How can I install internet into my garage conversion?

Mystery Man

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I am looking to have my garage converted into an office. The garage is built onto the house, it’s a semi-detached. When I go into my garage just now it does not get the wifi signal from two rooms away, I am putting this down to the brick wall in the garage seperating it from the house. The wifi extends further out into the back garden but cannot seem to go through the walls in the garage.

Considering I will be removing some of the wall to install a door into the converted garage, will this be enough to let me access the wifi? I thought about running an Ethernet from my router into the room but can’t see a way to do that without it going across the living room it is currently in, a hallway and then the garage/office.

Is there any other ways I could do this or has anyone else here had the same issue?
 
My garage is not attached to the house and I use powerline adapters and an old router repurposed as a wireless access point, in the garage, to get WiFi and ethernet out there.

Alternatively, and possibly a bit more elegantly, you could use a powerline adapter with WiFi built in.
 
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Thanks, I hadn’t thought about powerline adaptors, never tried them before and didn't realise some have WiFi built in too. How do you find they work for you, any issues?
 
Perhaps my situation of getting ethernet and WiFi to the back of my house from where the router is in the front of the house, with a three foot thick stone wall between the two, is more similar to your situation. To do that task I have used a kit like this one. If you clone the router settings onto the WiFi powerline unit it acts a bit like a 'mesh' system where it doesn't matter which part of the house you are in your devices always remain connected.

In my house they work pretty well with more than adequate throughput to easily match the 70Mbps speed of my internet connection. The problem is that this technology is a bit of a lottery depending on the condition of the house wiring, what sort of consumer unit you have and whether or not the two plugs are on the same ring main and how much wiring is actually between them. All you can do is try them and see if they work for you.

[Edit:- linked to the wrong units earlier, now corrected.]
 
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@Mystery Man

Just thought I'd better draw your attention to my earlier mistake linking to the wrong TP-Link kit in the previous post. I have now corrected it.

Apologies for that.
 
I would always recommend a wired solution. Running the cable in trunking outside or using exterior grade cable is worth doing if internal wiring isn’t an option.
 
I would always recommend a wired solution. Running the cable in trunking outside or using exterior grade cable is worth doing if internal wiring isn’t an option.
I could not agree more with this comment, go hard wired. I tried Wi-Fi in all sorts of formats to my garden room but due to the unreliable day to day drop outs I went from the router via the garage to the garden room along the garden fence (under ground) with a external cable plugged into a extender to feed all my items (computer, sky, ps, tv etc) happy to share photos if required.
 
If you are having a wall knocked through, then I suggest it's the best time to think cabling (by far the best option - fastest and most reliable,) and get it done whilst the rest of the "mess" is happening. If nothing else, give yourself some future "options" and maybe leave a duct in situ so that if you opt to go ethernet at a future date, there's already a cable route available through the wall.
 
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Thanks everyone, if I can get it wired I will. The electrician has yet to visit and it is him I would be asking what he can do. I have drawn a rough plan of how the rooms are currently laid out. As you can see, the router would need to have a wire through the living room and hall to get into the garage, any tips on how to get it in there tidy and unseen would be very much appreciated.
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It would depend on your building. If internal routing of cable is not feasible then a conduit around the external walls is what I would suggest. A wireless point in the hall may give you enough coverage for the garage.
 
Electricians can be ingenious about where they find places to hide cables. (Behind or under skirting boards for example.) If a route is not available and running conduit outside isn't feasible, there's an option to run conduit "inside" through somethings called "cable trunking." Essentially it's a plastic box with a removable lid (like long thin tupperware) which (for the smaller cross sections) can be surface mounted and then the cables route therein. It's certainly "visible" but looks a lot neater than clipping a bare cable to the doorframes, skirting boards etc. However, you may well need to consider "domestic harmony" if contemplating this option and make sure "conversations" have been had in advance. Things that I don't regard as a "big deal" can be perceived as "the end of the world" by other people.

If you opt to run UTP cables, AVF mantra is to "always run two (or more)" along any given cable route. It is highly unlikely that a UTP cable will fail in service, but if one does and you have no alternate in situ, then you are off the air until you rip and replace. With an alternate in situ, you stand a fighting chance of getting back up again more quickly and it's surprising how often one can find a use for "just one more" later on. Cable is cheap compared to the hassle of installing it - the additional materials cost is not that large compared to what you'll be paying for the labour (for example.)

