# Possible to get better reception from neighbours wi-fi?



## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

The neighbour at the cabin gave me her wi-fi password. Incredibly nice. It has come in very handy to keep in touch with aging parents etc. I am not there enough to warrant hooking up myself.
She uses satellite as it is an underserviced area. 

Each week the reception is a bit worse. I now have to leave the phone outside on the railing, and every couple hours I seem to get a burst of emails/texts. Phone calls are no longer possible... The ipad hasn't worked since spring I gather it has less reception capabilities than my cell phone.

Is there some sort of one-sided unit I could purchase to boost reception- from my end?? I have renters out in the workshop at my home- and I bought a booster system- one unit placed in my house and one unit in their suite- which works 100%

Yet don't want to ask her to have to have a unit like that- her wifi is in her living room and I'm not wanting to junk up her house. Looking for ideas that won't disturb her at all over this. Thanks.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

I use a wifi repeater to extend my wifi signal out in my yard past the range of my wifi router located in the middle of my house. It requires 110-v power.

You could use one if you can locate it near enough to your neighbor's cabin to receive a reliable wifi signal from his/her wifi router.

They are cheap:
Link


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

It may be possible the stream is being throttled.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Do you get better reception in winter?


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

I’m not sure what throttled means but will have a look. I don’t think she is doing it out of spite though, if that is the case.


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

MoonRiver said:


> Do you get better reception in winter?


To an extent I did, is there a reason for that? Maybe it will get better ? All of the trees are evergreen (all) so afraid it isn’t trees without leaves that helped. 

All this said, it was still pretty weak last winter. I was able to do a couple of wifi phones calls but generally they cut out, and the phone had to sit in one of two places (one spot on the couch armrest and the other was in a jacket pocket hanging on the door!) in my cabin just to get minimal reception. I thought that was bad 😀


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

GTX63 said:


> It may be possible the stream is being throttled.


Anything is possible. I never once streamed videos etc as I wasn’t sure how her satellite deal worked and didn’t want her to notice an uptick in use.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

fireweed farm said:


> I’m not sure what throttled means but will have a look. I don’t think she is doing it out of spite though, if that is the case.


Her wifi plan may allow for a certain speed up to X amount of data, and then they slow it down. It is the same with a lot of phone service plans.
The provider may supply 4G for up to 5 gigs of data and then when your son uses it all up watching youtube they slow it down to 2G for the rest of the month, and you are standing there staring at your phone waiting for that email to open.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

fireweed farm said:


> Anything is possible. I never once streamed videos etc as I wasn’t sure how her satellite deal worked and didn’t want her to notice an uptick in use.


It has been at least 15 years since I had satellite internet, but I still hear the same complaints today that I experienced then.
Bad weather, bad service.
Heavy use in your area, bad service.
Over the limit use, bad service.
Just because, bad service.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

fireweed farm said:


> To an extent I did, is there a reason for that? Maybe it will get better ? All of the trees are evergreen (all) so afraid it isn’t trees without leaves that helped.
> 
> All this said, it was still pretty weak last winter. I was able to do a couple of wifi phones calls but generally they cut out, and the phone had to sit in one of two places (one spot on the couch armrest and the other was in a jacket pocket hanging on the door!) in my cabin just to get minimal reception. I thought that was bad 😀


it would have been too easy to diagnose if it was just the leaves falling off the trees, but worth asking.


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

GTX63 said:


> Her wifi plan may allow for a certain speed up to X amount of data, and then they slow it down. It is the same with a lot of phone service plans.
> The provider may supply 4G for up to 5 gigs of data and then when your son uses it all up watching youtube they slow it down to 2G for the rest of the month, and you are standing there staring at your phone waiting for that email to open.


I can see that. I do think the signal is weak already and any throttling would basically shut it down. 
She was away this weekend and while I was up was unable to initially get service. I wondered if she somehow took her service away with her (my parents somehow do this with their tv service), but alas… it was just weaker than ever.


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

NRA_guy said:


> I use a wifi repeater to extend my wifi signal out in my yard past the range of my wifi router located in the middle of my house. It requires 110-v power.
> 
> You could use one if you can locate it near enough to your neighbor's cabin to receive a reliable wifi signal from his/her wifi router.
> 
> ...


Repeater does sound like an option thanks!
And she doesn’t need to ‘add me’ in anyway from what I can see which makes me feel less of a burden… as when my tenants kept asking me to adjust their free wifi it kind of grated on me… I felt I should have been charging them for access, and don’t want to be in that position here. 

For placement it would likely need to be outside in the weather screwed to our shared fence, or inside my cabin which is just 20’ or less further away.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

fireweed farm said:


> All of the trees are evergreen (all) so afraid it isn’t trees without leaves that helped.


Evergreen trees will mess up a wifi signal. It might work OK over winter but get real flaky when they start growing in the spring. Do you have a wide open, clear line of sight to the neighbor's place, or are there trees in the way? Do trees completely obscure the view? And, how far away is it?

A wifi extender is the simplest and cheapest thing to try, and if something like a phone gets a marginal or flaky signal, an extender will probably be good enough to be usable. If you can locate it outside but out of the weather, with a wide open view of the neighbor's, it'll have the best chance. If it's not possible to put it out of the weather and it doesn't work inside, there are some made for outdoor use. Stay with recognizable brand names; the nameless or weird Chinglish-named ones may or may not work very well. I've had good success with TP-Link.

Next step up, that would definitely do the job, would be a commercial-grade radio with built-in dish antenna, but those are much more complicated to set up.


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## Robotron (Mar 25, 2012)

Ubiquiti - Rethinking IT


Technology platforms for Internet Access, Enterprise, and SmartHome applications.




www.ui.com




Check out these guys for range extension. They work very well and can go to 15 miles if needed. I use the access points in the house. Solved all the weak signal problems.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

I have used a few of these now to get access to barns , garages , drive ways.









