Wireless bridge between 2 houses

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Aaroona

3196 posts

Uber Geek

#106945 3-Aug-2012 10:46

Hi All,

Me and a mate were discussing the idea of setting up a wireless (wifi) bridge between our 2 houses. We are around 500-750m almost line of sight.

What i'm looking for is hardware that is capable of transmitting and receiving over that distance, and also how I would go about connecting our 2 networks together, effectively leaving a DHCP on either side, our own ADSL lines etc. but just have the bridge connecting us for LAN traffic only.

For the wireless side of things, I was thinking of something like this from gowifi, but unsure of the actual performance of these devices.

Also what would I need to connect between the networks? Currently I have a router Netgear WNDR3700 with DDWRT on it. My friend has a Linksys WRT54G(L?) with Tomato on it.

any help would be appreciated.

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#666779 3-Aug-2012 10:51

Aaroona: Hi All,

Me and a mate were discussing the idea of setting up a wireless (wifi) bridge between our 2 houses. We are around 500-750m almost line of sight.

What i'm looking for is hardware that is capable of transmitting and receiving over that distance, and also how I would go about connecting our 2 networks together, effectively leaving a DHCP on either side, our own ADSL lines etc. but just have the bridge connecting us for LAN traffic only.

For the wireless side of things, I was thinking of something like this from gowifi, but unsure of the actual performance of these devices.

Also what would I need to connect between the networks? Currently I have a router Netgear WNDR3700 with DDWRT on it. My friend has a Linksys WRT54G(L?) with Tomato on it.

any help would be appreciated.

As you both keeping your ADSL connections, why not just create a VPN over the internet? Or is it higher speeds you after?

My guess is that to transmit and receive over that distance the hardware is not going to be cheap.

Aaroona

3196 posts

Uber Geek

#666781 3-Aug-2012 10:53

BraaiGuy:
Aaroona: Hi All,

Me and a mate were discussing the idea of setting up a wireless (wifi) bridge between our 2 houses. We are around 500-750m almost line of sight.

What i'm looking for is hardware that is capable of transmitting and receiving over that distance, and also how I would go about connecting our 2 networks together, effectively leaving a DHCP on either side, our own ADSL lines etc. but just have the bridge connecting us for LAN traffic only.

For the wireless side of things, I was thinking of something like this from gowifi, but unsure of the actual performance of these devices.

Also what would I need to connect between the networks? Currently I have a router Netgear WNDR3700 with DDWRT on it. My friend has a Linksys WRT54G(L?) with Tomato on it.

any help would be appreciated.

As you both keeping your ADSL connections, why not just create a VPN over the internet? Or is it higher speeds you after?

My guess is that to transmit and receive over that distance the hardware is not going to be cheap.

Definitely the higher speed we are after. Considering our ADSL lines upload dont go over 130Kb/s (or 1mbps-ish), wifi would certainly be faster if we could get it going.

EDIT: Even looking at wifi G, it would still be at least 20 times faster assuming of course a good connection.

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Vocus

#666782 3-Aug-2012 10:53

You should be able to do 750m with homebuilt directional antennae, assuming line of sight.

Look up nzwireless for loads of info on this kind of thing.

theEd

341 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#666786 3-Aug-2012 11:01

You definitely want something Ubiquiti, but not the PicoStation. They're omnidirectional, for a point to point link (particularly at that distance) you definitely need something directional.

I'd recommend getting a pair of Loco M5s and putting them on poles on your roofs, pointed directly at each other.

ferg_nz

175 posts

Master Geek

#666787 3-Aug-2012 11:02

Im working with Wireless gear at the moment and a couple of these should be more than enough

http://www.gowifi.co.nz/backhaul-point-to-point/ubiquiti-nanostation-m5-802.11n/a-500mw-outdoor-ap/bridge.html?keyword=nano

to keep the networks as you have then you would be best not to bridge your networks but "route" them

the only thing you would need to make sure is that both of you are not running on the same subnet/iprange as each other. if you are one of you will need to change your setup and then have some static routes in your routers telling it how to reach the other end via the Nano.

where are you located in the country as if you are down southland way i could lend a hand if you need it

Aaroona

3196 posts

Uber Geek

#666788 3-Aug-2012 11:02

theEd: You definitely want something Ubiquiti, but not the PicoStation. They're omnidirectional, for a point to point link (particularly at that distance) you definitely need something directional.

I'd recommend getting a pair of Loco M5s and putting them on poles on your roofs, pointed directly at each other.

THey look good - so what would be required for bridging our LAN's though. Thats the next question..

theEd

341 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#666793 3-Aug-2012 11:08

The Loco's can be put into Routing (instead of Bridge) mode. ferg_nz is on the money, you'll want to have the two LANs on different subnets and static route between them.

Sharesies

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macuser

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#666795 3-Aug-2012 11:13

Also make sure you set up the network properly, from my experience,PC to PC file transfer over wifi is slow, very slow, mostly due to most routers not being built for it?

But that said, I know very little about setting up a network for file transfer, but at default settings over my Wireless N router I have at the most got 4MBps from a USB HDD plugged into the router, but regularly its under 1MBps for PC-PC.

I guess just make sure that your router will perform fast when it comes to that!

ferg_nz

175 posts

Master Geek

#666798 3-Aug-2012 11:18

This is a basic layout that would work it should give you an idea of the routing needed

Aaroona

3196 posts

Uber Geek

#671056 11-Aug-2012 15:14

So, between the M5 loco and the M5 nano station, which would you choose. I can see there's a difference in size and power output...
With this setup, will we require a external antenna?

Also, judging by calculations using a tool for google maps, it looks to be about 500meters - from the top room of my mates hour, we can see the roof of my apartment.

Also, what about licensing, am I going to run into issues?

eXDee

4032 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#671067 11-Aug-2012 15:57

The loco is just a smaller lower powered version i believe.

Licencing should be fine as i believe these devices won't exceed allowable EIRP when set up in a normal way in a point to point setup - correct me if wrong.

theEd

341 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#671204 11-Aug-2012 21:58

That's right, Loco is just a smaller NanoStation, good for doing up to about a kilometre direct line of sight.

They are an all-in-one radio and panel antenna - you just mount them on a pole outside, run some outdoor-rated ethernet cable inside to the (included) PoE injector and connect up to network and power :)