[Michael Glavin]

Matt,

Lots of good ideas suggested thus far. There are many alternatives methods of providing an internet feed to your garage. You suggested wireless didn’t work, as Ralph mentioned the “newer” protocols would be worth considering I’ve had good luck with them too…

I have a similar dilemma between my garage and cable modem with wireless router. I have a couple of computers I use in my garage workshop and often work on computers for others. This lead to the need for multiple simultaneous internet connection feeds. Since I’m not hardwired for an Ethernet system I decided a wireless infrastructure would have to do, to that end I purchased two wireless routers one is used in the house in the conventional wired/wireless access point mode and the second is used as wired/wireless access point for the garage. In other words the garage wireless AP (AP=access point) is configured via software to act as a wireless bridge and or wireless client, in this mode the GAP (garage access point) communicates wirelessly with the primary AP in the house, similar to a repeater. In the garage I have wireless access and multiple wired CAT-5/RJ45 access provided by the GAP. So it matters not if the computers I’m playing with are wireless capable or not as plug and play works too…

FWIW: If you find yourself figuring out a method to pull hardwire to the garage use at least Cat-5e UTP cable or better yet look at CAT-6 UTP. These cables are superior to CAT-5 and will accommodate new technology in the future; at this time CAT-5e and better supports high speed Gigabit Ethernet seamlessly. As mentioned by others these cables and the like should be in a separate conduit from line voltage cables and at least 12” from same.

It’s not impossible to pull out the unused 2 wire cable and pull in a new CAT-5 or 6 cable, I do this semi regularly by attaching the new cable to the old and then pulling the old out while introducing the new cable simultaneously…

If for some reason you find you’re experiencing some wireless signal throughput anomalies, consider purchasing range extending antennas; these antennas are readily available and can be mounted near a window or better yet outside and they work too!

Michael Glavin

 

[Michael Glavin]

Back on page 1, post 15 I described how you could use pretty much any existing wireless access point and or wireless router together with a plain old wireless router located in the garage configured as a wireless bridge or wireless client. You don’t need anything exotic or expensive a simple inexpensive Linksys WRT54G router will suffice and it will provide WiFi as well as four CAT 5 wired connections in the garage.

You can purchase a Linksys WRT54G from online vendors for about $50.00 that has been flashed with TOMATO software or other similar offerings; this would allow you to specifically turn up the power output! There are many other user definable parameters which are all accessed via the routers web interface and all are again user friendly for tweaking the unit to your own needs.

A range extending antenna would likely be an excellent accessory located near a window connected to the wireless access point in the cabin. In my experience this worked very well at my former home, I had an excellent signal over the properties entire acre or better.

Michael