Wi-Fi Range

[PaulE]

My in-laws (mother and father) live across the street (catty-corner) from me. They live on a limited and fixed income. They canceled cable a couple years ago to save on the costs. They're using only an over the air antenna to receive local channels. They have no internet access.

My question is, is it possible to extend my wi-fi enough to possibly reach them so they could use it to receive some low cost and free streaming options for television?

 

[bazz2004]

One possibility is for them to get a basic box with a couple of channels able to record live TV. In the UK the BT freeview box has to have an internet connection but there may well still be boxes that just use an aerial. That would give flexibility at low cost and also be easy to use. This is actually a pretty important question considering the current cost of living crisis.

 

[Tantor]

Good question. It all depends on the distance between the houses.

I would walk a connected tablet or phone over to their house. While walking, check the signal strength on the tablet. See at what point it fail to connects to your wifi router.

You might be able to strategically position a pair of range extenders to bridge the gap between the two houses.

 

[Olha Chycher]

It may be possible to extend your Wi-Fi signal far enough to reach your in-laws' home, but it will depend on several factors such as the distance between the two houses, the physical layout of the area (e.g. the presence of walls, trees, and other obstructions), and the capabilities of your router.

One option to try is to purchase a wireless range extender, which can amplify and rebroadcast your existing Wi-Fi signal. This can help boost the signal and increase its range, allowing your in-laws to connect to your network from their home. You may also consider using a high-gain antenna to increase the range and power of the signal.

Another option is a wireless bridge, which allows you to connect two separate networks (one in your house and one in your in-laws) using wireless signal, this way you can extend the internet access to their home.

Please keep in mind that these solutions have range limitations, and an obstacle such as a big wall or a long distance could affect the signal strength, so the best approach is to try one of these options and see how the signal strength is and if there's a signal at all, if the signal is weak or unstable, you could try other options or even consider that this solution may not be possible for your specific case.

Additionally, it's important to check and make sure that there's no laws or regulations that are prohibiting the use of wifi signal on the area you want to extend the signal to, in some cases it's against laws to use wifi signal from different locations.

 

[bazz2004]

There look to be all sorts of complications including legal limitations with this approach. How about looking in more depth into the cost of a router and internet connection located at the in-laws property. Even in the UK there are many alternative service providers. The worst in terms of cost are the major players Virgin and Sky who come up with an attractive tariff when you want to leave. For loyal customers the price slowly but steadily ratchets up - well beyond the rate of inflation - until the customer takes flight.