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Old 03-02-2020, 11:20 AM   #7
DoubleF
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Depends what you're trying to do. Imagine you have a lawn that needs watering and you can't reach the far side. You can buy a hose to extend (ie: Power line) or you can consider other options akin to a sprinkler set up like point to point wireless and mesh wireless systems which may be more effective and more future proof for your needs long term.

A power line adapter is like a super long ethernet cable via walkie talkie. It will generally work fine, but I wouldn't consider it for a robust backbone component of a network if at all possible.

Hopefully the following isn't overly simplified.

A 1Gbps power line adapter I think runs around $60-80 a pair and the thing that annoys me the most is that most are badly designed and will unnecessarily block power outlets. They also don't really work if plugged into a power bar etc. They're pretty straight forward to use though and are essentially plug and play. I don't know if the designs have improved, but like cheap routers, after a few months, they always seemed to overheat and drop signal until unplugged and rebooted. There are also wifi repeater type power line modules, but existing networks don't always like them making them excessively annoying to set up at times.

If the current wifi signal is strong enough, a point to point wireless antenna is around $40-60 but is quite a bit more complex than plugging in a power line adapter. Furthermore, if the signal isn't strong enough, you have to do more to your network anyways to get it to work which is a hassle money and time wise. I wouldn't suggest this method unless you have a way to do this method relatively pain free (ie: A friend who knows how to hook it up with ease).

A mesh network set up is around $200-300 and generally comes with around 3 nodes. After the power line, it's probably the easiest for plug and play. It's the same difficulty as setting up a router, but the newer router interfaces in the last year or two are just so much easier to use and set up than before. You'd in theory plug a node on the side of your home closest to the garage and another inside the garage if the signal strength isn't strong enough. You then have an extra node for somewhere in your home. Once set up, the units sync to each other and are essentially repeaters of your internet/wifi set up. This should bring a reasonable wifi to your garage and also has the benefits of improving wifi signal to the rest of your home close to the nodes. Additional nodes I believe are around $60-80, but most individuals seem to note that 3 nodes is adequate/overkill for a 3K sq ft home or less.
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