How to get decent wifi in a metal garden building?

[CompleteBarstool]

We have a router in the house but it doesn't seem to send a decent wifi signal to a metal garden building

We've tried a link extender but that didn't work.

Can anyone suggest something that doesn't cost a fortune and doesn't involve cables?

Love to know that answer DS has an extension so much steel because of bifold doors no phones work in that half of the house

Wifi signals won't go through metal (there may be exceptions), so your choices are to position a repeater by a window, so that there is no metal between the repeater and the main wifi or, if you haven't tried it already, a HomePlug repeater.

I'm not sure what you mean by a link extender. Could it have been a HomePlug (network over mains circuit) or a wifi repeater?

We have a wired extension to our broadband hub. It ensures we have WiFi in our garden room. Wireless extension systems aren’t effective enough.

@CruelAndUnusualParenting this is the sort of thing I mean by link extender .

Is that the same thing as the HomePlug repeater that you mentioned??

I’m in a similar position…does a wired extension have to be dug in a trench?

I’ve just been reading about point to point systems. Don’t understand a word of it…but looks like you can get a kit, something screws on the outside of your house, something on your garden office…..they form an invisible bridge through air. You can pay extra for pre configuration….🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Goes further than a normal extender.

wifigear.co.uk/ligowave-dlb-5-15ac-5ghz-ptp-kit#.YN9vTy14WhA

@CovidCorvid that's the problem ...there are various things out there that I don't quite understand, that sound as though they might do the job but I'm not sure if they'll work.

I'm just hoping that somebody who has solved the problem or who knows about these things will come ad say "you need this!"

Is your extender a plug in version? We use devolo extenders all over our very old stone built house to extend our WiFi via the electricity network.

[quote CompleteBarstool]@CovidCorvid that's the problem ...there are various things out there that I don't quite understand, that sound as though they might do the job but I'm not sure if they'll work.

I'm just hoping that somebody who has solved the problem or who knows about these things will come ad say "you need this!"[/quote]
I’ve emailed my garden office installers (office due beginning of September). And asked them for their opinion on best options. Garden is about 30m long. I’ll report back what they suggest.

@CovidCorvid Armoured cables don’t need to be in a trench. We just ran Cat6 cable and power to our garden office and grey are against a fence.

[quote CompleteBarstool]@CruelAndUnusualParenting this is the sort of thing I mean by link extender .

Is that the same thing as the HomePlug repeater that you mentioned??[/quote]
Yes, that's a HomePlug repeater. They often work, but often they don't. The quality and layout of the wiring matters. When I had HomePlug networking it worked well between 2 of my rooms, but a third extender in the living room was very poor.

@CovidCorvid

I’m in a similar position…does a wired extension have to be dug in a trench?

It just has to be an exterior grade cable.

We have a lift shaft in the middle of our flat that blocks the WiFi and positioning extenders in every possible location failed us. We ended up getting a mesh network as recommended in the Telegraph and it’s been brilliant. I have no idea how it works but apparently it does some jiggery pokery that means your signal isn’t weakened when it repeats. Certainly all the speed tests show we have full signal in all the former dead spots.

@SprayedWithDettol

We have a wired extension to our broadband hub. It ensures we have WiFi in our garden room. Wireless extension systems aren’t effective enough.

We did this as well. Only way round it.

Yep. Wired is best, armoured cat cable and power cable and a second router in the office. Our cables are not buried but raised against a wall as we are worried we’ll stick a spade through them one day doing the garden. Cost a bit but it’s faultless.

@broccolibush

We have a lift shaft in the middle of our flat that blocks the WiFi and positioning extenders in every possible location failed us. We ended up getting a mesh network as recommended in the Telegraph and it’s been brilliant. I have no idea how it works but apparently it does some jiggery pokery that means your signal isn’t weakened when it repeats. Certainly all the speed tests show we have full signal in all the former dead spots.

Mesh networks can be great, but probably not for this problem. A mesh still needs either a clear path for a Wifi signal or a network cable.

The mesh idea got me to wondering about this metal building though. What's the roof like? Is that metal too? Is it pitched or flat?

@broccolibush the roof is pitched but insulated with foil backed insulation which, from.reading up on this, is a problem in itself too.

[quote CompleteBarstool]@broccolibush the roof is pitched but insulated with foil backed insulation which, from.reading up on this, is a problem in itself too.[/quote]
What you've got there is a Faraday cage (or so I was told when we were sorting ours out - we also had the foil backed insulation.)

We had it wired from the main house with another router in the outbuilding.

My garden office company have got back to me and told me to buy this. This is what they use amd it works well for them.

www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Deco-E4-Seamless-Replacement/dp/B07RXLF5XZ/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=TP-LINK+-+Deco+M4+Whole+Home+WiFi+System+-+Triple+Pack&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1621356155&sr=8-3v

Though no idea about the metal complication.

You're in a Faraday cage. At least you won't have need of a tinfoil hat in there!