Using LMR-400 as WiFi antenna extension

[Paddo]

Hi there,

I just built a little gaming area in my garage. The problem is that the WiFi AP is very weak (2MBit/s at best).

The AP in the garage is connected to another AP about 15m(50ft) away in another building. This AP is connected to my router via CAT7 so I get the full 1Gbit/s.

I read that the usual WiFi antenna extensions are only good up to 1-3m since the signal loss is too high.

Would a LMR-400 cable (5-10m) with RP-SMA connectors work better?
Installing another CAT7 cable from AP1 to AP2 isn't an option. I can't drill any holes in the walls.

Please excuse my poor paint skills, I've tried my best to make it more clear.

[Alex Atkin UK]

11 hours ago, Paddo said:

Hi there,

I just built a little gaming area in my garage. The problem is that the WiFi AP is very weak (2MBit/s at best).

The AP in the garage is connected to another AP about 15m(50ft) away in another building. This AP is connected to my router via CAT7 so I get the full 1Gbit/s.

I read that the usual WiFi antenna extensions are only good up to 1-3m since the signal loss is too high.

Would a LMR-400 cable (5-10m) with RP-SMA connectors work better?
Installing another CAT7 cable from AP1 to AP2 isn't an option. I can't drill any holes in the walls.

Please excuse my poor paint skills, I've tried my best to make it more clear.

What kind of AP?

 

Ceiling mounted, or just moving it as high up as possible can help the signal avoid as many obstructions.  Also if this is hanging onto a weak 5Ghz signal then moving to 2.4Ghz might actually perform better, perhaps letting you move AP2 closer to the gaming area. 

 

Although if you are planning to game online I don't think this is going to work if its already struggling.

In my own experience, connecting an antenna over a 3m cable helps a lot at 2.4Ghz but when I tried with a 5Ghz signal (and a 5Ghz antenna) it was useless.  Although I have no way to know if the antenna was faulty.

[Paddo]

5 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

What kind of AP?

 

Ceiling mounted, or just moving it as high up as possible can help the signal avoid as many obstructions.  Also if this is hanging onto a weak 5Ghz signal then moving to 2.4Ghz might actually perform better, perhaps letting you move AP2 closer to the gaming area. 

 

Although if you are planning to game online I don't think this is going to work if its already struggling.

In my own experience, connecting an antenna over a 3m cable helps a lot at 2.4Ghz but when I tried with a 5Ghz signal (and a 5Ghz antenna) it was useless.  Although I have no way to know if the antenna was faulty.

AP1 is a AVM FritzBox 4040 (2.4GHz and 5GHz), AP2 is a TP-Link WR1043ND V1(2.4GHz only) running dd-wrt custom firmware. AP2 is aleady quiet high up(2.5m), I don't think putting it any higher up would do anything.
Running CAT7 from AP2 to the gaming room would be possible but won't do any good for now with the poor connection between AP1 and AP2.

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 hours ago, Paddo said:

AP1 is a AVM FritzBox 4040 (2.4GHz and 5GHz), AP2 is a TP-Link WR1043ND V1(2.4GHz only) running dd-wrt custom firmware. AP2 is aleady quiet high up(2.5m), I don't think putting it any higher up would do anything.
Running CAT7 from AP2 to the gaming room would be possible but won't do any good for now with the poor connection between AP1 and AP2.

 

What about the height of AP1, or changing its position?  Can it be moved closer to AP2 at all?

 

I wonder if mixing two different chipsets (even though they're the same vendor) might be at issue here?  Maybe things have moved on, but when I was using OpenWRT (or maybe I was on DD-WRT too back then, can't remember) in WDS mode the documentation said to only use it with identical hardware at both ends, as the implementation is not always standards compliant between different WiFi chipsets.  I assume you're not using 802.11s as that is a completely different kind of mesh that is meant for making huge WiFi networks with resiliency rather than speed.  

 

That said, have you tested AP1 and AP2 in the same room to see how fast they can achieve in ideal circumstances?

 

I wonder if upgrading to WiFi 6 might help?   I had awful performance on 2.4Ghz for years, since it became so crowded (over really short range too) but it improved dramatically when I moved to WiFi 6.  Its why it frustrates me to see so many vendors selling APs with WiFi 6 only on 5Ghz, as it makes a much bigger improvement to 2.4Ghz as that never got upgraded when WiFi 5 came out.

Also, don't bother with CAT7 if you do add another hard link, its not an official standard.  CAT5e is enough for Gigabit, CAT6A if you want a little future proofing.

[Paddo]

6 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

What about the height of AP1, or changing its position?  Can it be moved closer to AP2 at all?

Not really. The only way would be if I would run a cable through the entire room and back. I could do it but it would be suboptimal.

8 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Have you tested AP1 and AP2 in the same room to see how fast they can achieve in ideal circumstances?

When AP2 and AP1 are right next to each other I get ~130MBit/s.
 

21 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I wonder if upgrading to WiFi 6 might help?   I had awful performance on 2.4Ghz for years, since it became so crowded (over really short range too) but it improved dramatically when I moved to WiFi 6.

I ordered 2 Huawei AX3 Quad-Core just now to replace AP1 and AP2. They do WiFi6 on 2.4GHz and 5GHz. I hope the connection will be better.

 

I don't need ultra fast speeds but >30MBit/s would be nice for 4k streaming and downloading/updating games in a reasonable time.

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 minute ago, Paddo said:

I ordered 2 Huawei AX3 Quad-Core just now to replace AP1 and AP2. They do WiFi6 on 2.4GHz and 5GHz. I hope the connection will be better.

 

I don't need ultra fast speeds but >30MBit/s would be nice for 4k streaming and downloading/updating games in a reasonable time.

I hope it doesn't work the same as the Honor Router 3.  I had one temporarily and it worked well, except in AP mode it only let you use the WAN port which was extremely annoying.

[Paddo]

On 9/15/2022 at 11:37 AM, Alex Atkin UK said:

wonder if upgrading to WiFi 6 might help?

With my 2 new WiFi6 routers the connection is way better. ~30MBit/s directly at AP2, still around 10MBit/s in the gaming room but that can be fixed with a few CAT cables and a switch. Thanks for the tip!

[Alex Atkin UK]

6 hours ago, Paddo said:

With my 2 new WiFi6 routers the connection is way better. ~30MBit/s directly at AP2, still around 10MBit/s in the gaming room but that can be fixed with a few CAT cables and a switch. Thanks for the tip!

Glad it worked out.  Its always nerve wracking recommending anything wireless as just because I saw improvements, doesn't mean it would necessarily apply to your environment.