Every spring the same request comes in. The snow melts, the garage becomes a workshop again, the speaker comes out to the deck, and suddenly the Wi-Fi that was fine all winter is useless past the back door. If you are planning yard projects this month anyway, this is the right time to fix it for good.
The good news: extending Wi-Fi outside is a solved problem. The bad news: the popular fixes are the wrong ones.
Why the window extender disappoints
The usual first attempt is a plug-in extender near the back window, or a mesh node balanced on a shelf in the garage. Sometimes it sort of works. Usually it doesn't, and here is why.
A repeater can only rebroadcast what it receives. If the signal reaching that window is weak, the extender is amplifying a bad connection, and everything behind it inherits the problem. Wireless mesh hops also cut throughput, because the same radio is often listening and retransmitting. We covered this trade-off in more depth in our mesh versus wired access points piece, and the short version holds outdoors too: a wireless hop is a compromise, a cable is not.
Then there is the building itself. A detached garage with vinyl siding might pass some signal. One with metal siding or a metal roof is effectively a Faraday cage. No consumer mesh kit talks through steel.
The proper fix: a wire to where the signal should start
The reliable approach is boring. Run a cable from the house to the garage, then put an access point where you actually need coverage.
For the run itself you have two respectable options:
- Direct-burial or conduit-rated Ethernet. Outdoor-rated cable in a trench, ideally inside conduit so it can be replaced later without digging. Depth matters less for data cable than for electrical, but below the frost-churn zone and out of shovel range is the goal.
- Existing conduit. Plenty of garages already have power in buried conduit with room for a data line. Worth checking before you rent a trencher. Keep separation from the electrical conductors where code and common sense require it.
Standard Ethernet is good for roughly 90 metres, which covers almost any residential yard. For very long runs, or where lightning exposure between buildings is a concern, fibre with media converters is the belt-and-suspenders option, since glass carries no electrical path between structures.
One spring-specific tip: dig the trench while you are landscaping anyway. Pulling cable through a garden bed you were rebuilding regardless costs almost nothing extra.
PoE makes the far end simple
The reason this whole job is easier than people expect is Power over Ethernet. One cable carries both data and power, so the garage end needs no electrician and no wall adapter hunting for an outlet in the rafters.
Inside the garage, a ceiling-mounted PoE access point covers the workshop. For the yard, an outdoor-rated PoE access point mounted under an eave or on the garage wall, facing the space you use, will blanket a deck, pool area, or vegetable garden. Outdoor units are sealed against rain and rated for our winters, so they stay up year-round.
If the garage needs more than Wi-Fi, say a camera and a wired workbench PC, terminate the run into a small PoE switch instead and feed everything from it. One buried cable becomes four or five useful ports.
Placement beats power
People assume outdoor coverage is about cranking transmit power. It is mostly about placement. An access point under the eave at the back of the house covers the near yard well. One on the garage covers the far half. Two modest radios placed well always beat one loud one placed badly.
Height helps, clear line of sight helps more, and pointing the unit at the seating area rather than the sky helps most. If you are not sure where the weak spots actually are, a proper survey takes the guessing out; we do Wi-Fi site surveys with heat maps for exactly this.
What it roughly costs
A DIY version with outdoor cable, conduit, and a decent outdoor access point typically lands in the $300 to $600 range in parts, plus a weekend of digging. Having it done professionally, trenching included, varies a lot with distance and soil, but it is a one-time cost for coverage that just works, every season, with no extender to reboot.
We design and install these runs regularly across Norfolk County and the surrounding area, from single garage drops to full yard coverage. If your workshop or deck deserves better than one bar, get in touch and we will scope it out.
Cabling, networks, cameras, access control, smart homes, hosting and software for homes and small business across Southwestern Ontario. Twenty-plus years in the trade, and we still answer the phone.