Point to Point network extension from/to different houses

[jacoporicci]

Hello everyone, tried to google a bit but don't know what product to look for to solve this.

 

I just bought another apartment in the condo i currently live in and want to make it into an AirBnb.

This apartment is on the same floor as the one I'm living in with the entrances being less than 20 meters apart.

 

I want to use the same connection I have in my house in this apartament but with the ability to create a separate network for the guests.

 

The idea I came up with is some sort of antenna connected to my router beaming to a receiver in the AirBnb, connected to another router that will provide the actual SSID airbnb guests will connect to.

Does it make sense? What type of products should I google for? How will I restrict guests from being able to access my personal home network? I currently have an Asus RT-AC86U router for my house.

 

Another solution to restrict access to my network would be to create a Guest SSID on my Asus RT-AC86U and extend that but I feel like two dedicated antennas creating a bridge would be better for signal strenght.

For this solution, will a NETGEAR WN3000RP be the thing I would use? Do you have any recommendation on better products?

 

(Ethernet is not a viable solution because I will have to do construction work in a public area to have a cable going from my apartment to the airbnb)

 

What's your guys advice?

 

Thanks!

[SupaKomputa]

Less than 20 meters is still covered with a good wifi connections.

Up the signal by using a taller antenna.

Get the same router, or any asus router for the bnb, and connect it with wireless bridge mode.

 

 

Create another SSID for guess with password, have it restricted, change it from time to time to avoid bandwidth stealer.

You may want to have a signal amplifier / repeater, as wireless bridging may reduce the bandwidth to half.

 

 

If you want to make the guess isolated, have them a different subnet.

if you have 192.168.100.xx, your guess should be 192.168.101.xx.

I don't know how to do it with asus router, but this is the concept.

 

[jacoporicci]

Hey @SupaKomputa thanks for the reply.

 

So my intuition was sort of correct, I should be able to extend my current network just by having a "receiver" in the new house that will also serve as the AP for the guests without having to deal with multiple devices like I was thinking.

 

As far as restricting if I remember correctly the Asus router gives to ability to cut guest ssid out of the main local network so if I'm able to extend that network I should be good.

Thanks!

[SupaKomputa]

Try look for OpenWrt or DDWRT supported router before you make a purchase.

With a custom firmware you basically have a broad functionality that maybe unavailable with the original software.

Also with it you can make different router brand talk to each other.

 

https://openwrt.org/supported_devices

https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices

 

this makes your life easier

https://10-0-0-0-1.org/reviews/routers/openwrt/

[mariushm]

Would you be able to route an ethernet cable all the way down to the basement and then bring it up to that apartment? You could route it near gas pipes or water pipes in the kitchen or something like that. Low voltage cables like ethernet won't be an issue.

 

 

Even with that detour, as long as it's less than 100 meters length it would work. 

 

As for everything else, a simple VLAN would isolate your network from that apartment and you could also configure various QoS and filters if needed.

[Dutch_Master]

You do NOT want to share your network connection with an airbnb house! Remember, everything that connection does, is your responsibility! And you can't hide behind some lame excuse as 'my airbnb guests did that' as the Law doesn't allow that. In fact, you may even be liable for making that house into an airbnb in the first place! Consult a lawyer before renting it out, it might save you jail time!

[Falcon1986]

7 hours ago, Dutch_Master said:

You do NOT want to share your network connection with an airbnb house! Remember, everything that connection does, is your responsibility! And you can't hide behind some lame excuse as 'my airbnb guests did that' as the Law doesn't allow that. In fact, you may even be liable for making that house into an airbnb in the first place! Consult a lawyer before renting it out, it might save you jail time!

Even if the OP were to get a dedicated internet connection for the airBnB, it would still be something that would be rented by him so it’s still his property to secure.

 

7 hours ago, jacoporicci said:

Hey @SupaKomputa thanks for the reply.

 

So my intuition was sort of correct, I should be able to extend my current network just by having a "receiver" in the new house that will also serve as the AP for the guests without having to deal with multiple devices like I was thinking.

 

As far as restricting if I remember correctly the Asus router gives to ability to cut guest ssid out of the main local network so if I'm able to extend that network I should be good.

Thanks!

You seem to be describing a wireless bridge system here. Keep in mind that doing this will basically turn the “receiver” into a half-duplex device since it has to coordinate wireless communication with the primary access point and guest wireless clients using the same radio. This might not be a problem for guests since WiFi convenience is all that they need, not really speed. The other thing is that your wireless bridge is subject to all of the shortcomings of wireless including interference from all the other wireless networks in the condo. Finally, you’ll need to find a device that can be configured in such a way (or can at least be flashed with custom firmware to do so).

 

Are these apartments on the same floor? Are they literally oriented as your depiction? Is the 20m space in between just a hallway?

[jacoporicci]

Sorry for the late replies, it's been a hell of a couple weeks.

 

On 8/9/2020 at 10:04 PM, Falcon1986 said:

Even if the OP were to get a dedicated internet connection for the airBnB, it would still be something that would be rented by him so it’s still his property to secure.

 

You seem to be describing a wireless bridge system here. Keep in mind that doing this will basically turn the “receiver” into a half-duplex device since it has to coordinate wireless communication with the primary access point and guest wireless clients using the same radio. This might not be a problem for guests since WiFi convenience is all that they need, not really speed. The other thing is that your wireless bridge is subject to all of the shortcomings of wireless including interference from all the other wireless networks in the condo. Finally, you’ll need to find a device that can be configured in such a way (or can at least be flashed with custom firmware to do so).

