long range routers or what else to try?

steveinspain

steveinspain

steveinspain

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long range routers or what else to try? With added picture pleasure !

OK, I need help please..
I have what I guess is a slightly unusual problem.
I live in the hills in Spain, and have no landline and only just get a mobile signal. Internet is via a microwave system (Iberbanda if that makes any difference). Currently I am using my dongle, and have speeds of up to 35kb/sec - normally way less, hence me wanting to sort this out !
In order to get a signal, my aerial is 200m up the mountain, so by the time the signal reaches the house, it is very weak. If the weather is hot, I loose my signal. If the weather is bad, the same happens.
When the signal reaches the house, it goes into a box supplied by Iberbanda, then on to my router (sorry, I have no idea what the box is or does, but it has a mains input, an input from the aerial and an output to my pc)
Now I believe that if I can position this box closer to the aerial by building a tiny 'shed' halfway up the hill I may get a better signal, but am I then going to have problems with the output from my 'box' ?
Would it be a good idea to get a long range router and situate that in my 'shed' too ?
If anyone knows what my 'box' is or does, is there any way of boosting the signal in any way ?


Maybe the easiest answer is just to try, but running a mains cable up the mountain is not easy, in part as I need to go across a road, but also as the goats are likely to eat the cable !

Any ideas and help much appreciated, and sorry for not knowing what my 'box' is called...

Edit - just to add that I have a D-Link DIR 655 router - might that be up to the job of giving a decent signal from say 50 metres away, to a house with 350-400mm thick walls ?
 
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Do you not have a normal phone line? Could probable get better speeds on dial up!

There's no easy way to do what you are describing, mainly becuase of the lack of power up the mountain.

Personally I dont think it would make that much of a performace increase anyway.
 
If you can get a safe secure container(and no-one can steal it)some things to think about
container/box waterproof near the Ariel/mast
box supplied by Iberbanda connect to a wireless AP with directional antenna
Directional antenna at your home connected to pci card in your pc
Powered by a 12vdc inverter to 240v connected to a car battery in the container/box
You would need to charge up the car battery when the volts dropped too low though(or maybe get a solar charger for car batteries)
:)
 
As you are running the mains cable up to the little hut, you should consider powerline adapters.

Situate your bb modem/receiver in the little hut powered by the mains line you have run up.
Plug powerline adapter into back of modem/receiver via ethernet cable and into mains supply
Plug powerline adapter into back of router in home via ethernet cable and into mains supply
Enjoy a (hopefully) faster speed


You could test this to see whether it works by using a long extension cable - and the outlay would be a couple of powerline adapters (go for the A/V or 200Mbs adapters as you never know, might be good)

HTH,

André
 
Only just got back online (see how bad it is !!)
OK - JB - we have no land lines anywhere near us. I used to use my mobile but was paying 250 euros a month just to get emails, and it took forever.
ANDARIAL - what is an AP, and please tell me more about directional antennae and what sort of pci card I would need, and do you know anything about inverters and solar chargers - climbing up the mountain with a battery might be fun one time, but it is a hands and feet scrabble at the best of times (and the best of times would be when the wife is doing it...) As for anyone stealing anything - the last known robbery near us was about 18 years ago, when some hungry gypsies dug up 2 of a neighbours potato plants and took them !!
Andre - that sounds interesting too - I will try to look into it !

Thanks for the help guys - much appreciated !
 
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If I understand this right, you have your receiver for the microwave link up the mountain and then the cable from the antenna runs 200m to the "box"?

Is the aerial 200m away because it needs the height or what?
 
