Long range wireless/wired

seekdestroy · 10 Jun 2010 at 20:31

I'm wondering what would be the best way to get internet to the bottom of my garden. My dad has a workshop down there (i think 100metres ish, not sure on exact distance, lol) and he asked me how he could get internet down there.

What do you guys think would be best? Some kind of wifi, or just a long cable down there to a wireless access point or something?

Rroff · 10 Jun 2010 at 20:37

What kinda internet useage? might be easier just to get a mobile broadband package.

Wireless might work without modification if the AP is on that side of the house with an unobstructed line of sight - some older ones have 400-500m range (@1.5Mbit/s)... failing that even a simple "pringle can" jobbie will easily bridge the distance.

CAT5/6 over that distance presents some problems amongst them it should really be protected against lightning properly even tho the potential for such a problem is very slim and if the workshop is on a different electricity supply to the house theres also other potential issues there.

seekdestroy · 10 Jun 2010 at 20:41

Well there is a pipe running down there with power cables, but i guess that would interfere with the ethernet wire.

Nah the router doesn't have line of sight. There is a small building about half way between the the house and workshop, and it can reach the wireless in the house. I did try setting up an old linksys WRTG54L (or something) But i couldn't get it working, then my brother ebayed it....

The speed doesn't matter, just web browsing would do. So do you think if we got another access point and put it so it's in line of sight then it would work ok?

manic_man · 10 Jun 2010 at 20:45

If you have power lines running down there, how about using powerline?

Given its outdoor cabling and quite a distance, you might not get amazing throughput, but 2 300Mbit adaptors should cost you about £50, you plug one into the router and then the other in at the workshop. Depending on the quality etc I would suggest you'll still get better than WiFi speeds.

If you then want to use multiple things in the workshop you just put a switch into the powerline adaptors port, the router will handle this no problem.

We recently did it in our flat and its brilliant it really is. Took 5 minutes for them all to see each other and now we have a very low latency, high throughput network without having to rely on WiFi.

Glaucus · 10 Jun 2010 at 20:48

manic_man said:
If you have power lines running down there, how about using powerline?

Given its outdoor cabling and quite a distance, you might not get amazing throughput, but 2 300Mbit adaptors should cost you about £50, you plug one into the router and then the other in at the workshop. Depending on the quality etc I would suggest you'll still get better than WiFi speeds.

If you then want to use multiple things in the workshop you just put a switch into the powerline adaptors port, the router will handle this no problem.

We recently did it in our flat and its brilliant it really is. Took 5 minutes for them all to see each other and now we have a very low latency, high throughput network without having to rely on WiFi.

This would be my first try. Easy and usually works well. Got anyone you can borrow a set of to test speeds?

Rroff · 10 Jun 2010 at 20:53

Most powerline adapters the signal drops off after ~80meters max (Some kit is rated for 10-15MBit/s at 200-300m tho so you might find stuff that works). Running ethernet alongside mains power cables over that distance would help degrade the signal as well tho it might not be too bad with decent quality cable.

http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html good starting point for wireless mods.

seekdestroy · 10 Jun 2010 at 21:07

Hmmmm, i dont have access to any powerlines, no

Hmm, i think it could be a risk, ill have to measure the distance from the house to be sure it would work.

Also I'm not sure whether the power cables are on the same as the house, i need to look into it, I know the workshop has 3 phase power, so don't know what type of cables are running up there.

Do you think it would be possible to get an antenna that would work for the house and the workshop?
The router only has 1 antenna, and its only wireless G (Netgear DG834GT)
But I'm guessing these antennas would be expensive. I'll post back tomorrow, with the actual distance from the house.

ANDARIAL · 10 Jun 2010 at 21:35

High gain antennas for the netgear(provided it is detachable)are not that expensive
i.e. a 9dbi is about a tenner(bog standard is 2dbi)
so in theory what you will need is 2 x antennas,1x wireless network card
Change antennas on card and router to high gain and bobs your uncle

wij · 10 Jun 2010 at 21:40

£100 can get you two 5Ghz point to point bridges, mount one on the side of the house and another on the shed.

Fairly decent throughput, low latency and with direct LoS 100m is hardly a problem.

Alternatively £200 for a pair of media converters and probably around £150 for a 100m run of fibre

Dazza_Random · 11 Jun 2010 at 01:53

Use high gain antennas and many people have said here probably most cost effective and easiest to install/configure

SimonR · 11 Jun 2010 at 21:03

For the cost of a length of Cat5e cable why not try it, before you write it off. Certainly far cheaper than the alternatives

Mushii