Has anyone installed Internet in their yard?

[Hackback]

How did you do it? Did you take it from the house or install a mobile data solution?

I want to move my home office to our yard which is nearly in the back garden but the Internet we have in the house is poor - it's the external infrastructure so nothing we can control - and WiFi won't reach. I need to connect to my company's network and use large spreadsheets which can be a nightmare to save at the best of times. I'm also on Teams a lot and will want to run a few cctv cameras.

I've been recommended a few companies but they all seem to sell their own solutions and I don't need that. I can organise my own mobile broadband if that's the best option.

Any shared experiences most welcome ?

 

[PurBee]

Caveat: im not super techy nor up to date with all tech solutions…just an amateur!

You could get your mobile phone package to include unlimited internet data, and connect to that instead. Thats if your mobile has good signal?

You can also buy an external booster ariel-type device - many are very rural where i am and have trouble with good reception due to forestry mainly, and boosters are used.
You could use this to boost your house internet that you can then wifi connect to, or use it for boosting mobile phone signal, depending which works best.

Shop around though for a good booster, with reviews - we tried one from an ebay seller, 100+ quid, the tech of it seemed good, but it just didnt work, so sent it back.

 

[I'm Dun]

Its incredibly easy. I live on a boat so obviously no fixed landline etc. I started off with a mifi dongle and an unlimited data sim. But what I find with these is once you hit a certain usage point they will slow you down dramatically.

I've just gotten 5g internet from 3. No phone line required and it just plug and play. I have mine inside a boat on top of a cupboard, not where they advise it to be placed, and I still get fast reliable connection, although I dont have 5g in this area yet, so running on 4g only.

I just ran a speed test out of curiosity. I suspect it would be much faster if I fiddled with location, but I lack the room to do it and its fine as is for my usage which is messing about on the internet, downloading a fair amount and a lot of streaming of stuff.

Internet speed test
015102050100+
7.66
Megabits per second

Testing upload…
22.1
Mbps download
7.66
Mbps upload
Latency: 5 ms
Server: London
Your Internet connection is fast.
Your Internet connection should be able to handle multiple devices streaming HD videos at the same time.

This relies on having a 3 signal, but you can buy the device separately for about £100 and then get a sim contract for less than a tenner from another company.

 

[blitznbobs]

We are having fiber installed to our new yard — bloody not cheap but worth it for us …

 

[Hackback]

Caveat: im not super techy nor up to date with all tech solutions…just an amateur!

You could get your mobile phone package to include unlimited internet data, and connect to that instead. Thats if your mobile has good signal?

You can also buy an external booster ariel-type device - many are very rural where i am and have trouble with good reception due to forestry mainly, and boosters are used.
You could use this to boost your house internet that you can then wifi connect to, or use it for boosting mobile phone signal, depending which works best.

Shop around though for a good booster, with reviews - we tried one from an ebay seller, 100+ quid, the tech of it seemed good, but it just didnt work, so sent it back.

Thank you. I can and do use my mobile to tether to occasionally when the broadband let's us down but it's not a good permanent solution as I need to use my phone as a phone too.

I'll look into the booster ariel, I didn't know you could get them for normal broadband. We tried those plug in ones to extend it to upstairs, but they didnt work. You see, there's another option I didn't even know existed!

 

[Hackback]

Its incredibly easy. I live on a boat so obviously no fixed landline etc. I started off with a mifi dongle and an unlimited data sim. But what I find with these is once you hit a certain usage point they will slow you down dramatically.

I've just gotten 5g internet from 3. No phone line required and it just plug and play. I have mine inside a boat on top of a cupboard, not where they advise it to be placed, and I still get fast reliable connection, although I dont have 5g in this area yet, so running on 4g only.

I just ran a speed test out of curiosity. I suspect it would be much faster if I fiddled with location, but I lack the room to do it and its fine as is for my usage which is messing about on the internet, downloading a fair amount and a lot of streaming of stuff.



This relies on having a 3 signal, but you can buy the device separately for about £100 and then get a sim contract for less than a tenner from another company.

This is very helpful thank you. It's one of the options I had considered but didn't know if it would actually work without 5G, which we don't get either. We're with EE for our phones so I naturally looked at their options but they're very expensive compared to 3. I wondering if that was because 3 isn't very reliable - obviously with it being for work I need consistency. Sounds as though you find it OK though, which is good.

ETA we get less than 2 mbps, cant remember if it's up or down but either way it's paltry compared to what you're getting.

 

[Hackback]

We are having fiber installed to our new yard — bloody not cheap but worth it for us …

Thanks. Can't see my OH going for that - I think he'd want it to the house first. Or he'd just set up his TV in my office and that would defeat the object altogether ?

I envy you though - I would so love fibre.

 

[I'm Dun]

This is very helpful thank you. It's one of the options I had considered but didn't know if it would actually work without 5G, which we don't get either. We're with EE for our phones so I naturally looked at their options but they're very expensive compared to 3. I wondering if that was because 3 isn't very reliable - obviously with it being for work I need consistency. Sounds as though you find it OK though, which is good.

ETA we get less than 2 mbps, cant remember if it's up or down but either way it's paltry compared to what you're getting.

They do a 4g one as well thats cheaper. I went for 5g as obviously boats are moved about, and when you look at 5g coverage its getting more every day. I looked at their signal checker for my current winter mooring and it said I would get good 4g outside and fairly poor inside but its flying. I'm very impressed so far and havent had any reliability issues which I def had with the little mifi and tethering my phone!

 

[meleeka]

Different networks work best in different areas. I wouldn’t have 3 if they paid me (I once spent a week on the phone for hours each day just trying to cancel because I no longer needed it!)

I have Giffgaff at the yard on a Mifi box. It works well and can adjust the monthly amount depending how how much I use. There’s no contract either.

 

[sport horse]

We have a Wif Fi booster and the house connection reaches most of the yard. However we built a new building housing a staff flat and yard tearoom and we could not get the Wi fi to work in that. Realised eventually that the insulation used in the construction was foil backed so created a Faraday cage which blocked Wi Fi signal. Had to run a hard wire to the building and it is now fine. Cost a fortune because we were not techy!