Wired Wi-Fi for a Third-Floor Unit and Garage in San Francisco
1,500 sq ft third-floor unit in a three-story building ยท Mission District, San Francisco
The situation
A roughly 1,500 sq ft third-floor unit in a three-story San Francisco building had its internet service entering at the front of the unit. Wi-Fi from that single point didn't carry to the rear of the unit, and smart devices in the ground-level garage had nothing usable to connect to. The customer wanted wired backhaul to each Wi-Fi location rather than more wireless repeating, and wanted the cabling kept out of sight.
What we did
We planned the cable paths around the building's layout, using the existing fire escape for roof access so runs could go up from the service entry, across, and back down into the unit and the garage with minimal visible cable indoors. We ran Ethernet to three locations: the gateway/router at the front where the fiber terminates, a second access point toward the rear of the unit, and one in the garage ceiling.
The customer supplied the UniFi equipment. We bench-configured the access points before install day so they came up on the network as soon as they were mounted, then mounted them and tested each run. The garage access point's transmit power was turned down so it wouldn't compete with the upper-floor coverage.
The result
Both access points are on wired backhaul, so neither is repeating a signal. Coverage now reaches the rear of the unit, and the garage has its own access point for smart devices without pulling clients away from the unit above.
Questions about this kind of job
How do you get Wi-Fi from an upper-floor unit down to a garage?
On this job we ran Ethernet from the service entry up to the roof via the existing fire escape and back down to the garage ceiling, then mounted an access point there. A wired run keeps the garage on full-speed backhaul instead of a repeated signal.
Can you install network equipment I buy myself?
Yes. This customer supplied the UniFi gateway, PoE switch and access points. We handled the cabling, connectors, mounting hardware, configuration and testing.
Will an extra access point interfere with the rest of the network?
It can if it's left at full power. We reduced the garage access point's transmit power so it covers the garage without overlapping the access points in the unit above.
Services: Whole-home Wi-Fi, Ethernet wiring, Access points