Connecting 2 buildings together via rooftop. Cat6 suitable? if not please spec me fibre cabling

sswats

sswats

sswats

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I need to connect 2 buildings together which are side by side but separated by about 10m of private road.
There are switches in both attics and I am looking for a way to connect them.

WiFi bridge is not really an option as I do need gigabit speeds.

Simply Using cat6 cable was my first option, but concerns over shielding and grounding have led me to look for alternatives.

So first question is can I use cat6 here? If so do i need to buy Cat6 surge protector?

If I can't and I have to use fibre, what components would i need exactly and what type of fibre cable?
 
What height are we talking? With overhead cable you always have to consider a high sided vehicle coming along and ripping it out.

Otherwise external grade cat6 and earthed in case of lightning. Wouldnt use fibre when there's potential to break over time from flex.

What surface is the road?
 
You can’t do this by copper.
Fibre is an option

-or-

You can use the new 60Ghz Mikrotik wireless wire as that will do gigabit full duplex <100m
 
I would use fibre with media converters at each end to avoid weird things happening if the ground levels in each building are different.

How high is this? It's private road but who owns it?
 
Depending on the height of the building is a bonded laser link an option?

With a cable you would need to stretch a high strength wire between the two sites to support the cable. As others have said this could cause a accident/incident.

Pretty sure you'll be looking at planning permission/highways involvement/building inspection etc.

Could always look into lifting the road and running a few lengths of fiber, will cost more but will have more long term benefits potentially.
 
The private road is owned by one of the properties. I was planning on attaching it at where the roof starts so about 5m high. It's pretty much a driveway and no high sided vehicles enter, and there's already a phone line going across the road at the same height.

So fibre cable supported by high strength wire with media converters on each end is my current plan. but will look into Microtik option.
 
Caged said:
You can get fibre with the messenger wire moulded into it. Dropwire clamps are available from eBay.
Click to expand...

That sounds good. But on a quick search those cables only seem to come in bulk and I'd have to terminate the ends, instead of a ready made cable. so some extra tools needed and not done it before so not sure how straightforward it is.
Why would i need the dropwire clamp if its moulded into it?

I was just looking at catenary/rope cable kits with those clamps or just zip tied to the fibre cable. Not the right way?
 
To be honest it's 10m so zip tying some preterminated fibre to a wire is hardly likely to cause a problem.
 
I'd go WiFi external grade kit. I have two buildings connected about 150m apart and it works, albeit the trees between need cutting every year or two.
 
That Microtik kit looks good and probably can't be beaten speed wise.

At work we have used "Ubiquiti LBE-5AC-Gen2 LiteBeam Outdoor 5GHz 23dBi WiFi Point-to-Point Link Kit (450+ Mbps AC)" for ~75 meters and has worked faultlessly and can be had for ~£140.
 
Armageus said:
That Microtik kit looks good and probably can't be beaten speed wise.

At work we have used "Ubiquiti LBE-5AC-Gen2 LiteBeam Outdoor 5GHz 23dBi WiFi Point-to-Point Link Kit (450+ Mbps AC)" for ~75 meters and has worked faultlessly and can be had for ~£140.
Click to expand...

OP said he wanted gigabit though, whilst the litebeams are good, the speeds are only "quoted" and are TDMA links so half duplex. Add in to that although unlikely, there is a chance of other 5Ghz interference about.

The UBNT kit is stable but for very short links like this 60Ghz is the bread and butter as it's fast, full duplex and relatively little to anything works in that range (as well as natural isolation).
 
Whilst the Microtik looks ideal I'm swayed by the fibre option just. I have to install lots of cabling anyway on both sides, hanging one cable between the 2 buildings should not be hassle enough. Also cable, media, converters and rope wire total cost £80. So £70 less than the Microtik, but I'm tempted to buy that for some other requirements I have.
 
Be aware that as it is there is a 100m limit. There is a company in Poland making antenna to go further.

If you need 500m then ignitenet do a metrolink that will do that.
 
Steveocee said:
OP said he wanted gigabit though, whilst the litebeams are good, the speeds are only "quoted" and are TDMA links so half duplex. Add in to that although unlikely, there is a chance of other 5Ghz interference about.

The UBNT kit is stable but for very short links like this 60Ghz is the bread and butter as it's fast, full duplex and relatively little to anything works in that range (as well as natural isolation).
Click to expand...

Sorry missed the gigabit requirement :(

Must admit reliable point to point wifi is still fairly new to me, as was put off for years by some terrible 802.11b kit back in the day, and my only real experience has been with the UBNT kit.


sswats said:
Whilst the Microtik looks ideal I'm swayed by the fibre option just. I have to install lots of cabling anyway on both sides, hanging one cable between the 2 buildings should not be hassle enough. Also cable, media, converters and rope wire total cost £80. So £70 less than the Microtik, but I'm tempted to buy that for some other requirements I have.
Click to expand...

Now are you getting preterminated fibre, media convertors, and wire for £80? The Fibre on it's own will be £80 surely?
(e.g. something like UBNT FC-SM-100 preterminated outdoor fibre is £81 - bespoke made to order normally start at around £100 from big resellers I've used for projects before)
 
I have 1 switch with it but it's a big 48 port one, a bit excessive for what i need.

Armageus said:
Now are you getting preterminated fibre, media convertors, and wire for £80? The Fibre on it's own will be £80 surely?
(e.g. something like UBNT FC-SM-100 preterminated outdoor fibre is £81 - bespoke made to order normally start at around £100 from big resellers I've used for projects before)
Click to expand...

Yes bought the whole kit just after my last post and received it already. TP link gigabit medias converters at 25 each. I have the sfp to LC modules already but they're not expensive anyway. Preterminated LC OM1 cable i found for £17. and the rope wire was about £10.
Not the best quality stuff but its for residential purposes so SHOULD suffice.
 
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