Amazon.com: TP-Link N300 WiFi Extender(TL-WA855RE)-WiFi Range Extender, up to 300Mbps speed, Wireless Signal Booster and Access Point, Single Band 2.4Ghz Only : Everything Else


Amazon.com: TP-Link N300 WiFi Extender(TL-WA855RE)-WiFi Range Extender, up to 300Mbps speed, Wireless Signal Booster and Access Point, Single Band 2.4Ghz Only : Everything Else



www.amazon.com





I have one in my mud room next to the back door that gives me solid wifi to the driveway and detached garage 

some freinds put one in the window of the farm house that looks at the barn about 75 feet away so that they can get wifi just inside the barn door where they print and pack their orders.

if you sit in the car and have good wifi you could even put this extender in the car on an inverter and park it where it gets and extends the best coverage.

or if you get good signal at the edge of the deck you could set this up in a weather tite box that you place on the railing with an extension cord when you are at the cabin 

you plug it in via a ethernet cable to your pc , program the user name and password into the device and it gets the neighbors signal then retransmits to your phone 

as an example my wifi is Home and my wifi extender is Home_ext as it is an extension of the home wifi


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

backwoodsman7 said:


> Evergreen trees will mess up a wifi signal. It might work OK over winter but get real flaky when they start growing in the spring. Do you have a wide open, clear line of sight to the neighbor's place, or are there trees in the way? Do trees completely obscure the view? And, how far away is it?
> 
> A wifi extender is the simplest and cheapest thing to try, and if something like a phone gets a marginal or flaky signal, an extender will probably be good enough to be usable. If you can locate it outside but out of the weather, with a wide open view of the neighbor's, it'll have the best chance. If it's not possible to put it out of the weather and it doesn't work inside, there are some made for outdoor use. Stay with recognizable brand names; the nameless or weird Chinglish-named ones may or may not work very well. I've had good success with TP-Link.
> 
> Next step up, that would definitely do the job, would be a commercial-grade radio with built-in dish antenna, but those are much more complicated to set up.


There is a fairly tall wooden fence between my place and hers. I do believe signal in theory could be coming from her upstairs window so likely clearing the fence but yes between some trees. There’s a bit of clear space but really depends on where the modem is located..


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> or if you get good signal at the edge of the deck you could set this up in a weather tite box that you place on the railing with an extension cord when you are at the cabin
> 
> you plug it in via a ethernet cable to your pc , program the user name and password into the device and it gets the neighbors signal then retransmits to your phone
> 
> as an example my wifi is Home and my wifi extender is Home_ext as it is an extension of the home wifi


Depending on what happens I like the weather proof box idea to get it out as close as possible to the source.

One question as I’m NOT computer literate so likely a dumb one… All I have there is the phone or iPad. There’s no Ethernet cable, no modem, no desk top. Or, does the repeater come with an Ethernet cable which I’d plug into something else altogether?
Is there a way around that for a more basic set up?


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

Most of the plug in units I have found so far require the neighbour to press a button at the same time I’m pressing a button to link the signals which would be very hard in this situation. Doable but…
Any idea if there is a specific type of booster/repeater model that is plug and play, where I just plug in and nearby wifi signal goes up?


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

fireweed farm said:


> One question as I’m NOT computer literate so likely a dumb one… All I have there is the phone or iPad. There’s no Ethernet cable, no modem, no desk top. Or, does the repeater come with an Ethernet cable which I’d plug into something else altogether?


Wifi extenders put out a wifi signal.



fireweed farm said:


> Most of the plug in units I have found so far require the neighbour to press a button at the same time I’m pressing a button to link the signals which would be very hard in this situation.


All I've used have a simple setup procedure done via a browser, and some (like TP-Link) have their own app that makes it even easier. They don't require physical access to the router you're connecting to.



> Any idea if there is a specific type of booster/repeater model that is plug and play, where I just plug in and nearby wifi signal goes up?


I haven't seen any that do that. It would be doable if the wifi you're connecting to is open, but not possible if it's encrypted, which virtually all are these days.

This is the TP-Link model I've used most. It has much better antennas than your phone and tablet so, as I said, it'll get a usable signal where your devices are marginal or worse.









Amazon.com: TP-Link AC750 Wifi Range Extender | Up to 750Mbps | Dual Band WiFi Extender, Repeater, Wifi Signal Booster, Access Point| Easy Set-Up | Extends Wifi to Smart Home & Alexa Devices (RE200) : Everything Else


Amazon.com: TP-Link AC750 Wifi Range Extender | Up to 750Mbps | Dual Band WiFi Extender, Repeater, Wifi Signal Booster, Access Point| Easy Set-Up | Extends Wifi to Smart Home & Alexa Devices (RE200) : Everything Else



smile.amazon.com


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

fireweed farm said:


> Most of the plug in units I have found so far require the neighbour to press a button at the same time I’m pressing a button to link the signals which would be very hard in this situation. Doable but…
> Any idea if there is a specific type of booster/repeater model that is plug and play, where I just plug in and nearby wifi signal goes up?


Mine required me to plug the extender into the PC (your neighbor's PC in your case) with an ethernet wire.

Like this


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

Well, to drag this thread out further- what I have found out now is that a repeater/extender (unless plugged into the router), will ‘repeat’ the signal it is getting. If the signal is awful such is is my case, that awful signal will now be accessible further away 😀

So I need to somehow get the unit closer to the neighbours router which isn’t really feasible. Darn it!

Was hoping that I could pick up better reception from my location. The only ones that I can find that do so need a “clear line of site” which is also not in the cards.
Doh!!


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

Yep. A repeater can only repeat what it receives.


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