Directed Wireless Install

[TheFeniX]

I'm way out of the loop. Haven't done an install in years... like since 2005.

My situation is that now I live .9 miles from where I work. I've got a decent amount of LOS with no tall buildings blocking my "view." The trees might be an issue, but I think based on my bullshit vision I can get above/sneak by them. The house already came with an antenna, but I haven't looked at it. But this means I've already got like a 15 foot pole mounted to my roof. We've got Metro at the office, but only DSL right across the tracks. It's shit and I hate it (cheap though).

I want to setup a simple layer 2 bridged wireless connection to the office. Nothing fancy, just MAC filtering and AES encryption across a wireless link. Finding this stuff is... actually harder today for me. I stumbled upon an Engenius kit. 5Ghz, theoretical 1-mile distance. Easy to setup with decent security. I'll be at the upper limit a 5Ghz at 12dbi, but it's worth a shot since it's cheap. If it doesn't work at that distance, my brother-in-law wants to get internet to his barn/man-cave and this would easily do it.

I assume I can get a bit more distance if I'm willing to "eat" some speed here. Even negotiating a speed in the 100mb/s range would be fine since I'm current stuck with 20Mb/s. But I'm just not up with 5GHz with directional installs.

Does anyone have a lead on something in this area? I use to be able to just call our distributor and say "I need X speed over Y distance" and we could get something there. I may have to look into the 2.4GHZ range, but I can't find a damn thing there. Looking for info, any info since my google-fu here is pretty much failing me miserably.

I've got a company number here in Houston that does free site-surveys, but I figured they'd laugh off a job this small and I'd rather do it myself.

[rapidsquirrel]

I'd suggest looking at Ubiquiti. Their Airmax stuff sounds exactly like what you are looking for since it's designed for WISPs. Might a bit more expensive then engenius but tends to have a 10km+ range at 450mbps+ depending on what you get.

The trees might an issue, 5 ghz really doesn't like going through trees. If you can see the other location though, that's a bug help.

[TheFeniX]

I might just give them a call and see what their recommendations are. Thanks.

[TheFeniX]

Well, the Engenuis stuff came in. Documentation, as was said, is terrible. But I got the links setup and could pass no traffic. Links up, nothing passing. Started losing it, then remembered on these types of links, the link itself can be up but not able to pass traffic due to a mismatched password. Ugh, as the random one I generated wasn't something I needed for any other use, it was (dug) random enough I got one character wrong. At the least, I've got the latest firmware.

Works now. Supposedly has settings for up to 8km. I have plans to try and mount the pole at the office soon, but there's some actual work to do if UPS ever delivers my drum cartridges.

[Zixinus]

I actually work with Ubiquiti antennas a lot, for setting up wireless IP camera systems. Usually for smaller villages/towns or companies. They're pretty easy to set up.

Does anybody have any guides they'd recommend on setting up wireless networks like these? Not just security, but optimal signal quality so camera feeds don't get hiccups and interruptions. We can get the systems we use to work, but not always optimally.

Tips from experience.
- A directional antenna can help you with trees somewhat and Ubiquiti has built-in support for getting optimal antenna alignment. ű
- The question is signal quality. 2.4Ghz will get through tree branches, mostly. 5Ghz will have trouble and will be more sensitive to rain, but is less likely used and thus less noisy.
- I don't know Engenuis stuff, but you should also look for "IP Watchdog" function. Enter the IP address of the other pair, so if the antenna loses signal or memory gets corrupted, it'll restart on its own.
- you may want to add some sort of noise filter for the antenna's power supply (the kind you put on the main 230V power) if there aren't any built-in, if the power source is under heavy loads or noisy. I don't know if your stuff has them, but Ubiquiti's stuff doesn't have them built-in and the antenna has a tendency to factory reset itself if it gets an overly noisy power mains. Such noise cancellers should be cheap.