Detached Garage Wi-Fi Problems

[CH_79]

I'm in the process of converting half of my detached garage into a home gym so I've put a Sonos amp in the garage loft space to get music. My problem is that I struggle to connect to my Smarthub 2 from my iPhone 11 to control the Sonos when I'm inside the garage but it works if I stand outside the garage door. The amp is receiving a wifi signal so my phone seems to be the problem. (None of the Sonos devices in my house are wired so they are all using the Smarthub signal, not the Sonos mesh). My guess is that the 5Ghz signal is not penetrating the garage walls but the 2.4 GHz signal is. I can't move the hub any closer as it is already just inside the wall that faces the garage and the garage starts about 10m away from the hub.

My question is, would a BT disc work (or another mesh product) or should I attempt Powerline adapters? Any other suggestions? It's not practical to run ethernet cable though I realise this would be the perfect solution!

FYI - The garage has it's own distribution box but this is fed from the main distribution box in the house. 

[Les-Gibson]

You need something like this https://www.bt.com/help/user-guides/broadband-and-wi-fi-devices/wi-fi-and-home-networking/wi-fi-home...

Briefly, it's two units, one in the house and one in the garage, they connect to each other over your power lines and the one in the garage is a mini wi-fi hotspot

[gg30340]

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@CH_79 wrote:

FYI - The garage has it's own distribution box but this is fed from the main distribution box in the house. 

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You will probably find that Powerline Adaptors will not work on the electrical circuit in the garage if it is going through an additional/different distribution unit from the one that you are going to place the Master Powerline Adaptor on. ie the house.

You could always order a set and return them if they don't work.

[giles2]

If it was me (we did same thing with our garage), we used the powerline adaptors which work perfectly and still have a good speed.

I don't work for BT 🙂

[CH_79]

Not sure if this is a stupid question but if I get powerline adapters with wifi hotspot in the garage, will it act like the same network or will it be a separate network that connects to the hub in the house only to connect to the internet? Will I be able to connect to the sonos devices in my house from the garage and vice versa for example.

I had been thinking of getting a Powerline adapter and using an old BT smarthub to act as the wifi/switch and run an ethernet cable to the Sonos and a TV and will then be able to connect by wifi with phone. Will this work - assuming I turn off DHCP etc and the powerline works over my cables?

Also, would I be better getting quicker powerline adapters if I intend to watch TV? I appreciate you'll never get the advertised speed but is it better to have the headroom?

[Les-Gibson]

@gg30340 

From my own experience, they will work but they will be more prone to failure.

At worst I had to reset them (turn them on and off at the mains) once every 5 - 6 days  

[Les-Gibson]

@CH_79 

If I remember correctly they can be either.

They do come with their own SSID and password but if I remember correctly there is an option to clone your home network.

Follow that link I posted earlier and take a look at the user guide

[CH_79]

Thanks @Les-Gibson . Looks like the cloning function will solve my problems (assuming they work at all)! I'll get a set ordered and take it from there!

Cheers

[Les-Gibson]

The good news is, they will work, of that I'm sure.

The bad news is that, as I said above, I would expect them to fail every so often due to there being two consumer units in the circuit. When that happens, just turn both units off at the mains for around one minute and then turn them back on.

[licquorice]

All devices will be on the same network, the use of the cloning facility to give powerline adapters the same SSID is neither necessary or desirable.