Topic awaiting preservation: Wireless Networking Between Houses (Page 1 of 1)

Well, my parents are just about moved into their new house in the country and I'm trying to help my dad figure out a broadband Internet solution.

The provider is not an issue, however, just the networking. Allow me to explain.

My parents now share property with some family friends, who live in a house about 300 feet away. The friends, who we'll call the Smiths for clarity, have a small tower next to their house that they erected long ago for their TV antenna. Because of reception issues -- which the provider determined when they sent out a tech -- the provider's receiver would have to be mounted on that tower to get a good signal.

As the provider explains it, one simply runs a CAT5 cable from the receiver to the house.

Now if I were hooking up only the Smiths, I would just run that cable into a router, which I would use to connect the Smiths' two computers. Easy schmeasy. But we also want to connect my parents' house.

Now, if the two houses were much closer, I could probably get away with putting a wireless router in the Smiths' house and, as I understand it, an ethernet bridge like the Linksys WET54GS5 in my dad's office, which he could then route to the rest of the house. Unfortunately, the distance between the houses is too great, plus the Smiths' and my dad's offices are on the far sides of each house.

I've looked at Linksys's and D-Link's sites and Googled a bit, but it's hard to know what I need -- and more importantly, what I don't need -- without having more networking knowledge.

Originally, I thought of getting a supposedly high-strength wireless router like the Linksys WRT54GX and putting it in the Smiths' office, then put a WAP like the WAP54G in my parents' kitchen (maybe with a high-gain antenna for good measure), which faces the Smiths' house, use the existing CAT5 connection to connect it to a router in my dad's office, which would then connect the other rooms. (Can't put the WET54GS5 in the kitchen because there's only one cable -- all the connections terminate in my dad's office, so the router would have to go in there.)

Not sure of the reliability of such a setup, I then started looking for was some small unit that could mount on the outside of each house to bridge the gap. The ISP's receiver connects via CAT5 to the Smiths' router as before, which connects to their computers and to the exterior unit. The second exterior unit, on my parents' porch, connects via existing CAT5 to my dad's office, to his router, then to the other computers. I just can't seem to find this outdoor connection device because I don't know what to search for.

I want to help them set this up as inexpensively as possible, but I want to make sure my parents receive a reliable signal from the Smiths. I figured someone here more knowledgable of equipment could help me select something good. (I've had terrific experience with Linksys products, but if there's something else better suited to my needs, I'm open to suggestions.)

(Incidentally, please disregard issues concerning the sharing of one receiver between two residences -- according to at least one of the provider's reps, it's not a problem.)



(Edited by Wes on 07-08-2005 19:23)

I believe you are looking for a directional Antennae array or Directional WAP. They tend to have much longer range with stronger signal strength (14-28 dB) then your standard wireless units There are also wireless repeaters that provide a secondary access point to the main gateway (the Smiths router) without actually pinging the main gateway.

I'm no expert so try these links to threads on the same issues...

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,6920323
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,6920323

The second link contains more information on exterior directional antennae while the prior link is more along the lines of conventional wireless tech.

Hope this gives you an avenue to search. I'm interested to know what solutions you find.

GD

(Edited by GrythusDraconis on 07-08-2005 19:40)

My professional advice - WLAN signal strength is rarely good enough for 50 feet. Oh, sure, you may get a connection that is mostly stable...BUT! It will come and go. And any type of interference (like damp air, any type of animals flying/moving through it, strong gusts of wind, etc) will affect the signal strength.

300 feet? That is a pretty good distance! Sounds like you will need a Repeater, inbetween...that is what I would suggest. That would probably be the best solution.

Problem being, you will need to sut up the Repeater between the two houses.

More Here

There's a bunch of articles about how to do long run wireless runs usually using some homebrew antennas.

