Anyone had good luck extending wifi out to a detached garage/workshop?

[JimmyMechanic]

Signal barely reaches my detached garage where I do most of my projects, and it's basically useless out there for looking up parts diagrams or streaming anything while I work. Looking at options and not sure what actually works well over that kind of distance (garage is maybe 60 ft from the house, no direct line of sight, one exterior wall in between).

Has anyone had good results with a mesh extender, a powerline adapter, or just running a dedicated access point out there? Trying to figure out what's actually worth the money vs. what sounds good on paper but doesn't hold up in practice.

[adnadeau]

You could try making a parabolic reflector for one of the antennae on your router. I made one out of a piece of aluminum flashing & some cardboard to reach a remote wifi camera & stuck it on the center antenna of my router & pointed it toward the camera location. The router has 3 antennae, so the wifi reception in the house isn't affected too much. The router is located in front of a window. There are instructions for wifi antennae on the web.

[JimmyMechanic]

Thanks so much, I will look into that!

[hlcmetalparts]

A dedicated access point with a wired connection will usually be the most reliable option. Powerline adapters can be hit-or-miss, especially if the garage is on a different circuit or subpanel. If running cable is difficult, try placing a mesh node near the closest wall or window, but it still needs a strong signal from the main router.

[JimmyMechanic]

Thank you so much for the advice. What do you think if I just get an Ethernet line as close as I can and then put an access point there? I think I can get something on the edge of the house, and then I can put an outdoor AP there. I’ll try that and report back as to how it went.

Thanks!