I have a Netgear Nighthawk Router Model R7500. The coverage inside my house is okay, but I would like to extend the coverage to my backyard, where I have spotty coverage at best.
What “range extender” would be a good choice? Or do I need something like an Orbi system? I don’t have Ethernet near my backyard.
I know very little about networking, so please explain like your talking to a 5th grader.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Can you run an ethernet cable to a spot that would provide coverage to your back yard? If yes, the cheapest option would be to get another basic wireless router (or an old used one) and set it up as a dumb access point. Most of the time this just means you disable DHCP and connect the ethernet cable into a LAN port. There are a few options to consider when you set up your SSID name and channel that should also be considered.
If you need a fully wireless solution, a mesh setup is probably a better answer.
Don't get a range extender... They should be called pain extenders.
@dylan.c has a good approach.
Another option is to add an Unifi AP AC-PRO. Hard wire it to your existing router and mount it in a plastic enclosure outside.
@didymus I was gonna suggest one of these guys - just bought one to provide better coverage outside. Would be simple to set up on a pole in the back yard with some buried cat6 cable and a power-over-ethernet (PoE) injector. But I don't know how easy it would be to set up and manage on a non-unifi router. @rlithgow1 do you have experience with a mixed environment?
They're great. That one above should be fine. Having gigabit backhaul is best
Yeah the access point wifi 6 is weather resistant so suitable for outdoor mounting without any enclosure. Or so the documentation suggests. I just have no experience configuring or setting up any unifi equipment that is NOT connected to a Dream Machine Pro. With the DMP it's a piece of cake but OP mentioned he's not well versed in networking so not sure how simple it is without a DMP.
For the simplest setup, get the orbi mesh. Router with 2 satellites will cover almost all big houses, I think up to 5000 sq ft.
Unifi AP's are going to require some technical know how to setup, and will be more complex than Orbi.
But before that I'd suggest looking into router placement in your home-can you move the router to be higher up and more in the center of your home, or maybe even closer to the backyard? Every environment is unique so you should scan your home with "Net Analyzer". It's a free phone app by "Jiri Techet". It will allow you to see all wifi signals in your area. Ideally you want your wifi channel to be the one least used in your area. So if your neighbors have 5 routers all broadcasting on channel 6, that will hamper your router on channel 6. You could change your channel to 1 or 11. There are many youtube videos that go over these concepts, and by optimizing your router placement and channel selection you can improve wifi coverage. This is for the 2.4gHz band, for 5gHz band it does not cover larger distances as well as the 2.4gHz. I can stream in my backyard on my tablet with the 2.4gHz band and 2.4gHz is fine for most use cases.
Don't get overwhelmed, start learning the concepts a little bit at a time, and you'll be fine
If you have AC outlets in your back yard, consider a powerline Ethernet adapter. I bought one of those out of curiosity and found its way faster than WiFi.
Not much different. Run the unifi software, set your SSID (and guest network and any options). Back haul to switch and you're done. Add any others that are problematic to get network cabling to via mesh. I use a AP AC-Pro's throughout the house and one mounted to the wall in back of the house in a plastic enclosure. (They're already weather resistant but I figured it can't hurt). Then I run a Watchguard T35 for a firewall. In most respects much more powerful than a DM... Though for most people's home systems I recommend a T15.
Download the Hubitat app
