I need to setup a network between 2 buildings about 35 metres away. Its not really pratical to run a wire over, except through the sewer pipes maybe.

So has anyone used a regular house router to extend a hotspot outside. What is the pratical range outside?

I'll be buying a new router so does anyone have any recomendations or advice?

I've done it using a Linksys WRT-54G and DD-WRT firmware.

Router for cheap on Ebay and firmware is free and does all sorts of nifty stuff.

Range was indoor through 3ft thick sandstone walls so not really applicable, but worked over maybe 20m.

Try Hawking Technology. My Dad has a reciever dish and he used it successfully from on his boat at well over 35m.

Wifi likes air, dislikes anything solid or with H20 in it in the way.

So you could stick a wifi router in a waterproof box from Maplins, use waterproof (IP whatever) grommets on the ethernet cable and the power cable and jobs a good'un.

Otherwise you need to look at focused antenni (pringle tube Yagis etc etc)...

if its going building to building - do they both have power from the same fuse box? if so what about the through the electricity TCP/IP plugs?

good thinking but unfortunately not they do not share any services

get a router / wireless network point with detatchable aerials. you can buy aerials that will extend the range of a router from most good PC stores. CCL computers or maplins have them.
i have set up a few networks and 35 metres is a piece of pi55.

the best one i did was a few years ago. i couldnt get broadand at my house but my dad could about a mile away. i could just get line of site from my roof to my dads house and i set up a broadband link using two network point and ....................wait for this...................modified pringles cannisters as aerials. it worked a treat!! they were very directional and tricky to line up but it did work.

have fun

Paul

You will get a simple line of sight microwave link with TCP/IP running over it

or

GEt a broad band connection to Both locations and set up a VPN. Broadband to second loaction could be a 3g DOngle?

Mine works fine between the house and the office which is about 30m away, through the walls of both. and with a big metal climbing frame and swing in the way, so unless you have major obstacles it should be fine.

I'm using a Belkin router in the house and an old 11mb Belking usb access point mounted on the wall of the office. My laptop has no probs picking up the wireless signal as well.

A Pringle Yagi is all that's required

http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448

http://www.seattlewireless.net/DirectionalYagi

If you can get line of sight then 35m is absolutely no problem at all. Best mount the antennas as high as possible if trucks etc. can drive between the buildings.

Any router with a bridging mode should be usable for this, but use the same model at either end as there are often compatibility issues between different brands of router used as bridges. Obviously the wireless link will be a bottleneck on a 100Mbits/s network.

The setup I used had a Dlink access point at my end and the other end had a very common broadband router. We just used one of the deatachable antennas on the broadband router to to supply the outside aerial.

Simple outside aerial

Each end used a simple flat panel aerial which was directional but had a wide 180 deg field. I put my AP in the loft and ran the low loss weather proofed cable out the eaves.

I kept the speed to 11 mbps (I was sharing an internet connection with a mate) and it worked like this for 4 years with only a couple of reboots required in that time. That was over half a kilometer so totally over the top for your use really.

Over 35m I would try a broadband router with a detacheable antenna and upgrade to a 6-9 bdi antenna. You could run a lead outside and use a simple flat panel aerial if that wasn't enough.

Often you can use hacked bioses for the routers to increase the power out too.

[Edited on 1-9-09 by bimbleuk]