A customer recently contacted us with an odd solution. They share Wi-Fi between buildings using powerful access points. For whatever reason, they wanted to know if they could mount their Wi-Fi antenna inside, in an attic-like crawl space. The answer we had to give might not be what they were looking for.
“Yeah but”
You can absolutely mount a Wi-Fi antenna inside a crawl space and it will pull in “some” signal from outside. However, the gain of your typical Wi-Fi antenna is about 6dBi. In lay person’s terms, that means the antenna will pick up about 400% as much signal as a reference device. That sounds like a lot more signal, but typically, walls or roofs will cut that gain by 3dB. In other words, that Wi-Fi antenna is only going to be half as effective if it’s inside.
The problem is that energy-efficient building materials do more than keep heat or cold from escaping. They also block all forms of radiation, and that includes Wi-Fi signals. When you put a Wi-Fi antenna (or any other sort of antenna) inside a building, you’re losing the ability to pull in a lot of that signal that’s coming in from outside.
Can’t you just have a bigger antenna?
Yes you can absolutely have a bigger antenna, but that may not be practical. As antennas get larger and more sensitive, they get more expensive. There’s also an upper limit to what you’re reasonably going to get this way. Amplifiers can be used to overcome some of the noise that comes as part of this process, but they aren’t a magic bullet. They won’t give you signal that your antenna can’t bring in.
Better options
In general, I would say, try to find a way to mount that Wi-Fi antenna outside if at all possible, if it’s picking up signals from outside. Wi-Fi transmissions are just not that strong, because they aren’t intended to be. Wi-Fi was always intended to be a solution for relatively small spaces. The fact that people are using it for wide area telecommunication is just a testament to how well the standard is laid out.
Even better, if you’re planning a large point-to-point outdoor network, there are better ways than simple Wi-Fi to get data from one building to another without running a wire. There are specialized systems that can let you go close to 6 miles between two devices and still have some communication. When you’re talking about communicating between two buildings on the same campus, you can get wireless speed that’s comparable to wired speed, with a lot less work.
If this all sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. You’re not alone. The experts are here to help. The folks at Signal Connect have decades of experience helping people in large installations like yours. We can help you with the right products and services to solve those problems, and we’ll even get everything installed and activated for you if you want.
All you need to do is call us at 888-233-7563. We’re here during East Coast business hours. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get back to you quickly!