Finally just a quick word about your electrician. Ignoring the cowboys, most are fine people who do a great job of plying their trade competently and will willingly run in some UTP for you. However, a lot of the guys who are used to doing "domestic" work on thing like mains electricity or running in a bell wire or whatever are not aware of the additional stipulations and working practices required to install data networking infrastructure. Much less have the (rather expensive) kit needed to test and certify the work. It's not for nothing that there are specialist companies that guys such as I (professional network manager) hire in to do the work (with prices to match!) in our "day job." So, in the nicest possible way, you might care to try and get a feel for what you electrician's experience is of data networking.

I like to believe/hope that more and more domestic sparkies will be "standing up" their expertise and ability to install UTP to standards, not least because it will be a "nice little earner" for them alongside their other business.

There's a few people who regularly contribute to this forum that sound like they make a living doing this sort of work.
 
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I like to believe/hope that more and more domestic sparkies will be "standing up" their expertise and ability to install UTP to standards, not least because it will be a "nice little earner" for them alongside their other business.

Unfortunately not, they seem to be busy enough doing just the day job let alone the networking side of it. AFAIK electricians don't have to do any qualifications in networking as part of their course.

Also make sure they don't use CCA (Copper Clad Aluminium) as it is cheap but doesn't actually meet the standards.
 
Thanks everyone for the wealth of info. The electrician has not yet been out, waiting to hear from the builder now as he and the architect were out a week ago and waiting now on an update.will keep these points in mind on the next steps and re-let how things go.
 
Not sure who your ISP is . I still get wifi 100metres away from my Hub , and i'm with BT
 
Not sure who your ISP is . I still get wifi 100metres away from my Hub , and i'm with BT
I am with sky. It isn’t the distance that’s the problem, I can get it further away in another direction, it seems it’s the bricks between my house and garage blocking the Wi-Fi signal.
 
Few people around me dropped sky isp and went with BT as they had same problem with poor wifi . Now they have faster speeds and stronger signal , because better equipment maybe ?
 
Few people around me dropped sky isp and went with BT as they had same problem with poor wifi . Now they have faster speeds and stronger signal , because better equipment maybe ?

The Internet Myth that "XZY router has poor Wi-Fi" is prevalent. However, without a controlled radio environment to test them, there is just no way to know for sure. Anecdotes are very poor evidence - most anecdotes are no evidence at all.

Wi-Fi is much, much, more complex that most people realise, There are many interacting parts that all have to "play nice together" and it is a mistake to attribute all issues to "the router." Even as a metaphor. It could just as easily be an issue with the client devices (notice how no-one ever "blames" their phone, etc.) something environmental (such as the fabric of the building or something else effecting signals (note the plural) pathways) or some endemic or intermittent interference source to name check just a few. Many of which we can do nothing about and a different router won't "fix."

It's just nowhere near as simply as "XYZ Router is bad, change it for an ABC and that fixes everything." It would be rather like going out and buying a new car whenever there's any kind of problem with the incumbent.

I can describe wired ethernet in a pamplet. My reference texts on Wi-Fi are well over a thousand pages and even that is somewhat abridged.
 
The Internet Myth that "XZY router has poor Wi-Fi" is prevalent. However, without a controlled radio environment to test them, there is just no way to know for sure. Anecdotes are very poor evidence - most anecdotes are no evidence at all.

Wi-Fi is much, much, more complex that most people realise, There are many interacting parts that all have to "play nice together" and it is a mistake to attribute all issues to "the router." Even as a metaphor. It could just as easily be an issue with the client devices (notice how no-one ever "blames" their phone, etc.) something environmental (such as the fabric of the building or something else effecting signals (note the plural) pathways) or some endemic or intermittent interference source to name check just a few. Many of which we can do nothing about and a different router won't "fix."

It's just nowhere near as simply as "XYZ Router is bad, change it for an ABC and that fixes everything." It would be rather like going out and buying a new car whenever there's any kind of problem with the incumbent.

I can describe wired ethernet in a pamplet. My reference texts on Wi-Fi are well over a thousand pages and even that is somewhat abridged.
Well I guess 10 people are full of shit then where I live . I have never had Sky , so cannot comment on there equipment . I know I decided to try another router .. An Asus ( which was highly recommended ) . . That was so bad i sent it back within a week as it was absolute crap . Ethernet speed as well as WiFi . . I wouldn't want to waste my time even reading a 1000 pages of drivel , when I am quite happy with my package now , besides , it's not my thread and I don't have any problems
 

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