Suggestions for wifi

[I Suck At Captchas]

So some back story, I live on a relatively large property and most of it is outdoors. There are no trees which should help a bit. With that out of the way here's my dilemma. I have decent wifi in the house, however I wanted it to stretch around the whole property; I thought about having several WAPs like in pimp my wifi episode 2(can't wait for the next one!). But after some research I found that I could mount a directional wifi antenna on the roof. Please share any suggestions that you may have for me. Thanks for taking the time to respond!

[Skiiwee29]

Not sure which country you live in, but here in the US, the FCC regulates how strong wifi singles can be. You would be better off creating a wireless mesh with access points to provide coverage around your property. A single antenna on your roof would not suffice because of government regulations, if you live in the US. 

[NTDaws]

I would look into extenders. Only if you plan to use it for simple websites such as youtube, google, anything like that. But it wouldn't be sufficient for gaming. 

[I Suck At Captchas]

Just now, legacy99 said:

Not sure which country you live in, but here in the US, the FCC regulates how strong wifi singles can be. You would be better off creating a wireless mesh with access points to provide coverage around your property. A single antenna on your roof would not suffice because of government regulations, if you live in the US. 

Thanks for the reply. I do live in the US -California to be specific-, I don't live near any airports, and I don't live near any large city's. I'm open to trying a wireless mesh but it seems a lot harder than an antenna.

[Oshino Shinobu]

I personally use a Ubiquiti UniFi AP Outdoor+ to cover the 2 acres we have at the back of the house (no trees and very flat land). I can pick up the signal over the entire field and also across the river on the field behind ours. I guess around 150m of total range before the signal either drops or becomes so weak it's basically unusable. I run it off about a 40m Cat6 Cable, with the PoE provider being at the end away from the AP.

 

EDIT: The AP is mounted about 7 feet high on the side of a building. Signal strength across the field and on the other side of the river has direct line of site to the AP (I live in the fenlands in the UK, so very flat and very few trees)

[I Suck At Captchas]

2 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

I would look into extenders. Only if you plan to use it for simple websites such as youtube, google, anything like that. But it wouldn't be sufficient for gaming. 

I'm a bit weary of using extenders mainly because I've had a lot of issues in the past with them. Also I'm trying not to spend to much and the ones with Poe are  kind of expensive.

[I Suck At Captchas]

5 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

I personally use a Ubiquiti UniFi AP Outdoor+ to cover the 2 acres we have at the back of the house (no trees and very flat land). I can pick up the signal over the entire field and also across the river on the field behind ours. I guess around 150m of total range before the signal either drops or becomes so weak it's basically unusable. I run it off about a 40m Cat6 Cable, with the PoE provider being at the end away from the AP.

 

EDIT: The AP is mounted about 7 feet high on the side of a building. Signal strength across the field and on the other side of the river has direct line of site to the AP (I live in the fenlands in the UK, so very flat and very few trees)

So just so I'm clear, the access point is plunges into a Poe switch which is plugged into your router. And this covers everything witching line of sight?

[Oshino Shinobu]

31 minutes ago, I Suck At Captchas said:

So just so I'm clear, the access point is plunges into a Poe switch which is plugged into your router. And this covers everything witching line of sight?

Right now I am using the included PoE injector, but it would operate the same (technically better due to the benefits of 802.3af/at over the injector) using a PoE switch. It covers everything I need it for in about a 160 degree arc within line of sight (It's at the rear of the house, facing towards to rear field). From what I've tested, it does struggle to penetrate walls and such, but if you have a clear line of sight, it works well. 

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

we set up directional antennas in farming areas; you know so farmers can get their tinder swipes from the milk shed. For what you have described I would look for an out door router, the kind that gets mounted high up on a pole, put one in 2 opposing corners of your house and you should be good. I dont think directional would really be applicable

[I Suck At Captchas]

3 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

we set up directional antennas in farming areas; you know so farmers can get their tinder swipes from the milk shed. For what you have described I would look for an out door router, the kind that gets mounted high up on a pole, put one in 2 opposing corners of your house and you should be good. I dont think directional would really be applicable

Lol. Alright thanks for the info, can you suggest a good brand?

[I Suck At Captchas]

7 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Right now I am using the included PoE injector, but it would operate the same (technically better due to the benefits of 802.3af/at over the injector) using a PoE switch. It covers everything I need it for in about a 160 degree arc within line of sight (It's at the rear of the house, facing towards to rear field). From what I've tested, it does struggle to penetrate walls and such, but if you have a clear line of sight, it works well. 

Will it extend my existing network or create a new one and would I be able to set up more than one of these on the same network?

[Oshino Shinobu]

2 minutes ago, I Suck At Captchas said:

Will it extend my existing network or create a new one and would I be able to set up more than one of these on the same network?

It will still be connected to your existing network. You can chose whether you want it to have a separate SSID to create a different wireless network, but it will still be on the same local network unless you plan on isolating it using VLANs. If you want, you can just set it up to use the same SSID and password as your existing wireless network, so you don't have to manually switch between wireless signals. You can set up multiple of them on the same network and manage them through Ubiquiti's UniFi controller (software you run on a PC, but it doesn't have to be running at all times, just when you want to monitor or change something). I personally use a total of 4 Ubiquiti access points, including the outdoor one and manage them all through the UniFi controller. 

 

Personally, I have the outdoor access point set up using a different SSID and more secure password as its signal isn't as isolated as the indoor access points are and not everyone who visits our house needs to have access to the outdoor access point.