I live in an unusual apartment layout: a two-bedroom unit has the main internet connection and gigabit service, while my separate studio room is on the other side of the building. There is a second coaxial outlet in the studio, and it has been tested and appears to be functional, but I couldn't get MoCA working. The rooms may be connected through incompatible splitters or wiring, and neither the provider nor the landlord has been able to help with adding the necessary coax equipment.
Powerline adapters also failed because the studio and the main apartment appear to be connected to different electrical panels or circuits. My current setup uses a dual-band Wi-Fi extender, but it drops to roughly 40 Mbps near the wall and about 10 Mbps at my computer. Adding another router as a relay improves that to around 25 Mbps, but it's still not practical.
A long Ethernet cable is the obvious solution, but the direct route is over 30 meters, would be difficult to hide, and could create a tripping hazard. There is also sheet metal between the spaces, which makes passing a cable through the walls difficult. I'm considering a mesh Wi-Fi system, but I'm unsure whether the nodes can communicate wirelessly or if they require Ethernet cabling. What would be the most reliable and realistic solution for this setup?
4 Answers
For a direct wired run under about 100 meters, normal gigabit Ethernet is technically fine. Since your route is longer than 30 meters and hard to conceal, a very thin cable or fiber may be easier to install than standard Ethernet. Fiber can be tucked along trim or the ceiling with small clips and is less noticeable than a thick copper cable.
At the studio end, connect the fiber to a small access point or router configured in access-point mode so you get strong local Wi-Fi and wired connectivity for the PC.
The sheet metal is probably the main reason the wireless performance is so poor. It can block or severely weaken the signal, so adding another standard extender in the studio may not solve the underlying problem.
A wired connection is the most dependable option. If Ethernet is too difficult to route, thin flat Ethernet cable or a fiber-optic run could be placed along the ceiling or wall and secured neatly. Fiber is especially thin, works well over longer distances, and avoids electrical interference. You would need a media converter at each end to convert between Ethernet and fiber.
Mesh nodes can use either wireless backhaul or an Ethernet backhaul. You don’t have to run cables between them, but wireless nodes need to be placed where they still receive a strong signal from the previous node. In this situation, the metal between the rooms may require one or more intermediate nodes, and every hop can reduce throughput.
If you can find a shared hallway or doorway with decent signal to both areas, placing a node there might be worth testing. Otherwise, mesh is likely to be another version of the extender setup rather than a true fix.
Before committing to mesh, map the signal through the apartment and look for a place where a node can connect well to both sides. Sometimes an extra node in a corridor solves an unusual layout, but it may take some experimentation. Given the metal construction and the poor results from the current extender, a professionally installed Ethernet or fiber run is still the most reliable long-term answer.
A wireless mesh system can work, but it still needs a usable signal between nodes. With metal walls, you may need an extra node in a hallway or another location where it can see both sides. That can work better than a basic repeater, but it probably won’t deliver anything close to gigabit speeds wirelessly.