So my garden is about 165 feet (50 m) or more from my router. The wifi reception is really bad and I'd rather just use the cable. I'm not sure how it works but if I were to connect a really long ethernet cable to my modem and connect it to my laptop would it be the same as using a shorter cable in my house? Or does the reception get bad with longer cables? I've got a pretty fast connection (12 mb).
Yes, a signal will degrade over a longer line but probably not enough for you to worry. Do you really want to be trailing 50m of cable around the place then have to tidy it up every time you're finished - not forgetting all the problems of lawnmovers, tripping over it, having to leave a window or door open all the time. The suggestion of a repeater sound like the better option.
I already have an electricity cable going there through a wall, I could do the same with the ethernet one. Thanks guys, will look up repeaters.
In my experience a longer cable will cut down on the speed available ... however, it should work and is worth a try. Good luck ... Ron
Have you considered a WiFi wok? All you need is a wok, a USB WiFi stick, and a USB extension cable. I'm running WiFi between my house and the house next door (at least 50m - probably more like 75m). All I have here (in my house) is a consumer D-Link wireless router - no extra antennas etc. Next door there's a wok hanging in the window, with a USB WiFi stick taped inside it. Without the wok, there is absolutely NO signal - can't even see the SSID. With the wok, it's full steam ahead.
The cable would have to be insanely long to have any noticeable effect on transfer speeds. CAT5 network cable has a propagation delay of like 5 nanoseconds/meter; it would take a cable kilometers long to make a difference in upload/download speeds big enough to worry about. Cable would probably be a more stable solution as you wouldn't have to worry about any kind of interference or weather, but as other people mentioned it's kind of a hassle to have a long cable trailing across your yard.
Lol I Suggest Buy A Wifi Router And You;ll Enjoy It....Trust Me Laptops Iphones Ps3 almost everything wordks on wifi now!