Broadband to a barn?

Just throwing ideas against the wall here, not sure how easy/even if it's possible but wondering if anyone had any advice/similar experience.

I run the IT for a non-profit that runs a fundraising event over a weekend once a year where we need internet access in a couple of fields in our village to communicate, run card machines and sync up ticket scanners to our system. Last couple of years we've relied on renting a couple of Starlinks but this is pretty pricey and requires putting up/removing at the end of each day to avoid getting nicked. 4G/5G is not at all an option, a couple of neighbours have said no to us running our operation using their home internet and there's not a wireless ISP around that can service our area.

We have power in the two fields we're looking at - was just wondering if there's any point even perusing trying to get a fixed line (Openreach or Gigaclear are our options) installed into a barn/outbuilding with no address in the RM database? This means we could just pay for a line service when we need it then cancel it when we're done, would be a lot less faf than having to deal with our current solution since a modem and wireless AP are a lot less conspicuous than the big flashy (and very clearly temporary) Starlink dish sitting on the roof.

Wonder if I should try and speak to Gigaclear since we're a nonprofit and they might be a tad more flexible than BT?

Edited by kakariko (Fri 27-Jun-25 13:58:28)

Installing the service will cost either Gigaclear or BT - they will get a minimal return, maybe one month rental. So, would they do it? In my opinion NO.

Are there any other local businesses that support the event and maybe have a decent braodband connection with clear line of sight to the event? A radio link might be one option and could, with the right equipment, deliver a good link anywhere from 100Mbit to full Gbit.

I doubt you're going to be able to get a cheaper option than Starlink if you need it for one weekend a year. Openreach will happily install ethernet to a barn but you're not going to save money over Starlink.

If Gigaclear have fibre going past your field and you do all the digging they might agree to this, I would be surprised if they'd be interested for one month of revenue each year though. Finding a better neighbour that you can hit with a wireless link might be your best option.

look into point to point wifi. I don't know how much los you have or if theres hills to deal with but I think you can do temp wifi infrastructure quite well with testing and good planning

In reply to a post by MHC:

Are there any other local businesses that support the event and maybe have a decent braodband connection with clear line of sight to the event? A radio link might be one option and could, with the right equipment, deliver a good link anywhere from 100Mbit to full Gbit.

ahh i didn't fully read your reply MHC but yes i agree PTP could work well

I would suggest, a Ubuquiti UISP solution which could be a 5GHz PTP pair or if budget allowed a nice 60GHz link which would not have interference issue and deliver a 2Gbit link. Budget and throughput would drive the solution.

The other consideration is that a residential connection will not normally allow sharing which this woudl be. A business service will often permit it.

In reply to a post by MHC:

I would suggest, a Ubuquiti UISP solution which could be a 5GHz PTP pair or if budget allowed a nice 60GHz link which would not have interference issue and deliver a 2Gbit link. Budget and throughput would drive the solution.

The other consideration is that a residential connection will not normally allow sharing which this woudl be. A business service will often permit it.

With card terminals i would have thought a persistent good signal and lowish latency would be the preference.

I use Nanostations - 20MHz channel width, on minimal power and have a consistent 127Mbps with a stable latency. At the remote I have wired devices but a suitable AP could be attached.

The OP could go for PtMP (Point to Multi Point) with several APs if more appropriate.

The problem is finding someone to host it!

Am currently looking into this - the village hall isn't far and it's the GC "community hub" so they've got a gig line for free. Will need to dig some cable but we're probably going to be doing this for at least another 5 years so the work will hopefully pay off.

Just needs low-ish latency for VoIP, we shouldn't need more than a couple of mbps.

In reply to a post by MHC:

I use Nanostations - 20MHz channel width, on minimal power and have a consistent 127Mbps with a stable latency. At the remote I have wired devices but a suitable AP could be attached.

The OP could go for PtMP (Point to Multi Point) with several APs if more appropriate.

The problem is finding someone to host it!

he's not shairing it with others so he might get away with a month's residential service..