 

Are these apartments on the same floor? Are they literally oriented as your depiction? Is the 20m space in between just a hallway?

Would it be better in you opinion to have an antenna that connects directly to my wifi like a "client" and then that antenna is in the same network as the router/ap providing connection in the airbnb?

 

Yes, they're literally 20 meters apart, there's just a small hallway with the elevator in between the two doors.

 

 

On 8/9/2020 at 2:34 PM, Dutch_Master said:

You do NOT want to share your network connection with an airbnb house! Remember, everything that connection does, is your responsibility! And you can't hide behind some lame excuse as 'my airbnb guests did that' as the Law doesn't allow that. In fact, you may even be liable for making that house into an airbnb in the first place! Consult a lawyer before renting it out, it might save you jail time!

Already did it. I can do it, it's all legal here.

 

 

On 8/9/2020 at 2:25 PM, mariushm said:

Would you be able to route an ethernet cable all the way down to the basement and then bring it up to that apartment? You could route it near gas pipes or water pipes in the kitchen or something like that. Low voltage cables like ethernet won't be an issue.

 

 

Even with that detour, as long as it's less than 100 meters length it would work. 

 

As for everything else, a simple VLAN would isolate your network from that apartment and you could also configure various QoS and filters if needed.

I might investigate into this but I'm way ahead in the construction work so I don't think I'll be able to pass that cable nicely. Also, both the apartments are on the third floor and it would be pretty impractical to route a cable out of my apartment, down 10 meters, up 10 meters and poke a hole in a wall to get into the other apartment. Now that I'm thinking the two apartments are close but on different "wings" of the building so they don't share the same walls. I don't know how to explain it so here's a picture: 2/4 windows in my apartment open in the red square "hole" and 2/4 windows in the airbnb open in the green one and the two holes don't communicate at ground floor.

 

 

On 8/9/2020 at 2:23 PM, SupaKomputa said:

Try look for OpenWrt or DDWRT supported router before you make a purchase.

With a custom firmware you basically have a broad functionality that maybe unavailable with the original software.

Also with it you can make different router brand talk to each other.

 

https://openwrt.org/supported_devices

https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices

 

this makes your life easier

https://10-0-0-0-1.org/reviews/routers/openwrt/

I have a couple of routers laying around, would be good to be able to recycle something. Will look into that, thanks!

 

[Falcon1986]

@jacoporicci

 

That's an unusual layout. So the 2 apartments are not at the same level?

 

Is there clear line-of-sight from the primary one to the airBnB one in the hallway? If not, that's going to make any wireless bridge difficult.

 

Since you have the ability to run ethernet if you want, I'd still suggest you try to do so. You can run it along the wall/floor edge or at the wall/ceiling edge. It would make for a much simpler, faster and reliable setup. At the other end, all you'd need to do is attach a wireless access point for your tenants.

[jacoporicci]

2 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

@jacoporicci

 

That's an unusual layout. So the 2 apartments are not at the same level?

 

Is there clear line-of-sight from the primary one to the airBnB one in the hallway? If not, that's going to make any wireless bridge difficult.

 

Since you have the ability to run ethernet if you want, I'd still suggest you try to do so. You can run it along the wall/floor edge or at the wall/ceiling edge. It would make for a much simpler, faster and reliable setup. At the other end, all you'd need to do is attach a wireless access point for your tenants.

Yes they are on the same level but they don't share the same "hole" (as pictured) so running a cable would be pretty impossible.

 

Do I have to use same brand products to do the bridge? Is there any wireless antenna that can connect to an existing network like a normal client would do and then pass that connection onto another access point via ethernet? Am I overthinking this?

 

Thanks!

[Falcon1986]

@jacoporicci

 

How does this look?

 

[akio123008]

 

On 8/9/2020 at 1:50 PM, jacoporicci said:

 

It looks like you've pretty much figured it out.

 

You need to configure the Asus router so that the airbnb is on a different network than that of your own house. currently it's set up with two networks (local network and ISP network) whereas you need to set it up for three networks (local network, airbnb network and ISP network) You'll need to make sure to not have the airbnb become part of your house's network. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

11 hours ago, jacoporicci said:

Yes they are on the same level but they don't share the same "hole" (as pictured) so running a cable would be pretty impossible.

 

Do I have to use same brand products to do the bridge? Is there any wireless antenna that can connect to an existing network like a normal client would do and then pass that connection onto another access point via ethernet? Am I overthinking this?

 

Thanks!

Using something designed specifically to act as a bridge is generally more reliable, but lots of routers (especially if you can put OpenWRT on them) can do bridging.

Do bear in mind however that they are potentially legal issues with sharing your connection with strangers, you could be legally responsible if they use the WiFi for anything illegal.

[jacoporicci]

Thanks everyone who contributed to the post. Looks like I have a fair bit to study.

 

Will come back to annoy y'all if I need more help!

[jacoporicci]

UPDATE: So I bought a super cheap DLink Wifi Extender on Amazon just to give it a try and return it.

Of course it didn't work so I suppose I either have to find a better quality product or change approach and have a point to point antenna and then connect the receiving antenna to an access point in the AirBnb.

 

Has any of you guys had any experience with something similar?

 

Edit: I've found THIS on Amazon (I'll remove the link and put the name of the item if links are not allowed) but looks very chinese.

 

Thanks!