Interesting and relevant article



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

Here is what I did to run wireless internet out to my neighbors shed. First I went from the modem(cable, dsl, whatever) to a hub inside the house. Then I went to home depot and bought me some pvc piping and some fittings to attach a couple of them together. The next step was to make sure that the pvc was sealed to keep the water out. PVC glue will do the trick here. After that I used a flat shovel to pull the grass back and then dug a trench about 6 inches deep. I ran the networking wire to the shed, (if you look around you can find roles of the shit for 50 to 100 dollars) and i think they are around 1000 feet of cord, hooked up the wireless router and boom. This will make sure that you dont have a long distance for the wireless to travel and it is easier and cheaper than setting up antennas.

yup, the cable is prettier (invisible) easier cheaper and faster but you're right about at the run limit I think with 300 feet? Those panel antennaes kick butt, at my previous place of employement we set one up from a manufacturing facility to a warehouse about 3 blocks away, worked great. The thing with those panels tho, they're pricey and the can be blown apart by a well placed hail stone!

Yes, the cable run limit (officially) for minimum loss is 100 metres, or about 330 feet. However it can go longer than that, up to about 187metres, I think. However every meter more you go you're losing speed and reliability, hence the reason the standards impose the limit at 100 metres. But that is for Cat5e cable. I believe the newer standards of Cat6 and Cat7 can go longer distances at slower transmission speeds more reliably, but I'm not entirely sure. I know that Cat6's distance limit for 10gigabit (which I doubt very much you're going to be looking for) is 15 metres, but at 100mbit (a very, very acceptable speed) it's greater than 100 metres.


Justice 4 Pat Richard

(Edited by Skaarjj on 07-11-2005 08:07)

Long-range Wireless Bridge (only 1.5Mb/sec, but over 20km)?!?

I would go for the "wired" option myself. True, over 100 metres (esp. without switches/hubs directly at either end) will lead to rapid attenuation, but the fall-off is also dependent upon the quality of the cable used.

The cost of a couple of hundred metres of fair-quality Cat5e over here isn't nearly so prohibitive as the cost of a couple of high-gain aerials and the necessary wireless equipment.

We've successfully used wireless kit to bridge a gap (a courtyard) of maybe 80 yards with little signal loss, but were unable to put the antenna very high on either side. At one point during the event, a coach pulled up and the driver disappeared before I realised. I had to leap to work with a reel of Cat5 and set of crimpers, making the whole effort pointless.

Yeah, looks like there's no easy solution here, unfortunately. Burying cable may be the best option when signal quality is of any concern. That's not so easy, though, when running it such a long distance and when you're in the country. Six inches down isn't going to do it; the rodents will chew right through any PVC they come across.

Is there a way to use two or more cables to help carry a better signal? Maybe split data between them somehow? How would you hook that up on either end?

Wes *why* exactly is the receiver being shared between two residences 300 ft apart? You might have better luck in looking for a solution in connecting to the ISP directly.

Seriously

Around $100 and .75 of a mile range antenna.

You might get some weather interference but you're well within it's range and it's about the price you'd spend on cat5 minus 300ft of digging and you've already got what sounds like a good place to put it. I'd do some research (or just call them) but I'd check this route out first. Oh and 3 words MAC Address Filtering

Downside you may need to get one of their hubs because this takes coax in. But if you need to get a hub anyway this may do the trick.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

(Edited by bitdamaged on 07-12-2005 19:01)

Jestah:
1. It would save money in the long run because both families would be paying for only one account.
2. Again, to get any reception at all from the ISP, it must be mounted on the Smiths' tower. For my parents to get their own receiver, they'd have to erect their own tower, which would end up costing more than most of the other solutions available. And there'd be another ugly tower.

bit:
I'll show this to my dad and see what he thinks. For good transmission from both ends, I assume there would have to be two antennas.

By the way, what does this mean?

quote:

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Buffalo recommends installing third-party lighting protectors on all outdoor Wireless LAN solutions to prevent the destruction associated with lighting of peripherals connected to the wireless LAN.

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I thought they might mean "lightning," but "destruction associated with lightning of peripherals" would make no sense.