802.11a Building to Building Bridge

[csavage]

I'm needing to connect two buildings and I want to do it wireless. My question is this, if I get 2 802.11a WAP's and a pair of directional antennas, would they be able to bridge? I've seen bridging antennas for 802.11b, could I use the same antennas to accomplish this? I need to use 802.11a because we're going to have a wired network inside the remote building with approx. 75-100 users and need the increased bandwidth of 802.11a. What antennas would be best for this application.


Thanks,
Chris Savage

[N1XRR]

First off, you can't use the same antenna's for 802.11a as 802.11b. 802.11b is 2.4ghz while a is 5ghz. Without going into specific detail of radiowaves, that is a BIG change.

2nd, if your connecting 75-100 users I would SERIOUSLY think about 1000Base-F. Those 75-100 users are going to be SO SLOW on anything slower than that. Microwave, infrared and laser are good alternatives, but fiber is the way to go it seems like in your situation.

Michael

[ktwebb]

There is no "Bridging" antenna. There are omni's and directionals (various flavors of both) As mentioned the antennas used for 802.11b hardware will not help you if your going 802.11a. I have not seen any 802.11a bridges as of yet but I guess they might be out there. If you have enterprise level needs, as it seems you do, then neither .11a or .11b are your answer anyway. If running fiber is not an option, then I suggest going with something like the Western Multiplex Tsunami product line. Two radios on each bridge. Full duplex wireless bridging. They carry 480 Megabit full duplex solutions but for the price of those babies you could certainly run fiber unless the run is extremely long. The 45 Mb FD bridges are pretty expensive too when compared to 802.11 a or b equipment but you get what you pay for. Near advertised bandwidth each way. Western Mux was just bought by proxim so you could go to there site to do research. Wi-Lan also makes good Full Duplex proprietary wireless bridges. I believe Wi-Lan makes both 2.4 and 5 Ghz solutions while Western Mux is pretty much all in the 5.8 range. Prices are comparable as is performance.