Help with expanding the wireless network

[MarinkoCRO]

Hi, i have a bit specific issue and a problem regarding wireless network expansion and i would appreciate any advice. I've been having this problem for quite a while now and i still haven't been able to find a solution.

I would like to expand my wireless network coverage, so that my cousin, who lives just 2 houses away from me (around 25 m / 80 feet distance) could connect to it.

I've got a 100 Mbps internet connection and i've been using some ISP provided TPLINK router. My cousin has no internet connection at his home, so we've been trying to find a solution to share mine.

We bought a TPLINK CPE210 outdoor access point (https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-...-radio/cpe210/), connected it to my ISP router and pointed it towards his house that's only 25 m / 80 feet away. Even though there is nothing between CPE210 and his house, we have a perfectly clear line of sight, the unfortunate thing is, his house has pretty thick brick /concrete walls, so his wifi adapter can hardly get any signal, and it's often lost. I mean TPLINK CPE210 is outdoor access point, that can connect 2 points on 10+ km distance (if the line of sight is good), so i thought it would easily penetrate through brick wall at 25 m away, but apparently that's not the case. We've tried experimenting with different setups like CPE210 ----> Wifi adapter , then CPE210 ----> wireless router (in WISP mode) -----> wifi adapter , etc etc, but none of the configurations seem to work as we need them to work. The worst thing is, if he wants to get any connection at all, he has to position his laptop in some exact spot of his house and even then the signal strength is always low and often lost, so we're happy when he can get 5-6 Mpbs connection, even though CPE210 is capable of 300 Mpbs speeds.

Due to the circumstances, I know we won't get 100% speed, but what should we do to get a stable wireless connection and some reasonable speed inside his house?


Our current setup is:

1. My ISP router is providing WAN access to TPLINK CPE210 outdoor access
point via LAN cable
2. TPLINK CPE210 is currently set to wireless access point and pointed
directly to this house, that's only 25 m / 80 feet away
3. He's using his laptop integrated wifi adapter to connect to CPE210 outdoor access point (we did try with some TPLINK external wifi adapter too, but we had the same results

I'm now thinking that CPE210 might not be the right choice for the job. 

Please advise what else could we try, thanks!

[wintermute000]

You'd probably have more luck if you had 2 of them and set it up in bridge mode pointed exactly at each other, not moving. Or even repeater mode at this end. Or use a model where you can use external antennas, you yourself said that the house is poor for wifi signal penetration.

Directional antenna can be highly specific (hence directional...) being consumer grade I can't even see the antenna pattern diag but you'd want to look into that as well. At 25m literally a few degrees = possibly metres difference in where the effective signal lands. Height is also important. Even being a TPlink I doubt that if its an actual outdoors AP that the problem is with the AP, its with the RF. Likely all your problems solved with external antenna. But there's a fair chance your friend needs to stop being cheap and get a unit at his end. The repeater solution seems simplest and doesn't require another unit dedicated to just being a bridge.

Also, be aware what you're doing is likely against your ISP T&Cs.

[deanwebb]

I read the OP and thought the same things as Wintermute. Another unit just outside the building is needed to pick up the signal. It's likely the walls, being thick, have a metal mesh holding in a layer of aggregate rubble, which will destroy the signal strength. Receive outside the wall and get a clean signal, then it's stronger getting into the house.

Ask local builders/tradesmen what walls from that era were like on the inside and they can let you know more about what might be blocking that signal.

[MarinkoCRO]

You'd probably have more luck if you had 2 of them and set it up in bridge mode pointed exactly at each other, not moving. Or even repeater mode at this end. Or use a model where you can use external antennas, you yourself said that the house is poor for wifi signal penetration.

Directional antenna can be highly specific (hence directional...) being consumer grade I can't even see the antenna pattern diag but you'd want to look into that as well. At 25m literally a few degrees = possibly metres difference in where the effective signal lands. Height is also important. Even being a TPlink I doubt that if its an actual outdoors AP that the problem is with the AP, its with the RF. Likely all your problems solved with external antenna. But there's a fair chance your friend needs to stop being cheap and get a unit at his end. The repeater solution seems simplest and doesn't require another unit dedicated to just being a bridge.

Also, be aware what you're doing is likely against your ISP T&Cs.

Thanks for the info.  I did just that - i bought another CPE210 unit today --->set it up in client mode ----> mounted it on his outer wall & drilled a small hole through it ---> connected it to his wifi router via lan cable. He's getting 30 mbps average internet connection speed on Wifi (he has 54 mbps 802.11 b/g wifi adapter in his laptop and extremely cheap router  that isn't really covering his entire flat 100%- so it's fairly good), and well over 60 mbps internet connection speed through lan, so we definitely solved the problem. I'm sure we might have gotten a better result by testing different channels / adjusting different angles of both antennas, but since he was so thrilled with the results we instantly had, i just left it like that.  As for the ISP T&C, i never really thought about that, but both of the apartments are registered to the same person (my uncle) so it's basically the same individual using it. Naturally no one else can gain access to our network as it's password protected.   Thank you very much for your help, it's  much appreciated.