Whether it’s a much-needed change of scenery following months of working from home, or you’re looking to stream a summer of sport – or Love Island – in the intermittent British sun, you’ll need to make sure you can get decent Wi-Fi al fresco. 

Even if you’re paying through the nose for the very best broadband, the locations of your router, the size of your garden (or balcony) and even what you’re trying to do outside can make a big difference to how strong your speeds are. And this means you may need to invest in a little, or possibly a lot, of tech. 

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How to get Wi-Fi in your garden 

Below we explain how to get your Wi-Fi working in your garden, from using simple cable setups to investing in all-singing all-dancing point-to-point, and powerline systems, a note on home Wi-Fi. We have previously explained how to fix your slow Wi-Fi at home, if you want to start there first and guarantee you’re getting the best possible speeds, regardless which of the below routes you take.

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Wi-Fi extenders do exactly what they say on the tin. They extend the reach of your Wi-Fi to areas around your house and beyond. Many, many things can impact the strength and speed of your Wi-Fi connection but one of the biggest culprits is the position of your router. Larger houses, particularly, or homes with thick walls tend to suffer from Wi-Fi blackspots; places in their home where the Wi-Fi just can’t reach, and for a lot of people this includes their garden.  

Wi-Fi extenders, also known as Wi-Fi repeaters, are used to extend your coverage even to the far reaches of your home and garden. You plug them into the mains and they work by taking your existing Wi-Fi signal, amplifying it and then transmitting the boosted signal. 

If your router is at the front of the house, for instance, and you want Wi-Fi at the end of your garden at the rear, plug a Wi-Fi extender into a plug closest to your garden and it will amplify and boost the signal to cover the entire area. In theory, that is. 

Wi-Fi extenders are relatively simple to set up and manage and they can work wonders for boosting your signal’s range, but they don’t boost its speed. It’s also worth checking what the maximum speed the Wi-Fi extender can handle. If you have gigabit speeds but the Wi-Fi extender has a 500 Mbps limit, as an example, you’ll notice a significant drop. 

According to Danny Marshall, Device Portfolio Director at BT, Wi-Fi extenders are not the most intelligent systems. “Many require you to reconnect to them as you move around your home,” he says. "They also need to be plugged into a wall socket that is close enough to your router but located near enough to your garden to provide adequate coverage, which could be tricky.”

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The Netgear Nighthawk X6 WiFi Range Extender (£113) can handle speeds of up to 2.2Gbps and has a Smart Roaming feature that automatically puts all of your devices, wherever they are in the house or garden, onto the best Wi-Fi band possible. 

Alternatively, the TP-Link RE450 WiFi Range Extender (£52) is a more affordable option. One that handles speeds of up to 1.75Gbps and has an “intelligent signal indicator” that helps you find the best locations to plug it in. 

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If you have a large garden, large house or just worry that Wi-Fi extenders won’t be quite enough for what you have in mind, invest in a mesh network. They aren't too dissimilar to Wi-Fi extenders, but they’re typically more powerful, reliable and effective when it comes to creating a network of multiple sources of Wi-Fi around your home and into your garden. 

Put simply, a mesh network is a group of devices that act as a single Wi-Fi network. Instead of boosting a signal from a single router, they all act as additional sources - or points - of Wi-Fi around the house and they communicate with each other wirelessly. 

"Correctly positioned and in the right number mesh systems can cover your home and potentially the garden," says BT's Danny Marshall. "There are even some mesh products that have been designed to be outside in the garden.”

Before buying a standalone product, it’s worth checking with your internet provider to see if they have a mesh network option. For example, if you’re a BT customer, its Whole Home service comes with Wi-Fi boxes/discs that you place around your home to boost the signal and create a mesh network. 

If you’re already a Sky Q customer, you may already have a mesh network in your home because each Sky Q box is powered by the Sky Hub. This effectively turns each box into Wi-Fi boosters/hotspots by offering dual-band wireless 5GHz technology.

If your provider doesn’t have an option, though, or you want to buy something separate, you can buy a single pack for around £100, or invest in a triple pack for around the £200 mark. Buying an independent mesh network means it can be used with any broadband provider. Perfect if you’re looking to switch providers, or switch providers semi-regularly in the hunt for the best deals. 

