A Challenge

So - I have a workshop about 500m away from my house across a road and a field (line of sight), which I need to get WiFi to.

The equipment I have available to push WiFi there is:
netgear DGFV338
4 BT Business hubs (3 v2 and one v3)
1 TP-Link TD W8901G
2 Belkin F5D7632-4 v2 (Which would bridge internet if they were one version later as those support WDS)
2 BT Home Hubs (1 v3 and 1 v2)
1 Orange Livebox
1 Orange BrightBox
Multiple high-gain home built directional antennas

Using this equipment, how would I be able to bridge internet over to the workshop? I cannot run Cat5 due to the road and i can't simply beam WiFi as I have wired devices over there, and the building is steel-clad so impenetrable to WiFi.
Cheers, Lex.

Look at http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-outdoor-bridging.htm

Create wireless bridge, and then can have ethernet and/or wireless at the other end still.

Don't think of your existing kit supports a bridge, and would need external antenna to get the range really

Ok, cheers I just thought it would be worth trying with the kit i've got before i go off spending..

Cheers, Lex

You could use one of your routers as an access point in the workshop, beyond that you need to buy new kit i would say.

http://www.filesaveas.com/jarviser/repeaterhubswired... gives you a good idea - in your case the wireless bridge would replace the "wire" shown in the diagrams here.

Using WiFi over that range with directional antennas will probably put your EIRP well outside that legally permitted within the UK.

Two of these NanoStation M5 will do transparent bridging in the 5GHz band (a/n), outdoor rated and better value than the solwise (and are used by several UK WISPs).

By default the above units will stay within regulatory limits and in will easily do half-mile LOS with the power turned down from their maximum. You are aiming for a reported signal of -50dB to -70dB at both ends and 20dB above the reported noise floor to get the full data rate (MCS15).

Recommend to use outdoor rated, shielded connectors and cable (foiled so sometimes called FTP) to ground the radios. But you don't need the kind with individually shielded pairs.

You can re-use some of your 2.4GHz gear as for local wi-fi + switch at the workshop. Transparent bridging means DHCP will come from your house without needing to make a separate LAN (you still can if you wanted to)

General advice is to place the radios high up so that the signal doesn't pass through road traffic (including lorries / buses). This might be easier at the house end if 2 storey or more.

Line of sight in outdoor Wi-Fi means no obstructions in a sausage / cigar shape around the direct line between the antennas. If you need to pass through any trees you will need 2.4GHz which suffers more interference.

I don't work for this company but do have experience of the kit (50+ of various types).

Edited by prlzx (Tue 07-Aug-12 20:42:09)

Ok, thank you for the ideas, but i'd rather not spend any serious money on this project (I bought all the 2.4 GHz stuff as a job lot at an auction for £8 in the hope i could make something work ) so I might buy a pair of cheap WDS capable routers on eBay and hook them up to some biquad antennas mounted on satellite dishes to act as a bridge (We're deep in the countryside so it's not like we're going to get found out if we break broadcast regs), then use the 2.4 GHz kit to push WiFi on from there. Thanks for all the advice though

Cheers, Lex

Edited by deleted (Wed 08-Aug-12 09:41:31)

ok - for the record, £160 is cheap for a 2x2 MIMO outdoor wireless link - especially if you factor in your own time saved compared with getting things working with separate external antennas and pigtails.

I used to think this was expensive before I saw what the other commercial stuff costs.

Setting aside any legal concerns if you do form your link with 2.4GHz but have to use high power levels to get a link going (e.g. to compensate for antenna issues), you may interfere with your own indoor wi-fi at each end (even on non-overlapping channels).

I suggested the linked items because:
* true LOS at this relatively short distance means you don't need the tight beamwidth of dishes so alignment is trivially easy
* they are very lightweight so mounting is easier e.g. can be cable-tied to vertical gutter poles - some prefer to use steel hose clamps (jubilee clips) to secure things more permanently
* configured with the built-in web UI so you don't need special client software on a computer
* they run linux so you can still experiment or flash your own firmware if you really want to

As far as I can tell the auction kit you listed is all indoor models and mainly aimed at providing local access point / router service but if you can flash them with open-wrt / dd-wrt or similar you might have more luck in making a point-point link compared with the manufacturer firmware.

To be clear if you goal is to spend time enjoying an operational network I'd still get the stuff designed for the task, but if you are up for the experimental approach and are more interested in learning about how the stuff works instead I'm not knocking that!

In reply to a post by lexion610:

No way in hell that you'll get 500m on a standard router. Very often these things struggle to cover one house!

The kit suggested earlier is the only way to go but I would personally get another broadband service installed

You hit the nail on the head! I love tinkering with electronics and stuff like this, as a fun project on the side - getting internet there is not at all essential, i just like a good project every now and then to get my teeth into as a sideline and the cheaper the better really!

Cheers for all the help guys, thanks but no thanks if you know what i mean , Lex