I'm looking for a solution to a problem I have with WiFi, where I need to receive a signal that's fine outside, but unavailable inside.
I'm pretty sure what I want is a device that rebroadcasts a WiFi signal. In the whole radiocommunications world, this would be called a repeater, rebroadcaster, retransmitter, or perhaps signal booster, and that's exactly what it's called when I want find a product to literally rebroadcast, for example, a cell signal.
But for WiFi specifically, it seems, there is basically no such device, and every device called a repeater, rebroadcaster, or booster, is actually some kind of relay that creates a brand-new network and bridges them, so you daisy-chain from this new network to the original network. I understand the advantages of that but it's specifically not what I want.
The actual problem I'm trying to solve is getting signal in a (stationary) RV. An RV is basically a Faraday cage, so ideally you'd just mount a donor antenna on the outside, then use a coax cable to connect the antenna through the roof/wall to an inside rebroadcaster so that you get the exact signal available outside, but inside. The signal isn't bad outside so I'm not really even trying to truly boost a bad signal, just to allow that signal through the walls of the RV when it's -20° outside.
I'm not trying to solve the problem of getting internet when I'm out of WiFi range, magically boosting a crappy signal into a strong signal, or any problem except getting the exact same WiFi signal from outside to inside.
Specifically, this means I want to see the original networks - multiple if there are multiple being broadcast - and connect directly to them with my devices, without configuring the rebroadcaster with the credentials of any specific network.
Has anyone tried this, heard about a product that does this, or even knows what it's called?
I'm amazed that this is so hard (or, that I'm so dumb). Thanks for any help.
Do you host the network/signal outisde? If not, then repeaters are your best bet. If so, Ubiquiti makes a directional antenna that takes your hardwired connection and absolutely sterilizes the destination with signal.
>Do you host the network/signal outisde?
For the purpose of this request, no.
In fact probably 90% of the time I'd be parked at home, so yes, there'd be exactly one network to connect to, and it'd be a network I could change anything about if I had to.
But that's such an easy scenario, I don't need any help with that.
I want a solution for the other 10% of the time, where I'm parked at a camping ground or motel or whatever for a few days, where WiFi (that I do not manage) is available outside, and I don't want a solution where I have to plug into and reconfigure the repeater with the new credentials, or go outside to reposition directional antennas. I want to just connect individual devices on an as-needed basis in the same way as if I step one foot outside the door with them. (Obviously I'm taking about WiFi networks that I have the credentials to connect to, getting access I otherwise couldn't is not the issue either)
Turning a weak signal into a strong signal is not the problem; it's getting an OK signal to penetrate ¼" of signal-blocking wall (in every direction unfortunately). I can mount an outdoor antenna and feed a coax cable through the wall, and that ought to be the hard part. But it seems that the actual hard part is finding something to plug that coax cable into at the other end, which confuses me greatly.
Thanks for responding anyway.
You need a router with two wifi modules Ideally mikrotik. Or two routers. Mikrotik is great at outdoors.
So router A has antennas pointed outside the RV. You either buy an exterior router which us outside, and you need a cat6A or better cable through the wall for power and data, or the antennas are outside and you need coax cables through the wall.
Router1 is your default gateway. Its wifi is in client mode, and connected to whatever network you need. You don't need control over the host network, it connects as any client would. It would do all the router functions on the network as well (wired access, dhcp, dns, failover to LTE optionally, firewall, adblocking)
Router B is an AP. Nothing more. It's inside your RV. Optionally, you can mount Router C outside in AP mode so you have seamless roaming on your own wifi inside and outside the RV.
Client devices always connect to either Router B or C (the APs)
When you're camping and need to change wifi credentials, then you login via Wifi (your wifi provided by either if the APs) to router A and change them.
So, yeah, that's the exact opposite of everything that I said.
I don't want a router or an AP because I don't want to route or bridge. I don't want devices to connect to my own infrastructure as separate networks.
I want to retransmit the existing signal. Which is straightforward if I wanted to retransmit RF radio or television, or cell signals. In theory retransmitting WiFi would be achievable with the exact same type of devices except designed for 2.4/5.8GHz - but apparently such devices don't exist.
Of course the way you say is the most obvious way to handle WiFi, but it's also exactly what I don't want.
Thanks anyway, I guess.
Wtf guy, just use a repeater and connect it to an rj-45 wall plug inside the van
He can’t WPS to a campsite router. At least that’s how repeaters worked back then. Are they locally managed now?
>Wtf guy, just use a repeater and connect it to an rj-45 wall plug inside the van
>You just need something with a WiFi transceiver and antenna.
>Am I missing something here?
I need to repeat/rebroadcast/regenerate/boost the SIGNAL.
Most things that call themselves a "repeater" or "booster" actually operate not on the signal, but on the 802.11 protocol, bridging or routing it. I don't want to bridge or rout, because it requires configuring the repeater/booster/ap on a per-network basis. I only want to reconfigure the end devices per network instead.
For other protocols that aren't designed to be bridged or routed, you get actual repeaters that repeat the signal. But not for WiFi, apparently.
It could even be a dumb access point.
WPS is a gaping security hole anyway, turn it off.
You just need something with a WiFi transceiver and antenna.
Am I missing something here?
can't you just get two wifi antennas and connect them together? one outside and one inside
you're just getting through the 'cage' and don't actually need it amplified, right?
and if it does need amplification, plain RF amplifiers exist as well, which i assume would work for this (should research if someone has done this before for wifi)
>can't you just get two wifi antennas and connect them together? one outside and one inside
>you're just getting through the 'cage' and don't actually need it amplified, right?
Right, I just need to get through, amplification shouldn't be needed.