Google and Amazon dominate the market when it comes to buying mesh networks independently of an existing web provider. And outside of the price – Google’s WiFi Mesh network is a tad cheaper than Amazon’s eero one – it will likely depend on which other smart home products you have. 

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The Google WiFi Mesh Whole Home System starts at £189 for a triple pack, and each additional unit is £89. It works via the existing Google Home app and can be used to create separate networks for your kids, guests and more. 

Amazon’s eero system is sold in packs of one, two or three, with prices starting at £79, and rising to £399 for Amazon eero pro. All are Alexa-compatible.

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The most effective, and affordable way to get the best internet speeds in your garden, as is the case when looking to get the best speeds in your home, is to plug straight into the network via Ethernet cable. 

Ethernet cables run directly from the back of your router into any Ethernet port, whether that’s a port on your laptop, on the rear of an outside TV screen, or on a separate router placed in a garden shed or office. You don’t get the loss of signal you sometimes can do via Wi-Fi, where even the smallest of obstacles between you and the router can cause drop-out issues. 

These cables can be incredibly cheap, starting at around a tenner depending on how long you want them to be, but there are a couple of things to look out for. 

Firstly, you can’t just use any old Ethernet cable lying around the house for outdoor use. It needs to have UV protection to avoid it becoming cracked and damaged in the sun. The port itself needs to be protected from the rain, too, so make sure wherever you’re planning on plugging in the other end is not exposed to the elements. 

If you want it to be a permanent fixture, we recommend you get it installed properly – which includes either burying it underground or running it out of the way of high-traffic areas. Try the MutecPower Outdoor Ethernet Cable (£11.50). 

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Another affordable way to get Wi-Fi in your garden, particularly if you don’t want to be running or burying cables across your garden is to opt for a powerline network. These networks consist of at least two adaptors that you plug in to regular electric plug sockets. 

Each adaptor has a short Ethernet cable attached. The first is plugged into the mains and its Ethernet cable is plugged into the back of your router. The second adaptor is plugged into a remote plug, which for this guide’s purposes could be in your garage or your garden shed/office. 

The short Ethernet cable running from the second adaptor can then be plugged directly into a laptop, TV or other appliance – depending on what you’re doing in the garden that requires the internet. Alternatively, this second Ethernet cable can be plugged into a second router placed in closer proximity to where you’re sitting in the garden to create a “new” Wi-Fi network from which to connect wirelessly.  

This does require, however, for there to be a second mains plug in or near your garden and for that plug to be wired to the same distribution box as the first. 

“It’s important to make sure there’s no circuit breaker between the two units as this will cause a break in the network,” says Marshall. “Performance can be affected by distance, so if it’s having to travel a long way, you may see slower speeds.”

You can pick up powerline adapter kits for as little as £25, or you can spend in excess of £250. The difference in price refers to both the number of adaptors you get in each kit and what speeds they’re capable of transferring.  

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If you’re on a budget, give the TP-Link AV600 Nano Powerline Starter Kit (£24) a go. It comes with two adaptors and transfer speeds of up to 600 Mbps. 

Our high-end recommendation meanwhile is the Devolo Magic 2 WiFi Next Powerline Whole Home Kit. This triple pack costs £250 but comes with three adaptors, and transfer speeds of up to 2.4Gbps.  

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A Point-to-Point (PtP) network is an option typically sold as a business product and is best used to connect people who work at sites close to one another, in a business park or maybe the same town or street. It’s also a great option if you’ve got a garden office set up. 

However, it can be bought for use in your home for more leisurely, everyday tasks.

A Wi-Fi PtP works similarly to a Wi-Fi extender but is more advanced and typically more reliable. One unit is installed on the outside of your house and another on your garden office/garage/any other outbuilding. Both units have to be plugged into the mains and the unit on your house is connected to your home network. This signal is then transmitted to the second device. 

The biggest benefit of having the units professionally installed and fixed on the outside of your buildings is that they significantly increase your Wi-Fi’s outdoor range. 

“A waterproof fixed access point can give a very reliable connection but there are some major drawbacks,” says Marshall. “You’ll need external cabling for power and Ethernet.”

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The TP-Link CPE210 Pharos Outdoor PtP Link Kit (from £45) comes with four points and mounting brackets and are a great choice if you’re not looking for something overly complex but still effective. For a more business-focused setup, opt for the LigoWave Remote Building Kit (£360).

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This article was originally published by WIRED UK