WDS bridge, which instantly halves throughput. MikroTik explain the issues of just trying to shove loads of L2 devices behind a wireless station (note: MikroTik WDS is not the same as the WDS I mentioned above):

https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Wireless_Station_Modes

The only way to get anything approaching acceptable performance is to use a device that can connect to the existing wireless network and then NAT everything, and then put an AP at the other end of the wired link at the bar end. This will isolate the bar from everything else on the network, so no auto discovery of AirPlay devices, no working UPnP etc.

 

[WJA96]

Definitely not ideal but they won't be running a new cable through the house, it's quite big and newly decorated. Wired is obviously a much better solution but it's a matter of making the best of things as they stand.

Then walk away. Friends wouldn't inflict that awful user experience on each other.

 

[Sparx]

Sorry totally misread your post, thought you had no Cat6 cable from kitchen -> garden bar. Where is the router in the house positioned, as opposed to the kitchen RJ45 port? Is it really that bad to get a cable wired from the router to kitchen RJ45?

If not, the only 'janky' solution that you could try, is use powerline plugs *shudder* from router -> kitchen area. Then the Cat6 from the powerline in kitchen goes into the RJ45 port, then get an AP of sorts (like the UniFi AC Lite) installed in the bar for WiFi. Just need to have a plug available in the bar as it'll need a POE injector. The powerlines may work surprisingly well tbh, or not at all.

Ideally if your friend already has or gets a UniFi network, the wireless roaming would work rather seamlessly as one network.

Edit: Or you could try one of those £100 TP-Link mesh kits. But hardwire the APs in the house and garden bar (rather than letting them 'mesh') - not sure how well they work. Haven't tried personally but there is a thread on them I've seen that rates them fairly well.

 

[Troezar]

Sorry totally misread your post, thought you had no Cat6 cable from kitchen -> garden bar. Where is the router in the house positioned, as opposed to the kitchen RJ45 port? Is it really that bad to get a cable wired from the router to kitchen RJ45?

If not, the only 'janky' solution that you could try, is use powerline plugs *shudder* from router -> kitchen area. Then the Cat6 from the powerline in kitchen goes into the RJ45 port, then get an AP of sorts (like the UniFi AC Lite) installed in the bar for WiFi. Just need to have a plug available in the bar as it'll need a POE injector. The powerlines may work surprisingly well tbh, or not at all.

Ideally if your friend already has or gets a UniFi network, the wireless roaming would work rather seamlessly as one network.

Edit: Or you could try one of those £100 TP-Link mesh kits. But hardwire the APs in the house and garden bar (rather than letting them 'mesh') - not sure how well they work. Haven't tried personally but there is a thread on them I've seen that rates them fairly well.

Interesting, it's obviously not as straightforward as just passing the connection through. I'll have to discuss it with them as I don't want to suggest anything on a trial and error basis when it's not my money. The mesh option sounds a possibility.

 

[WJA96]

The cable runs under the garden to the bar, looks like about 10m. The main issue is connecting the cable that terminates in the kitchen back to the router without running more cable through the house.

Why does the cable have to run through the house? If it's only 10m then an access point mounted on the side of the house nearest the bar would easily cover it. So run a cable outside the house and hook up an AP-AC-Mesh on the back of the house.

 

[WJA96]

Interesting, it's obviously not as straightforward as just passing the connection through. I'll have to discuss it with them as I don't want to suggest anything on a trial and error basis when it's not my money. The mesh option sounds a possibility.

The mesh is still a bridge.

 

[kosymodo]

It'll be AWFUL. Two sets of consumer wireless and a long cable. You couldn't sensibly use it for anything other than laggy web-browsing. I actually do this stuff day in, day out and what the OP has asked for will be very, very poor.

I agree it would be awful, but it's one of the only ways of getting it done within the remit of the OP's requirements. Not sure what throughput is gonna be required in a bar, laggy web browsing might be the order of the day!

 

[WJA96]

In my experience people want WLAN for seamless roaming using mobile phones on WiFi calling in places where they have poor mobile phone network coverage. If you have multiple hops on a lan as we are discussing here, the WiFi calling can show super-high signal strength but the hops add lag and the communication breaks down.