But I would not expect that you can just stick two antennas together with a cable. A receiving antenna could be passive, but a transmitting antenna would have to inject energy from somewhere to overcome attenuation. And in the case of WiFi (as opposed to say a TV antenna) transmission is bidirectional, so I'd really expect both antennas to be active transceivers.
I guess I could make my own by finding a 2.4/5.8GHz RF signal regenerator, I just didn't expect that to be the only option.
Thanks for responding.
i'm really just guessing here, i'm not an rf expert
not OP but i dont understand how everyone here has entirely missed his point.
he is trying to take the raw wireless signal from ANY network, and feed ALL of that through to the inside of a faraday cage. ignore for a monent the idea of wifi, 802.11, networks, whatever. what OP wants is to get a 2.4ghz or 5.8ghz radio signal and relay it inside a faraday cage.
specifically NOT a router, NOT an AP, NOTHING at ALL to do with networking or routing. he wants a RAW SIGNAL REPEATER, that can be used to take ANY wifi signal from ANYWHERE and repeat it in without need for any configuration.
for lack of imagination, he wants to drill a hole in his RV to let the "rain" in, not to install a "shower".
to answer the question, although not very satisfyingly, this
is your only solution. i don't believe anyone makes a device for this purpose that is off-the-shelf, so you're going to need to find two active antennae and wire them together. i see no reason for this not to work, since its just relaying whateber comes in and goes out between them, theres no reason for an AP to see it except as the signal being sent through it. i know you can do this one-way with a dumb antenna, i dont personally know jow to set it up for two-way boradcasting.
>Specifically, this means I want to see the original networks - multiple if there are multiple being broadcast - and connect directly to them with my devices, without configuring the rebroadcaster with the credentials of any specific network.
What you're describing is not possible due to the nature of wireless computer networking protocols. In order to rebroadcast the signal the intermediary hardware has to serve as an AP. In brief, no, there is no way you can steal your neighbor's wifi without asking them for their password.
>In brief, no, there is no way you can steal your neighbor's wifi without asking them for their password.
this isnt want he was asking, and what he was asking is absolutely possible. to take a 2.4ghz or 5.8ghz radio eave and rebroacast it exactly is not even difficult to do. there is no possibile way for a router to know that the radio waves it sends out are being sent through the air, into an antenna and out into the air again. all encryption stays in place, nothing changes. its a pure radio wave in and out, exactly the same on both ends.
OP has asked for a solution that does not have any brains whatsoever, and every single person here bar one has tried to insert brains into it. not everything needs a fricking microchip. you can extend PCIe signals with several coathangers, and you can also pick up digital TV with them. repeating wifi is the exact same thing.
>there is no way you can steal your neighbor's wifi without asking them for their password.
this is obviously not what he asked for
>What you're describing is not possible due to the nature of wireless computer networking protocols.
Of course it's possible. And this is about signals, not protocols. You don't need to know anything about a protocol to retransmit the signal that carries it.
>In order to rebroadcast the signal the intermediary hardware has to serve as an AP.
No, in order to route or bridge a signal you need an AP, because routing and bridging are functions of the protocol. To merely rebroadcast a signal you only need to act on the signal itself - as, for example, is normally the case with cell communications.
>In brief, no, there is no way you can steal your neighbor's wifi without asking them for their password.
Lol, that's not what I'm doing, and merely repeating the signal would do absolutely nothing to help with that, since it would be the exact same (encrytped) signal where it's repeated.
[spoiler]And if stealing the neighbor's WiFi was the objective, you wouldn't buy hardware to do it.[spoiler]
If you don't understand what I'm talking about (or indeed what you are talking about), then you don't have to respond.
Drill a hole and install a yagi on your roof and feed it into your wifi card antenna port
he does hint that he has multiple devices he wants on the network
if it's just the one then i think he could have figured to use an outdoor antenna going to a wifi card
There's no WiFi card, the end devices are consumer stuff like laptops and phones.
Limiting to one device could be considered if that's what it'd take to make it work, but since that doesn't actually solve any part of the problem, that's no help here.
Thanks for responding.
well if there's no way to bidirectionally repeat the raw rf range wifi uses between two antennas, then you're going to have to just use a router with two radios, put one radio's antenna outside, the other inside, and have one side configured as a wifi client (to connect to a remote AP) and the inside one act as a separate AP, with the two networks bridged together
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/relay_configuration
one advantage is that when you want to connect to other outdoor network, you only have to change what this router is connected to on it's client side
downside is that you can only change what network you're connected to from the routers' interface (though anything with a browser can do it)
that and you can only be on one network for all devices at a time, you'd need a second router if you want two networks at the same time
looking for bidirectional 2.4ghz amps, i found you can actually get wifi-capable rf amps that are just an rf amp
i wonder if you could just hook two of these together...
did some digging and this might be helpful to read through:
https://www.qsl.net/n9zia/wireless/appendixD.html
what you want is a bidirectional amplifier as pointed out. they are actually quite cheap, too. i see no reason why you couldn't hook the output of one into the input of another and vice versa. you would want one with two antennae on each end though, one for each direction so it can do concurrent sends and receives to avoid dropped packets (unless im moronic (which i am) and thats not how this works)
>you would want one with two antennae on each end though, one for each direction so it can do concurrent sends and receives to avoid dropped packets (unless im moronic (which i am) and thats not how this works)
wifi is a half-duplex system (at least traditionally, lets not worry about MIMO), meaning it can only send OR receive at one moment in time, this is totally fine for wifi, that's how it worked in the beginning and still works in simpler setups
>did some digging and this might be helpful to read through:
Interesting read.
I wasn't really looking for a DIY project, but it turns out that what I want isn't commercially available, so I guess my choice is something like this or readjusting my expectation.
Thanks for your response.