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How to transmit Wi-Fi signal over long distances?

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Rodolfo.

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Hello,

Here's the thing: I live in a house near the place where I work, and by near I mean 300 -400 ft. We don't have internet in the house and there's no way to get internet through a regular ISP. This is because the house is in a sort of camp, close enough to be near the company's viccinities but far enough from the road for the ISP to use the excuse "We can't get a cable that far", though we do have internet in the offices through an ISP. Offices are right on the road.

So, like I'd mentioned before we do have internet in the offices. Like any other office we have the main cable coming to a router and from there, to a switch then to all of our computers. Besides this we have one cable that goes from the switch to the backyard, to another switch and from there to another router set as a Bridge, all this so we can have Wi-Fi in this area. I was thinking about doing the same thing for our home, problem is that I can't throw a cable to the house because like said, it's over 300 ft. So I was thinking about doing this with some sort of antenna arrangement, problem is I've never done it before so I'm not quite sure what the structure would be like. Here's where you help me up :p

Here's what my inexperienced mind tells me about the said problem:

1.) The antenna can't be directly connected to my regular router, even if that was physically possible I doubt it would have enough power to reach the house. So this means I need an additional piece of equipment -thingy- in-between the router/source and the antenna that acts at least as an amplifier/bridge (Am I right?).
2.)Even if I manage to get the signal to our home, communication wouldn't be established since computers and phones wouldn't have enough reach to reach the router's antenna or the directional antenna itself (Am I right?).
3.) Following the above line of thought, I would need a second antenna at the house that acts as a receiver and a transmitter, right? And of course, another device -thingy- in-between this antenna and the router I will install at home for everyone to have access.

So as you see, I have a few doubts. Do these hypothetical antennas work both as transmitters and receivers regardless of what I do ? Am I being redundant or even stupid by asking this? So basically what I'm asking is for you to describe a simple network structure of how I could pull this off. If you can recommend the equipment I'll need that would be great.

I know this is supposed to be easy and I'm sure once I'm done I'll feel dumb for a couple of my questions here, but I just need some help to get started.

Thank you very much for your time.
 

A Wi-Fi link over that distance should be quite easy, as long as there is nothing large obstructing the path you would not need special antennas.

The equipment you need is called a "Wireless access point" plugged in at the network end (if there isn't one already) and a USB Wireless 'dongle' on your own computer. All you need is a password to connect to the access point. You can get gadgets called "Range Extenders" which is basically a receiver and transmitter in a box which you site somewhere between home and work but these need a power source to work. They act like a bridge, picking up each side of the link and retransmitting again so it stretches further.

You can use more than one 'dongle' if you want other computers to share the network. Antennas are normally omni-directional so you shouldn't need anything more than the built-in or stick antennas provided with the equipment.

Brian.
 

For comparison, I live in a community with municipal wifi. My wifi modem sits by a window. Its antenna is a foot long, and screws onto a connector at the back.

It broadcasts to a node on a utility pole across the street. Transmitting distance 185 feet.

Residents often find they need a high gain antenna, if they are distant from a node. This may be what you need to improve reception.

Here is a search page showing various high gain antennas. Often they are rated for so many decibels. I guess some may work better due to size and shape, while others may contain a microwave amplifier.

https://tinyurl.com/n3j2xu7
 

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