This topic

Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Tigers1975 — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 12:27:46 GMT

I have a garden room about 80ft from the house and trying to connect to our household internet. A cat6 EV data cable has been run from the garden room to the the house (entering under the stairs) We have the latest smart hub 2 sat in a living room at front of house. I have used the a disc which came with SH2 to sit under the stairs and connected the cat6 cable into it. Before I buy more hardware I want to know if just having another disc in the garden room attached to the cat6 cable will work? Or do I need another router in the garden room? Advice welcome. Had a BT engineer round who was a bit green and had no idea other than to suggest buying a mini hub for the garden room but cant believe that is the best route when have invested in cat6 hardwiring to get proper speed.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Keith_Beddoe — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 12:36:30 GMT

@Tigers1975

A wireless access point is a better and simpler option.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/access-point/tl-wa801n/

About £20.

Very simple to set up.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

gg30340 — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 12:42:07 GMT

Fully agree with Keith. You have already done the hard work by running the Ethernet cable to the Garden room. All you need to do now is connect a wireless access point to the Ethernet cable in the Garden Room.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Tigers1975 — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 13:45:37 GMT

Thank you for the quick response and this certainly sounds promising. Will give it a go. Might reach out again if still struggling to connect. Cheers

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

licquorice — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 13:48:28 GMT

If you want both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wifi bands, there is the https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/access-point/tl-wa1201/

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Keith_Beddoe — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 13:55:56 GMT

Its actually very easy to setup compared with some of the earlier TP Link ones. Its just a case of connection it up, then logging into its default SSID to make any changes. Is usually better to give it a separate SSID to the home hub, and then adding that new SSID to the list of wireless connections that devices can connect to.

That avoids any confusion as to which wireless station you are connected to.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Tigers1975 — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 15:07:07 GMT

Thanks Keith, is there any concern that the Smart Hub 2 wont allow me create a separate network as such? I'm still a little nervous but have ordered one and will see how to go. Appreciate all the comments.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

licquorice — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 15:11:28 GMT

Its just plug and play. There is nothing to configure/change in the BT Hub.

Plug it in and you will see the Tp Link as a separate SSID, just connect to it and away you go.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Tigers1975 — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 20:54:21 GMT

@Keith_Beddoe @licquorice

I have now received the wireless access point and set it up using my smart hub 2 to create a new ssid. I'm trying this out within the house at the moment to test using other devices via the new network. Whilst the new ssid is visible to other devices they wont seem to connect? Any idea why this would be?

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

licquorice — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 21:03:05 GMT

Are you sure you are entering the right WiFi password

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 21:07:34 GMT

Did you change the wireless password on the access point, and did you enter the new password on the connecting devices?

Remember, the wireless password is not the one you use to access the settings page when you first connected to the access point (you have to define that initially).

Did you follow the setup process where it asks you to connect to the default TP Link SSID and go to the TP Link web page?

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/download/tl-wa801n/

I have setup many of these devices, and this is the easiest one to configure.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Tigers1975 — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 21:33:58 GMT

So I think I followed the set up correctly for a wireless access point and no problem creating the new name. I did keep password the same as is on the bottom of the tp link (maybe that is an issue?) However I can connect devices to that new wireless network but only if I have the TP access point hard wired to my SH2.

As soon as I take it elsewhere in house then I get a "connected but without internet" message.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 21:49:09 GMT

It has to be wired to the SH2, otherwise it will not get a connection. Its a wireless access point, not a repeater.

You need to connect it to the Ethernet cable in your garden room, which is wired back to the SH2 or the existing disc.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

gg30340 — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 21:49:42 GMT

The TP Link wireless access point needs to be connected to the Smarthub.

You have said you have run Ethernet cable to your Garden Room. Plug one end of the cable into the Smarthub and the other end, the one in the garden room, into the Wireless access point and this will allow any devices to connect wirelessly to the wireless access point and to the Internet.

If you don't have it connected to the Smarthub by Ethernet, while the wireless access point will transmit a wireless signal, there is no connection to the Internet and as such it will allow your devices to connect to the wireless access point but your device will not be able to connect to the Internet.

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Tigers1975 — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 22:06:46 GMT

Thanks Keith,

Probably worth me explaining that while the cat6 cable has been run down to the garden room I'm waiting for the electrician to return and fit a connector so it can be plugged into a wireless access point. In the house (under stairs) he has managed this and so I had connected that to an extender disc which BT provided with my SH2. You seem confident this should still work? The disc is definitely picking up a wireless connection from my SH2 (solid blue light)

All fun and games, I do appreciate the responses though, thank you

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

licquorice — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 22:16:07 GMT

The disc is entirely irrelevant.

You need to connect as below.

Hub > Cat 6 cable > Access point.

Exactly the same as you had it connected within the house just that the cable is now going from the house to the garden room rather than just a short link.

Why on earth didn't the electrician connect an RJ45 plug to each end of the cable when he ran it?

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

Tigers1975 — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 22:39:26 GMT

Thanks @licquorice @Keith_Beddoe

So, based on this seems my next move might be to be get BT to move or extend my entry point into the under stairs area where the cat6 cable is? You seem sure that I can't do the following.

Hub>Disc>Cat6>Access Point.

Electrician managed to crimp one end ok but struggled in garden room. It is quite a thick EV cable (8 wires?)

Re: Connecting garden room to internet with Smart Hub 2

licquorice — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 08:37:34 GMT

We all assumed you had run the Cat6 cable from the hub to the garden room, why you didn't I have no idea.

I don't have any BT WiFi discs but I believe that it should still work as you have described.