We’re have a garden room built, which is going to be a second living room and office.

Because it’s going to be insulated, WiFi from the house is unlikely to penetrate so we’re running an ethernet cable from the house to the building.

Am I right in thinking that a Google WiFi point (or similar) at either end of that cable, with the one in the house plugged into our modem, will give us WiFi in both the house and the garden room?

We have Google Home stuff, so it would be good if they all think they’re on the same network.

We used these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BT-Mini-Connector-Kit-Powerline/dp/B01N1PQXOI/ref=asc_df_B01N1PQXOI/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309903005216&hvpos=1o6&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2059401614063716704&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006814&hvtargid=pla-561824579166&psc=1

They work brilliant and couple into your home network perfectly.

Tick!.

Just built a log cabin in the garden, power going in next week, give these a go.

And they are a good solution if you can’t run a cable but miketually has gone to the trouble of running an Ethernet cable to the outbuilding so he can just plug one end into his router and put a wireless access point on the other.

So my garage has its own “fuse” box but comes off the main box. Would those magic by plug thingys work for that?

As long as you avoid insulation with foil facing, it shouldn’t make a noticeable difference, so if you get wifi now, you’ll get wifi when it’s insulated. Well, probably.

Have a look at the Unifi gear. If you have a modicum of tech knowledge it’s very very good. I have a directional antenna pointing at my summer house which is about 80m away and it’s rock solid

We have a brick out building with insulation. No issues with WiFi.

Cable is always better though.

I have an insulated outbuilding. I tried those ethernet over mains plug in things but found they were a bit flakey. We have a separate fuse box in the outbuilding so perhaps that didn’t help. In the end I ran a length of ethernet cable out there and plugged in a BT Whole Home WIFI unit. I’ve also got BT units around the house (no ethernet needed as they mesh) for full WIFI coverage.

Powerline type things wouldn’t work through a fuse box for me.
All I did was get an old router, disable DHCP, and plug it into an Ethernet cable (that plugged into the main router)
Give the ‘slave’router a different SSID and Google home will still work fine.

I put a devolo unit in my summer house through a separate RCD and they work fine. I get a red light on the remote unit which I dont get when in the house but it works nontheless. Havent investigated the issue yet. I ran a Cat6 cable thought the trunking with the power but dint want to use it as routing it though the house from where it comes up in the garage would have been a pain.

All insulated.

I ran dual cat-5 50m to our workshop then put in a cheap dual band router. I regret not putting it in a steel conduit as at some point the neighbour will put up a trellis etc and a nail will go through the cable!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qk7VFp]Dual CAT-5 running along fence[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

First Wifi AP was some super cheap thing (below) which died after about a couple of years, now have a more up-market £40 dual band thing…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qjWMoi]Wifi AP in Workshop[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

So my garage has its own “fuse” box but comes off the main box. Would those magic by plug thingys work for that?

Mine is plugged in the living room socket near the router. The mains extension to the garage is a heavy duty armoured cable that is taken from the fuse box in the kitchen. It travels 30 odd metres underground and feeds into a garage fuse box. From this there is circuits for lights and a ring main. The second BT come out of one of the sockets nearest a smart telly. We then used Ethernet cable to the telly. We just followed the BT instructions to link them and it works perfectly despite the distance and despite it going through two separate fuse boxes. Even after power cuts they find each other.

Those BT ones are one of the priciest put there, so it may be a case of you get what you pay for??

Those BT ones are one of the priciest put there, so it may be a case of you get what you pay for??

You’ll be paying a BT Branding premium; they just buying them in bulk from a big vendor and sticking a BT logo on top….

miketually has gone to the trouble of running an Ethernet cable to the outbuilding so he can just plug one end into his router and put a wireless access point on the other.

… is surely the correct answer.

miketually has gone to the trouble of running an Ethernet cable to the outbuilding so he can just plug one end into his router and put a wireless access point on the other.

is surely the correct answer

I’m wondering if there’s a benefit to using a Google WiFi at each end of the cable?

As I understand it, if I use an access point it is essentially a different WiFi network to the one in the house? If so, does that stop me grouping Home devices in the new building with ones in the house, or controlling devices on one network with phones connected to the other?

According to https://support.google.com/wifi/answer/7215624?hl=en-GB the Google WiFi Points have two ethernet sockets – WAN and LAN. And…

Am I right in thinking that a Google WiFi point (or similar) at either end of that cable, with the one in the house plugged into our modem

…is exactly right. The one in the house uses the WAN socket to connect to your modem and the LAN socket to connect to the one in the garden room.

No, the access point isn’t a different network, it’s an access point to the same network. I don’t know much about google WiFi but I thought splashing a load of cash on those was supposed to be an alternative to running an Ethernet cable.

You would be extending the same network and SSID with an AP into the router.

I thought splashing a load of cash on those was supposed to be an alternative to running an Ethernet cable

Only if the mesh points can ‘see’ each other via WiFi. We’ll be getting foil-backed insulation, so the signal probably won’t pass through.

Sounds like either Google WiFi or an AP will do the job.

I think so too. Access point should be cheaper but google WiFi may give you other coverage benefits if you need them and the potential to extend in the future. Could be worth the extra?

Google also has the benefit of probably less messing about with settings…