We have satellite internet at the house (it's too rural, so cabled internet is not available), and the internet company said basically our options are:
1) Run an Ethernet cable from the house directly to the barn
2) Use repeaters/boosters to extend the WiFi signal from the house out to the barn
3) Use a Point to Point WiFi bridge/antenna to shoot the signal from the house to the barn
4) Get another dish on the barn.
Option 1: I don't know how practical this one is.
Option 2: My limited understanding and research makes it seems like option 2 would require several (3? 4?) repeaters/boosters and each one has significant loss in signal so I'm not sure how reliable this would be. Option 3: Not sure yet if we can get line of sight on the antennas. There are a few buildings in the way, may be able to get partial line of sight. But in general, this method seems the best for long range extension of WiFi networks (I've seen some antenna's claiming 20+ miles, that would be overkill for what we need)
Option 4: Too expensive to make it worthwhile - would need to pay for another dish and installation plus another $50-60/month. Basically a non-starter for that cost.
I think option 2 would be great if it's practical (not too many repeaters necessary) because the installation is probably the easiest, and would allow us to have a WiFi network over all or most of the farm, but I'm concerned about significant signal degradation with each repeater. Option 3 also sounds possible, but not sure yet if we can get line of sight.
We're hoping to keep one time cost under $300 or so, with no monthly/recurring costs by sharing the internet that we currently have at the house. In general, the internet usage is pretty low - mostly just accessing files, we aren't streaming HD video or doing video conferencing or anything like that. Just a basic internet connection is what we're looking for.
Does anyone have any thoughts on which option (or a different one altogether) to pursue? Any recommendations on equipment? Any guides/tips on installation?
Thanks!