How to create wifi in my shed?

[Woodchippie]

I am looking to create wifi in my workshop down the garden.

I have some netgear Ethernet adapters that plug into the mains sockets.

If I plug an old netgear wireless router into the the plug with Ethernet cable would that create wifi in my workshop.

If not how could I do it?

 

[scene]

That could work - assuming the ethernet over mains adapter requires nothing special to be installed on the device it's being plugged into. If it does, might be a non-starter and you might need a PC to act as a bridge between the homeplug and wifi router. Remember:

1. Plug the home plug into one of the four LAN side ethernet ports on the router (not the WAN side)

2. If you have another router already at home (you probably will have) that assigns IP addresses, then make sure your WiFi router isn't trying to assign addresses as well.

 

[hg_mike]

Just to clarify the question, you are seeking to create wifi inside your shed, rather than a wifi link from your house to your shed?

 

[Paul.]

Is your shed power sockets on the same ring main as the wireless router in your house? As long as they are, your plan should work.

 

[bigboss]

Or you could get a wifi extender.

 

[Woodchippie]

To explain further.the shed is 50 metres away from the house, mobile phone signal is rubbish so I thought I would attempt wifi to keep in touch with the world.

i have an old Netgear router with wifi and some netgear home plugs, that I no longer use, as the house is all Apple extenders and expresses.

The shed is on the same electic as the house not on the same ring though, it has its own fuse board, that's connected to the fuse board in the house.

 

[Woodchippie]

To explain further.the shed is 50 metres away from the house, mobile phone signal is rubbish so I thought I would attempt wifi to keep in touch with the world.

i have an old Netgear router with wifi and some netgear home plugs, that I no longer use, as the house is all Apple extenders and expresses.

The shed is on the same electic as the house not on the same ring though, it has its own fuse board, that's connected to the fuse board in the house.

 

[john1000000boy]

Fwiw I use develo home plugs in my settup.... The sky bb comes into 1 house and then home plugs into the mains and passes through to the sitting room....which is in the next door house, on a different fuse box and supply. I receive 2 electric bills for the 2 halves of the house. I was thinking about this also, so

Broadband router > home plug > extension lead > home plug> wifi router in shed/garden

I cannot see why this would not work??

Have often thought about trying it to get AirPlay outside.

Let me know how you get on...

John

 

[Dave_]

Is your shed power sockets on the same ring main as the wireless router in your house? As long as they are, your plan should work.

Modern Homeplugs don't need to be on the same ring main, just the same CU/fuseboard

 

[Woodchippie]

OK, my next question would be, how do I set up router with no computer? Or do I set it up on my computer before I put it in shed,

password setup etc.

 

[Woodchippie]

Just to clarify the question, you are seeking to create wifi inside your shed, rather than a wifi link from your house to your shed?

yes correct, I could buy another apple extender perhaps and use the home plugs to get the Ethernet. But I want to do it with an old router, to save some money.

 

[Dave_]

There's no problem using an old router as an AP. At the least you'll just need to disable DHCP (and let your main router serve up IP addys) and at the most you'll need to change it's IP to one that's outside your main routers DHCP pool, but still within the same subnet.

 

[scene]

There's no problem using an old router as an AP. At the least you'll just need to disable DHCP (and let your main router serve up IP addys) and at the most you'll need to change it's IP to one that's outside your main routers DHCP pool, but still within the same subnet.

Which is what I was trying to say - very badly! I use my old netgear router as a pure wifi bridge in this way and it works very well indeed - it's now actually more stable having been relieved of the extra strain of WAN, DHCP, etc. duties.

 

[Woodchippie]

I have installed the home plugs and they are communicating..Great

I have reset the Netgear router and plugged it in and it creates wi-fi...great

My iphone picks up the signal but when I try to use it it says network error...problem

I have plugged the router into a laptop in the house and the bt cable into it, and brought up the netgear web address page for settings,

what settings do I adjust to get it to work?

 

[Woodchippie]

:cheers:

At last...

all working without the Network router though, forgot I had a spare Airport express so using that.

I love apple products, they just work.

Thanks to every body for there comments, I am very happy now that I am not so isolated in the workshop.

No need to go to the house now. man cave complete. For now anyway..

 

[scene]

For the record, what model of NetGear router is it?

1. Ensure you've haven't plugged the ethernet cable from the homeplug into the "INTERNET port" (as the NetGear manual calls it) - this won't work. You need to plug into one of the other four ports and use it as a WiFi switch.

2. Disable DHCP by going to the LAN IP menu and unchecking "Use router as DHCP server"

3. If your main router has an IP of 192.168.1.1, you might need to change the default IP address of the NetGear router: on the LAN IP menu change change the IP address to something else, like 192.168.1.99

4. Click APPLY to save the settings.

EDIT:

Just checked - there are details of how to make this work from NetGear here

 

[hg_mike]

You have found a simple solution to your problem.

Just in case it is of interest to anyone else, who cannot use homeplugs etc, here are two wiki pages on how to create a cheap DIY wifi aerial, to beam the wifi to a shed.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Low-Cost-WiFi-Antenna

http://www.wikihow.com/Increase-the-Range-of-Your-Wifi

I seem to remember that this type of solution was claimed to have a range of 300m.

Mike

 

[Woodchippie]

For the record, what model of NetGear router is it?

1. Ensure you've haven't plugged the ethernet cable from the homeplug into the "INTERNET port" (as the NetGear manual calls it) - this won't work. You need to plug into one of the other four ports and use it as a WiFi switch.

2. Disable DHCP by going to the LAN IP menu and unchecking "Use router as DHCP server"

3. If your main router has an IP of 192.168.1.1, you might need to change the default IP address of the NetGear router: on the LAN IP menu change change the IP address to something else, like 192.168.1.99

4. Click APPLY to save the settings.

EDIT:

Just checked - there are details of how to make this work from NetGear here

Netgear DG834G

Could find where to Disable the DHCP

 

[scene]

For the record, what model of NetGear router is it?

1. Ensure you've haven't plugged the ethernet cable from the homeplug into the "INTERNET port" (as the NetGear manual calls it) - this won't work. You need to plug into one of the other four ports and use it as a WiFi switch.

2. Disable DHCP by going to the LAN IP menu and unchecking "Use router as DHCP server"

3. If your main router has an IP of 192.168.1.1, you might need to change the default IP address of the NetGear router: on the LAN IP menu change change the IP address to something else, like 192.168.1.99

4. Click APPLY to save the settings.

EDIT:

Just checked - there are details of how to make this work from NetGear here

Netgear DG834G

Could find where to Disable the DHCP

Could you find the "LAN IP settings" page on the configuration web app? Here is a link to the manual chapter for the router: here