Longhaul WIFI

[OZisKTB]

My place is in a cell blackout area, no cable or other broadband. Have enough experience with satellite to know I'd rather do without. I can a tower 5 miles from my place that the cable company uses. They don't mind giving me internet on the tower, but won't shoot the signal to my house. Plenty of open air between the tower and my place, but I live on a ridge with really tall trees. My place is not a good spot for a 150' guyed tower, I may be able to get a good line of sight to the tower near by, and then dogleg a signal to my house.

Anyone with experience shooting WIFI 5 miles or more? I know enough to know I need to work this out before buying $2K or more worth of equipment.

 

[stuckmotor]

At this moment, I'm trying to figure out how to WIFI through the wall between the den and the bedroom. I probably won't be much help.:confused3:

 

[k0ua]

I don't have a lot of practical experience, but I know ranges of over 200 miles are possible.. The longest link I have ever set up was just 500 foot. It is all about path, and antenna's This link will tell you more.

Long-range Wi-Fi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

We live out in the sticks and my wife runs an online business from our house. The best option we found was having a T1 line installed by the phone company. We pay about $130/mo but its a lot better than satellite and has unlimited data. It may save you a lot of headache.

 

[OZisKTB]

Duck Slayer, I'll check on it. Our phone line runs underground for a mile, including a couple hundred feet through a National Park and then under my asphalt driveway. Don't know if the existing copper will work, or what it will take to upgrade.

Thanks for an option I had not considered. I'll talk to Netelos and see what I can work out.

 

[newbury]

Look into cantenna.

Basically small cans used to shoot wifi in a tight beam over a distance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6LkQ53vRJI one example.

/edit - or here's a commercial solution
♠ WiFi | Wireless Bridge Kit - RadioLabs -

 

[techman]

Rather than a cantenna, over that distance I would buy a 2.4 ghz yagi antenna. Something like Amazon.com: The Silver 25 Dbi 2.4 Ghz 802.11b/g Wifi Yagi Antenna Rp-sma Wlan: Computers & Accessories

You will also need a good router with external antenna capability. The antenna is quite directional and will need to be aimed.

paul

 

[MossRoad]

My place is in a cell blackout area, no cable or other broadband. Have enough experience with satellite to know I'd rather do without. I can a tower 5 miles from my place that the cable company uses. They don't mind giving me internet on the tower, but won't shoot the signal to my house. Plenty of open air between the tower and my place, but I live on a ridge with really tall trees. My place is not a good spot for a 150' guyed tower, I may be able to get a good line of sight to the tower near by, and then dogleg a signal to my house.

Anyone with experience shooting WIFI 5 miles or more? I know enough to know I need to work this out before buying $2K or more worth of equipment.

At my employer we used to use a Cisco Aironet on each end of a 17 mile link with no amplification. Only directional antennas. They were up on towers and line-of-sight. I do not remember the model numbers, but I do remember they were $800 each, plus antennas, cables, tower rental, etc.... plus hiring a tower monkey to install the antennas. Tower rental was based on dollars per height footage. It wasn't cheap. We did it to send data across state lines, back when telephone lines were taxed for crossing state lines. It was cost effective at the time. Today, we have switched the remote facilities to (of all things) Comcast for business. Its all VPN's and internet now. About $100 per month per remote office.

So, first you have to see if you have line-of-site to an internet service provider. If yes, then...
See if you can have a site survey done at your location to see if their signal is present and usable. If yes, then...
Evaluate service and equipment costs and yes or no decision.

 

[sseelhoff]

Might be cheaper to build your own Starbucks.

Then the wifi is "free."

 

[boggen]

WISP (wireless internet service provider) it is not cellphone internet. a completely different thing. and those operators will be more use to dealing with long distance wifi.

at moment using exceed satellite. and don't have a problem. though wish i could get a WISP connection. for higher bandwidth and cheaper cost. but... *shrugs* i am staying away from cell phone internet, that is a joke.