Broadband Related > Broadband Hardware
Your recommendations - wireless, or whatever, to reach next door but one.
geep:
Hi everybody,
Can anybody recommend a wireless router with really good range.
Want to be able to reach the house next door but one - 40 metres as the crow flies.
Has anybody measured the range they've achieved with a usable connection?
Details please.
I assume there's no chance of powerline ethernet working to next door but one.
Unless any of you know otherwise.
Have wondered about running a mains extension cable into the field behind the house,
along the hedge and back into the house next door but one, and trying that with
powerline ethernet. But realise this is more than a bit dodgy for all manner of
reasons, so am not serious about going there. But runnning fiber between
the houses - now that would be a different matter. Any ideas there?
Cheers,
Peter
burakkucat:
--- Quote ---Want to be able to reach the house next door but one - 40 metres as the crow flies.
--- End quote ---
I would suggest that you consider external grade Cat 5e Ethernet cable to link the properties (buried underground in a hose, if necessary.)
Could you attach a sketched plan of the topography to be covered, please?
--- Quote ---But runnning fiber between the houses - now that would be a different matter. Any ideas there?
--- End quote ---
Hmm. :hmm: I seem to recall reading about plastic (rather than glass) fibre being successfully used in domestic situations. That might be something for you to "Google".
asbokid:
In the right conditions, 40 metres is no distance for 802.11. We ran a link over 200 metres at ~10Mbps, using two £20 Linksys Access Points and £12 antennas.
The problem with microwave signals is that they are reflected or absorbed by solid walls and vegetation. And the outcome is not easily predictable. Antenna theory is a nightmare. It's as much an art as a science. For example, the work that goes into calculating the best place to site a GSM/UMTS base station is phenomenal. There are so many factors to consider. e.g. when microwave signals pass over different ground conditions - such as pastureland and then over a road or a lake, the propagation properties vary enormously. When microwave signals bounce off buildings and other obstacles, it causes them to take multiple divergent paths, so you get "multi-path fading". There are then collisions where those multiple signals converge on the receiver in phase-shifted form, cancelling or "fading" the original signal. That generally is undesirable but Google for "MIMO" to see how it can even be exploited.
As for your own application, do you have line of sight between the two dwellings?
If so, with a pair of external parabolic dishes, or Yagis, coupled to two access points, one in each dwelling and configured in bridge mode, 40 metres is just a step.
Wifi hackers have successfully bridged the English Channel using off-the-shelf 802.11 kit coupled to highly directional antennas.
The American electronics supplier Richardson Electronics (Rell) sells some enormous high-gain parabolic antennas for 802.11.. With beam widths of just a couple of degrees and gains in excess of 30dBi, these are intended for backhaul links of many miles. The antennas are surprisingly inexpensive. Around £60 for a 100cm dish. Obviously they are overkill for what you want, but Rell sells a wide range to suit all needs.
See http://www.rell.com
For those on a tight budget, there is also Stella Doradus in Waterford.. We bought some 45cm dishes with 15 dBi gain from them, and they were under €20. They exceeded our expectations.
See http://www.stelladoradus.com/
cheers, a
geep:
Thanks for the replies.
@asbokid - Yes - line of site between the buildings. It's in a village, not very built-up.
I think the easiest solution might be a new router with "n" wireless - the existing one is an ancient DG834v2 - and see if that just works.
If it doesn't, then either look at aerial enhancement or maybe look at laying ethernet cable along the hedge, and then either direct into the lappy, or setup a remote wireless access point. (Don't know why I got sidetracked into thinking about laying a mains cable + power ethernet!).
Cheers,
Peter
asbokid:
When purchasing new access points, be sure that external antenna can be fitted to them. Some manufacturers (e.g. Cisco) make it difficult by using obscure connectors for the antennas. Others use internal antennas, or hard-soldered external antennas on their devices. If you don't mind soldering and don't care about voiding the warranty, attaching an aerial pigtail onto the PCB is a possibility. Good luck with the project! Do you plan to share an internet connection?
cheers, a
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