Long Range Wireless Network

SupaMonkey

SupaMonkey

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Hey guys,
So my area has been plagued with cable theft and now Telkom refuses to install new cables so there goes my ADSL.

To put a long story short, I dont have any other options except a poor reception 3g connection (even with an antenna).

I was thinking, I have a friend who lives about 5km (in a straight line) away from me with ADSL. What are your thoughts on setting up a wireless network from me to him and then I install a separate ADSL line at his house which will get shared to my network?
Latency expectancy?
Other issues / Feasibility?

Thanks in advance :)
 
SupaMonkey said:
Hey guys,
So my area has been plagued with cable theft and now Telkom refuses to install new cables so there goes my ADSL.

To put a long story short, I dont have any other options except a poor reception 3g connection (even with an antenna).

I was thinking, I have a friend who lives about 5km (in a straight line) away from me with ADSL. What are your thoughts on setting up a wireless network from me to him and then I install a separate ADSL line at his house which will get shared to my network?
Latency expectancy?
Other issues / Feasibility?

Thanks in advance :)
Click to expand...

First and foremost, do you have line of sight? Without it, you're out of luck.
 
Mikrotik is cheap enough.
I've run 20km links at 108Mbps with between 2-10ms latency. (with QOS enabled)

Maybe join a WUG in your area.
They'll get you the best deal and offer advice.
 
I believe we have LOS, wouldnt be able to tell for certain without the equipment up I suppose.
Any tricks you guys know to check this without first investing in the equipment?
 
Get on your roof and SEE if you can SEE his house. That is line of sight!
1 Big leafy tree = you are screwed. Lots of trees = NEVER!
 
SupaMonkey said:
I believe we have LOS, wouldnt be able to tell for certain without the equipment up I suppose.
Any tricks you guys know to check this without first investing in the equipment?
Click to expand...
Each of you stand on the roof (or platform) where the 2 antennae will be mounted.

One of you take a mirror (30cm x 30cm will suffice) and create a reflection of the sun into the other's direction. If you see the mirror you have L.O.S.
 
MickeyD said:
Each of you stand on the roof (or platform) where the 2 antennae will be mounted.

One of you take a mirror (30cm x 30cm will suffice) and create a reflection of the sun into the other's direction. If you see the mirror you have L.O.S.
Click to expand...

A CD will also work, may be a bit small though, especially considering the distance.. heliograph
 
As others have mentioned...

Once LOS has been confirmed, you will be able to use Wireless.
Depending on specific conditions, latency should not be too much of a problem. Word of caution, if there are a lot of planes going overhead quite regularly, you might lose signal every time one does go overhead below a certain height. (Also depending on distance and quality).

As a rough guideline, most affordable equipment will allow up to 30km connections, over 802.11b. Do not use 802.11g/n for distances over 4-5km. Degradation of g/n signal becomes quite severe at that point.
 
I will be very interested to see the outcome of this exercise . did a test one day 13 KM LOS with yagi antenna on analogue worked perfectly on about 400MHZ. Not worked with 2.4 gigs much.
 
wheunis said:
Word of caution, if there are a lot of planes going overhead quite regularly, you might lose signal every time one does go overhead below a certain height. (Also depending on distance and quality).

As a rough guideline, most affordable equipment will allow up to 30km connections, over 802.11b. Do not use 802.11g/n for distances over 4-5km. Degradation of g/n signal becomes quite severe at that point.
Click to expand...

I think you'll find that planes are not a problem.
I've personally installed links in excess of 30km using 802.11g and a, without any problem. Correct antenna selection is key.
 
If you've got LOS then you don't have a problem. You can use 6m poles with stay wires each side if you have too to get LOS.

Register on a wug and use their wind application to check line of sight. Or google earth and draw a line between the 2 points, save it and then check elevation. You need to physically check too. Mirror, binoculars, telescope, camera etc all on the roof.

Each side you will need a kit similar to the following:
27dBi grid
Mikrotik RB711(5GHz)
IP65 Enclosure
Pigtail
LMR cable
POE injector

This will give you a stable link close on 100MBit/s.
 
As far as equipment goes you can consider using 2 nano stations (5ghz) (assuming you are only going to want to link 2 locations). Nano stations are a lot cheaper then setting up a routerboard and grid on the roof, they have great speeds, and will not have a problem with the 5km. You could think about maybe getting the nanostation m5 (correct me if im wrong but it should do the job).

Remember you will need perfect line of sight for this to work.
 
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