Hi folks,

I have an asus ai-mesh system in my home and am looking to boost the coverage on my patio
and in my backyard.

I have three access points.

One access point is in the garage, and I am considering removing one of the four antennas and replacing it with an outdoor rated antenna, so that I could keep the ap and three antennas inside and run just a single antenna outside. The antenna would be connected to the ap with a ~5ft cable.

I am no expert on radio frequencies, so hoping y’all can please assist in pointing out any shortcomings in this approach, as well as advice on which outdoor antennas would work well for my scenario.

I currently have gigabit internet. This ap would be backhauled.

Would this work better if I used a pair of outdoor antennas instead of just one?

Thanks so much,

-whl

  • Somhlth@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Commenting so that I can see responses later. I have setup mesh for a friend in his rather large sized backyard, though I did it in a different manner. His barbecue is at the back of the backyard, adjacent to an outdoor power outlet, and the barbecue has a large cabinet below it. I simply stuck 6 foot outdoor extension cord inside that cupboard, and plugged in a powerline adapter and Asus router. Instant AiMesh with the powerline adapter as the wired backbone. It’s been working perfectly for over a year now.

  • Downtown-Reindeer-53@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Generally, external antennas don’t do a great job as add-ons. At the frequencies used, the signal loss in cables can be significant, especially the received signal (vs. the transmitted one). Also, the antennas on the box work in conjunction with each other (things like diversity reception). The devices are engineered for the antennas provided, and you can’t just peel off one of four without affecting the function of the wifi transceiver.

    u/Somhlth has the right idea here - put the actual AP out there somewhere (protect from weather), or add an actual outdoor AP like from TP-Link.