AP= access point or Router (Wireless is the type you may want)
If there is little risk of robbery then what i suggested can be considered
Inverters turn 12v dc current into 240 v ac (house mains in the uk)
In most motorist centers over here they sell these also solar chargers that take `some` power from the sun and trickle charge the battery(I dought that you could get one that would completly do away with the need to charge up the battery via mains)
As for wireless adapters,one of these should do
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-011-NG&groupid=46&catid=1451&subcat=
You would need a High gain Directional antenna and cable for both the AP and the wireless card i linked to above,OCUK don`t stock these and ican`t link to a competitor so you would have to source them yourself
Both AP and the wireless pci card need to have detachable antennas so you can use higher gain(stronger signal ) replacements :)
 
Caged - Yup - we are in a dip, so the receiver is up there in order to 'see' the main broadcast aerial, then we run a cable down to the house.
ANDARIAL - While we do get loads of sun here, some mains powered thingie would be easiest, as sods law says we loose the sun and need internet or phone (both run via the same system) at the same time, and when the weather turns bad, it is bad for a few days, with no way or climbing up the mountain till it has dried up !
 
Your suspicions are probably correct - 200m of coaxial cable is an incredibly long distance to run something like that. I'm amazed it even works. Was it installed that way by whoever your service provider is? You must be able to access something in the weird 'box' that will tell you signal levels. Maybe give the provider a call?
 
Caged - yes, Iberbanda's own people, Servcom installed it, but it has never worked very well, though we were the first to use the system, so I guess the signal was stronger then. As for getting help - customer service is non-existant. They shut it down for days on end without warning whenever they want to do any servicing, refuse to come out to help..
And, there is no other supplier, so no competition.
Don't know why we live here...!

I'll try to find out more about homeplugs and wireless routers and high gain antennae but am happy to be helped by anyone who can..
Cheers !
 
mattyj - I gather there is, but when I looked into it a few years ago, it cost over £2000 to install, and about £90 a month. It also had a reputation for being rather lass than reliable..
Nuff said ?
 
Could you build you little "shed" or container next to the antenna then run external grade cat5 down the mountain?
 
steveinspain said:
mattyj - I gather there is, but when I looked into it a few years ago, it cost over £2000 to install, and about £90 a month. It also had a reputation for being rather lass than reliable..
Nuff said ?
Click to expand...

There are much better options now. I believe in the UK there is a provider that does two way satellite for not much more than our standard ADSL/Cable solutions.

It is worth looking into it again. Make sure it is two way (i.e. not upstream via dial-up or ISDN).
 
Ryan - yes, I could - It would make running the mains cable up a little more of a problem, as I will need to concrete some long poles into the ground to keep the mains power away from goats etc all the way up, but I guess that as I will be doing it part way it'll only take another day or two to go up to the top (you sadist you..)
One question - How can I tell what my current cable is, as it appears to have no markings on the outside - from what I am learning it is not coaxial, but some sort of cat whatever, as it has 6 cores.
Duke - I will do that, and thanks for the tip about 2 way !
 
OP: Is it this WIMAX service what you have?
To receive Iberbanda Wireless Internet and Phone Services, a small dish is erected on the outside of your property. The installation is similar to Digital Satellite TV in the UK, although with much smaller equipment. To be able to install an Iberbanda system there needs to be a direct line of sight to one of the Iberbanda antennas from the receiving dish
Click to expand...

If so, I'd definitely echo what everyone else has said. Move the box closer to the antenna and use homeplug or WiFi + Directional antennae to get the ethernet connection to your home. I've no idea what the range of homeplug is, but you can seriously push up to a km without too much hassle or expense with specialist wireless gear. http://www.wirelessnetworkproducts.com have some interesting stuff, it might be worth a look. Have you got clear line of site to wherever you'd build the shed?
 
Wait, your have 6 core cable coming down the mountain?

At the top of the mountain, on the antenna, does the wire go directly into it then down the mountain?
 
Sorry for the delay in replying - I got banned for something silly..
Ryan111 - yes, there is 6 core cat5 cable running down from the antenna to the house - 200m roughly of the stuff.
It is a WIMAX service, as Nexy suggested. I do have clear line of sight and a pole as suggested by Caged would need to be roughly 100m long, so unlikely !
 
If it's 6 core cat 5 cable then that says, to me anyway, there is already some kind if modem up the mountain and you have a 'cable' router in your house. If this is the case, there is no way that I have heard to speed up your connection.

Anyone else heard of cat 5 'cable used to run between antenna and modem?
 
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