Long Range Wireless Antennas
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I know this is not directly related to pfsense but…
Can anyone point me in the right direction as far as what I would need to do to pay for internet 35-40 miles from us and broadcast it wirelessly to our home/business location? I looked it up online and I can get antennas that will work up to a 20 mile range, so I'd need one of those and one or two, maybe three repeaters. However, I'm unsure of what the math of this whole operation is. I'd hate to get the wrong antenna/repeater and find that the signal is distorted or something like that. I have a lot of networking experience, but this is the first time I've thought of taking on anything this big. If you guys could help me, I would like to know exactly what I need to buy, so I can find out how expensive it is going to be to get it set up. Any good links that you know of on this subject would be greatly appreciated.
I need to do this because we need high speed internet but the only thing "high speed" around here is satellite and T1. I almost went with a business satellite connection and two dial up connections but I was hesitant because of the high latency and the FAP problem. My thinking is that if I could get this to work, I'd first get internet from a ISP that allows me to resell it. I'd really like to have FioS but I don't know if verizon will allow me to resell it or not. Will find that out. Then, I'd sell it to those around here... within a 20 mile radius. And because this is an area that doesn't have anything as far as high speed goes... not to mention fiber, I could make a lot of money. And I know how to get in touch with other techs in the area if it got big enough that I couldn't do it by myself.
Thanks a lot
Shawn -
You may want to look at the Mikrotik forums, where shorter range situations have been discussed (using Mikrotik's hardware obviously). There are also bound to be some specialist forums on the subject.
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Ubiquity Networks (http://www.ubnt.com) have some quite reasonably priced gear that provides "high speed" wireless links over those sorts of distance, for example, the AirMax with a quoted 150Mbps and > 50km range. I think there used to be a sheet giving range vs data rate for a number of their products but I've not been able to find it. I don't have any experience with Ubiquity products.
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I do remember hearing positive things about other's experiences with Ubiquity kit (now that you mention them), though I've never used them myself either.
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Hello ,
Here is probably the best site for purchasing what you are wanting to do in regards of a point to point wireless setup.
http://www.wirelessnetworkproducts.com/
I set up an 12 mile link first using Trazeo radios,about 7 years ago,then we went to Ubiquiti radios two years ago with same antennas. With the Ubiquiti radios the throughput was half again better. This was my first endevour of doing this long of a shot,so I am NO expert but the link is very stable after this time. It is a simple bridge setup which is what you are wanting to accomplish(to start out with anyway).
The price has come down sooo much on this good business grade hardware in the last 4-5 years! Your only BIG concern is with that distance you are going to HAVE to have your antennas up on 100' towers. You will have to hopefully be able to find an existing cell phone company to lease a spot on their tower.(This will be realistically impossible),,,:(
Depending on were you are located if you have gran elevators,this is the cats meow. these type of businesses may even let you hang your antennas on one of their gran legs for nothing if it is an old family run business for example.
I would guess for what you are wanting to do,You could buy all of your hardware for $2000 or less to do what you are wanting to accomplish! A simple bridge with one repeater in line
Hope this helps.Take Care,
Barry