Connecting your garden office to broadband
The past year or so has seen a huge change in how and where Britain works. More people than ever before are working from home and even though lockdown has eased, many employers now recognise the benefits of home or flexible working.
For those with limited space within their home, garden offices have provided valuable working space. Space away from the hustle and bustle of family life and somewhere quiet where you can concentrate on work and be productive.
You’re almost certainly going to need broadband in a garden office, but as connecting your new garden office to your broadband can be problematic, we’ve asked our friends at BroadbandGenie.co.uk how we can tackle this obstacle.
Broadband and the garden office
The main challenges you’ll face when setting up your office include making Wi-Fi reach or running Ethernet cable from your house to the garden. Both of which can be overcome with the right approach and that’s something we’ll cover in this post. We’ll cover Wi-Fi, wired connections and mobile broadband to hopefully provide all the information you need to connect your garden office to your broadband.
WiFi and garden offices
Depending on how far away from the house you are, your existing Wi-Fi signal may reach. If so, you’re one of the lucky ones! You can check this easily by taking a laptop, phone, or tablet out to the garden office and checking signal strength. You can do this before or after you have the building installed. You can also use a Wi-Fi analyser app for your phone that can tell you exactly how strong Wi-Fi is in any part of your house or garden.
If your Wi-Fi signal isn’t strong enough to reach your garden office, you still have options.
You can use Wi-Fi signal boosters to boost signal strength so it reaches the office. A signal booster is a small device that plugs into the mains and amplifies your Wi-Fi signal so it goes further.
Place them throughout your house with one as close to the garden as possible to make sure the signal reaches.
If that won’t work, you could consider a dedicated exterior signal booster. These are more expensive and require connecting to Ethernet, but could mean not having to run cable from your house to your office.
Powerline adapters
Powerline adapters are ideal if you have an existing garden office or have converted an existing outbuilding into an office. As long as it uses mains electricity fed from the house, you can use that grid to provide a network connection.
One powerline plugs in near your router and uses an Ethernet cable to connect it. Another powerline adapter plugs into the garden office and from there to your switch or device.
The powerline pair then creates an internal network using your home’s electricity grid to provide internet. It’s a surprisingly cheap and effective way to build a secure home network!
If neither Wi-Fi nor wired networking is suitable, your final option is to use mobile broadband.
Wired connections to garden offices
If you would prefer a wired connection, you also have options. Wired connections are faster and more secure but require forward planning or retrofitting the Ethernet cable.
If you’re planning your garden office, bundle in Ethernet cable along with the electricity. You’ll need armoured cable suitable for outdoor use but that’s readily available.
Run it alongside the electric cable when you’re laying the groundwork and connect one end to an Ethernet socket in the garden office and the other end into an Ethernet port on your broadband router. If you’re not sure about what’s required, speak to an electrician, as it’s unlikely that you’re the first person to ask for ethernet cable to be included with a power line.
If your garden office is already set up, you could retrofit Ethernet with a little digging, or use a powerline adapter.
Mobile broadband and garden offices
Mobile broadband is now a viable method of connecting to the internet. It’s cheaper than ever, faster than ever and many broadband contracts include more data than ever before.
If you live in a good 4G or 5G area, mobile broadband could be the ideal option for connecting your garden office.
Use a dongle or 4G router to connect your devices to the mobile network and you’re good to go!
Before signing up, check your 4G or 5G coverage with network providers and double check the data allowance. Contracts are available from around £20 per month and can provide speeds of up to 60Mbps with 4G and even more on 5G. For more information about mobile broadband, read Broadband Genie’s guide to using mobile broadband.
Working from home or garden
Connecting a garden office to broadband can be a very simple undertaking. It can be installed as part of initial setup of the building and services or retrofitted afterwards.
You can go wired, wireless or mobile, with each offering fast speeds, reliable connections and enough data to work through the month without having to worry.
If a broadband connection was holding you back from installing a northern log cabin or garden office, we hope we have provided the information you need to take the plunge. With employers being more open to it than ever before, there has never been a better time to work from home!
Bespoke log cabin design and installation
At Timber Building Specialists, we create custom cabins that can make excellent home offices, no home office is complete without excellent Wifi. At the Timber Building specialists we specialise in designing and installing large log cabins, so you’ll always have plenty of space for all your equipment. Browse our range of high-quality cabins online or get in touch with our expert team today for advice on crafting a personalised solution for your new outdoor fitness room.
