Extend BT Wifi to Garden with EXTERNALLY mounted device

[ralphrenner]

Hi - I have Fibre 100 with BT Halo 1 and three discs in my house but the garden has ZERO reception due to triple glazed windows. 

My question is which OUTDOOR suitable WIFI extender - i.e. externally mounted and connected to wifi with ethernet - will enable me to have my BT Wifi Network and NOT a different network that my devices constantly have to switch between when moving in and out of the house / garden area?

Many thanks

[licquorice]

Unless using a true wifi mesh system, any wifi access point you use will require devices to switch between the signals. They will be on the same network and you may even give them the same SSID (network name), but in order to switch between signals the device will drop the connection from one signal before connecting to the other. If they have the same SSID you may not always be aware the switch is taking place.

You will need to Google for external wireless access points or mesh wifi systems.

[ralphrenner]

So is my BT Halo thingi a true wifi mesh network then or no? I don't care what it is called and if it costs a few quid more. I am just hoping to buy whatever outdoor device required so it can sit on the wall in my garden - connect to my BT network via ethernet and spit out the BT wifi network in the garden. Is that possible please and what type of device / properties do I need to look out for?

Thanks again

[licquorice]

Halo is just an add on to your service not a technology. What device(s) do you have? Neither of the wifi disc systems that BT supply have an outdoor capability.

For a mesh system you would need to buy a completely separate wifi system that has outdoor capability and disable the wifi on your home hub.

The simplest solution would be to just add an outdoor wireless access point and give it the same SSID as the rest of your wifi, it won't be seamless handover but users will probably be unaware. Possibly something like this https://www.tp-link.com/uk/business-networking/outdoor-ap/eap110-outdoor/

 

[gspearson]

My Deco M5 mesh system penetrates 500mm thick stone walls and radiates over the whole of my garden, albeit only 25m long.  I did buy a TP-Link external extender but never installed it.  My Reolink external Wi-Fi security cameras make it back into the house too.  My neighbours also have mesh systems - which I can see in my house and garden.

[ralphrenner]

Thank you very  much for your help with this - I really do appreciate it as I know next to nothing about this stuff. So just to confirm and make sure I have this right - by giving it the same SSID the devices wont have to manually be switched from one network to another (which I had to do when I had someone install a TP link with different network name and which was a complete pain in the back). 

I want to add hue lights in my garden. these lights need to connect to a hue bridge - which in in the house connected to the BT wifi network. In order to control the lights in the garden and in the house from a single hue bridge they need to be on the same network.

Many thanks again

[gspearson]

If you have power in the garden perhaps you could put a mesh disk in your shed - worth a try?

[licquorice]

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@ralphrenner wrote:

Thank you very  much for your help with this - I really do appreciate it as I know next to nothing about this stuff. So just to confirm and make sure I have this right - by giving it the same SSID the devices wont have to manually be switched from one network to another (which I had to do when I had someone install a TP link with different network name and which was a complete pain in the back). 

You shouldn't have to manually switch from one network to the other unless the device was holding on to a weak signal with one ID rather than switch to a stronger signal with another ID. If you go out of range of signal A, your device should just switch to signal B without intervention. I purposely give wifi access points different IDs for that very reason so that I know where it is connected to and can manually switch if it is holding on to a weak signal.

I want to add hue lights in my garden. these lights need to connect to a hue bridge - which in in the house connected to the BT wifi network. In order to control the lights in the garden and in the house from a single hue bridge they need to be on the same network.

Depends what you mean by same network. All your devices will be on the same IP subnet regardless of WiFi network name (SSID)

Many thanks again

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[gg30340]

I may be wrong but presumably mobile phone signals can be picked up inside your house despite your triple glazing so a wireless access point situated at a window which overlooks your garden would probably give you a signal through your triple glazing into the garden.

You can name the access point the same as your BT hub's SSid so that it would appear that your devices are "seamlessly" moving but personally I agree with licquorice that it is best to give the wireless access point a different SSid so that if required you can see the device is picking up the best signal.

[ralphrenner]

Yeah the glass blows my mind. I had the disc directly AT the window and have 150 before the glass and 3 behind it - it is the best wifi blocker ever