>500m Wireless Options

Larry365 · 25 Aug 2015 at 18:49

Ubiquiti - Fibre broadband on a rural farm. Wireless >500 metres

I am in the process of moving from a mid terraced city house which has been blessed with a 150mbit connection for several years, to a farmhouse with "up to" 2mbit...

I cannot accept this.

The closest village is served by VM fibre, with the closest property ~580m away from my house. VM have quoted me a 5 figure sum to run a cable to my property, something I will not be doing so I have started to look into wireless options.

The plan:

1) Get friendly with the closest residents.
2) Install VM modem at their property, perhaps in an external cabinet.
3) Link up modem to microwave satellite on one of their walls
4) Have receiving satellite at my farm house
5) 152mbit broadband to my home

Does anyone have any experience with a setup like this? I'm quite excited to set all this up. I'll reply shortly with some hardware that I have found so far.

Caged · 25 Aug 2015 at 19:39

Do you have line of sight?

George Hincapie · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:03

Why would you want to move somewhere with crap internet? Life is too short; either stay where you are or negotiate with VM to install the cable for less.

Larry365 · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:15

Caged said:
Do you have line of sight?

Yes. Forogot to mention. There is a small woodland between the two properties but there is a clearing where the electricity cables run through.

George Hincapie said:
Why would you want to move somewhere with crap internet? Life is too short; either stay where you are or negotiate with VM to install the cable for less.

You're joking right? Obviously it's personal preference, but I would argue that life was too short to stay in a tiny mid terraced house for the sake of a good internet connection.. but that's just me. One day I might be in a position to pay for cable but for now if there is a cheaper alternative, I'll consider it.

Edit: to add, virgin media are very reluctant to spend any money connecting one house. If they spent £5k, it would take them 12 years to just get their money back @£35/month.

koolpc · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:24

You will have awesome neighbours if they allow what you want to do. Just dont fall out with them!

Hyburnate · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:27

Wow. Interesting.

You're going to need some beefy kit to do that, so get some lawyers/solicitors involved just to get some paperwork because you and said neighbour should have a contract really.

Larry365 · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:36

Lol. Yeh, let's hope they understand the importance of good internet.

I think some sort of contract would be a good idea. At this stage I need to get some sort of idea of what equipment is needed, whether it is actually practical and financially feasible.

Hyburnate · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:39

Larry365 said:
Lol. Yeh, let's hope they understand the importance of good internet.

I think some sort of contract would be a good idea. At this stage I need to get some sort of idea of what equipment is needed, whether it is actually practical and financially feasible.

Without going into specifics on a public forum, currently at work we're installing external AP antennas, they run into ££££ each and are nowhere near capable of 500m.

These antennas connect onto a AP inside (almost like a splitter) I'm unsure on the cost of that.

Caged · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:54

Larry365 said:
Yes. Forogot to mention. There is a small woodland between the two properties but there is a clearing where the electricity cables run through.

It's time to trot out the good old fashioned pair of Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco M5 suggestion. Just make sure you keep the fresnel zone clear.

You won't get 150Mbps throughput, but you should have no issues getting 120.

Larry365 · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:54

Hyburnate said:
Without going into specifics on a public forum, currently at work we're installing external AP antennas, they run into ££££ each and are nowhere near capable of 500m.

These antennas connect onto a AP inside (almost like a splitter) I'm unsure on the cost of that.

I guess one difference here would be that you are providing devices capable of a radius where as I am looking for point to point connectivity, which I'm assuming needs a lot less power to transmit up to 500m.

I am currently looking into some products by Ubiquiti. Specifically looking at the NanoBeam 5AC 19, their calculator suggests upto 60.55 Mbit @ 5ghz. Early days.

Armageus · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:58

Have a look at ubiquiti (or any other big WiFi vendor for that matter) they have solutions for all sorts of ranges (e.g 30km radio @ ac speeds). No doubt price will be a factor but may throw up some different options.

https://www.ubnt.com/products/

Edit: beaten too it

Larry365 · 25 Aug 2015 at 20:59

Caged said:
It's time to trot out the good old fashioned pair of Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco M5 suggestion. Just make sure you keep the fresnel zone clear.

You won't get 150Mbps throughput, but you should have no issues getting 120.

Well at least I'm looking in the right area!

Should be able to. While there is that woodland to contend with, and I am limited to a height of ~7metres at the third parties property, I have a no real height restrictions on my own property.

Caged · 25 Aug 2015 at 21:10

7 metres should be fine at 5Ghz.

The NanoBeam AC units will do a decent job as well, they just cost a touch more for a small improvement.

It will work fine on a technical level, the biggest issue will be sorting it out with your neighbour and how VM bill it, since it won't be your address on the account.

Larry365 · 25 Aug 2015 at 21:14

Caged said:
7 metres should be fine at 5Ghz.

The NanoBeam AC units will do a decent job as well, they just cost a touch more for a small improvement.

It will work fine on a technical level, the biggest issue will be sorting it out with your neighbour and how VM bill it, since it won't be your address on the account.

Yeh. They can be real funny about it too. I wanted to have two separate connections at a previous house once, one for me and one for my house mate. They flat out wouldn't do it. Now granted I didn't try too hard but they basically said they would not do it unless the house was registered as two addresses eg 33a & 33b...

Ultimately it all depends on this third party, though there are a few other houses I can try. The nice thing about these Ubiquiti products is their quite good looking and reasonably discrete.

koolpc · 25 Aug 2015 at 21:17

The neighbour might want to charge you a fair bit for the privilege too!

Begbie · 25 Aug 2015 at 21:18

I think your biggest worry is allowing a neighbor to put a satellite on their wall for your internet connection....

Larry365 · 25 Aug 2015 at 21:42

Just spoke to a very enthusiast Filipino chap at VM named Win; he introduced himself "my name is Win, as in Winning!".. brilliant.. Anyway, he confirmed they would have no problem setting up a connection at a third party address. It would be what's known as a duplicate account but as long as it is two different billing addresses and two different services, they are happy to do it (obviously with the permission of the actual occupier). He also told me that that house is currently connected.. not sure if he should have told me that..

I might offer some sort of financial incentive to the thirdparty but naturally I will wait to see how they respond to the request first.

Caged · 25 Aug 2015 at 21:47

I am reasonably sure that as soon as you actually start the order process your dreams will be shattered. But hey there might be hope.

koolpc · 25 Aug 2015 at 21:48

Larry365 said:
Just spoke to a very enthusiast Filipino chap at VM named Win; he introduced himself "my name is Win, as in Winning!".. brilliant.. Anyway, he confirmed they would have no problem setting up a connection at a third party address. It would be what's known as a duplicate account but as long as it is two different billing addresses and two different services, they are happy to do it (obviously with the permission of the actual occupier). He also told me that that house is currently connected.. not sure if he should have told me that..

I might offer some sort of financial incentive to the thirdparty but naturally I will wait to see how they respond to the request first.

Good luck!!

Larry365 · 25 Aug 2015 at 21:59

Caged said:
I am reasonably sure that as soon as you actually start the order process your dreams will be shattered. But hey there might be hope.

Do you mean in terms of cost?