If your Wi-Fi works great inside but gets weak as soon as you step onto the patio, you probably do not need faster internet. You need better Wi-Fi coverage outside.
Exterior walls, brick, siding, insulation, windows, and distance can all weaken the signal coming from your router. That is why you can have a strong connection in the living room and barely any signal in the backyard.
The easiest way to extend Wi-Fi outside
If you already use Eero inside your home, one of the simplest ways to improve outdoor coverage is to add an outdoor Eero 7.
Instead of asking the Wi-Fi equipment inside your house to reach farther than it was designed to, an outdoor Eero gives your network another access point closer to where you actually want to use it.
That can help improve Wi-Fi around:
- Patios and decks
- Backyards
- Pools
- Detached garages
- Barns and workshops
- Docks and lake areas
- Outdoor cameras and smart devices
Why your indoor Wi-Fi may not reach very far
Wi-Fi can travel through walls, but every obstacle weakens the signal.
Exterior walls are usually much harder for Wi-Fi to pass through than interior walls. Brick, concrete, metal siding, insulation, and other building materials can all reduce the signal before it ever reaches the yard.
You can sometimes improve things by moving your router closer to a window, but that may just create a new weak spot somewhere else in the house.
Putting Wi-Fi equipment outside is a more direct way to solve the problem.
What can you use outdoor Wi-Fi for?
For most people, it is about making the outside of the property work more like the inside.
You might want to:
- Stream music on the patio
- Watch TV outside
- Use a laptop from the porch
- Keep outdoor cameras connected
- Get better service in a garage or workshop
- Extend Wi-Fi toward a barn or dock
If you spend a lot of time outside, better Wi-Fi coverage can make a noticeable difference.
Placement matters
An outdoor Eero still needs a good connection back to the rest of your Eero network, so putting it as far away from the house as possible is not always the best option.
The goal is to place it somewhere that can still communicate well with your existing Eero system while also getting the signal closer to the area you want to cover.
You will also need access to power near the installation location.
Do you need faster internet or just better Wi-Fi?
This is an important difference.
If your internet works well inside your house but struggles outside, upgrading to a faster internet plan may not fix anything.
You may already have more than enough speed coming into your home. The problem is simply that your Wi-Fi signal is not reaching the area where you want to use it.
In that case, extending your Wi-Fi coverage usually makes more sense than buying more internet speed.
Want Wi-Fi farther from the house?
NPTech now offers outdoor Eero 7 Wi-Fi for customers who want better coverage around their property.
If you are trying to reach a patio, backyard, garage, barn, dock, or another outdoor area, we can help figure out whether an outdoor Eero makes sense and where it should be placed.