xSauronx
02-26-2007, 10:24 PM
First Ill give a quick introduction: I started working as an installer for a WISP a few months ago. We work primarily with Motorola Canopy equipment. Prior to this, Ive only ever had limited wireless network experience limited to basic home router/ap equipment (ive made an indoor wireless bridge before, with no trouble)
However, recently we've had a couple of customers in an unusual situation, and it's one I expect to encounter regularly, and would like to be prepared for it. Unfortunately, Im not sure of the best way to go about solving the problem:
I need a building-to-building wireless bridge that will require the use of external antennas, and I honestly don't know a good, cost-effective way to easily set up such a connection.
Ill give two current examples that I need to deal with. Id like to be able to handle the following type of situations with little delay, reliably, without requiring any excessive costs.
Example 1:
We did an install for a customer and took the cat5 line from the SM to his wife's PC inside their home. He wants to share that connection to his shop, a metal building, thats 250' away from his home. He has a *perfectly clear* LOS between the buildings.
I expect the best way would be a wireless router/ap in the home, and a wireless bridge in his shop. However, I dont know what the best antenna equipment will be to use for the situation.
Example 2:
A potential customer has their home built low, and into a hill. We cannot mount our Canopy equipment on their home and get a signal because all around them are other hills and homes.
However, on their property, and probably 80 feet or so away, they have a large metal-construction shop on the top of a hill. From this shop I can get a good enough LOS to an AP that we can give them our service, but I need to get the signal from this shop, into their home. These customers also have a perfect LOS between their shop and home.
I expect to run into this a bit more often, especially as the company acquires new service areas with lousier and lousier terrain ;)
But I have *no* experience with any equipment best-suited for these situations, and after reading and searching a bit, I have learned some, but not enough, except that it would seem a number of people here have quite a bit of experience, and are rather helpful.
We *do* have some flat-panel 15dbi and 11dbi antennas that would probably work for this, but I dont know how I could affordably mount them outside and get them connected to the equipment *inside*.
The canopy is trivial, since we can use cat5 to make the run. But the canopy equipment is a bit overkill for this, of course. Is there any worthwhile equipment I can use that resemble what we do with a 900SM? Antenna w/ coax to the SM (which is, of course, weatherproof, and mounted with the antenna) then cat5 w/ PoE to the router/bridge inside?
We also have some Tranzeo 2.4ghz equipment, but its still a bit pricey for this kind of situation, nevermind overkill :)
If you read all of that....thanks :)
If you dont want to:
*cliffs*
i need some wireless bridges using external equipment thats easy to acquire, reliable, and not too costly. I have no experience setting up short-range equipment for these situations.
However, recently we've had a couple of customers in an unusual situation, and it's one I expect to encounter regularly, and would like to be prepared for it. Unfortunately, Im not sure of the best way to go about solving the problem:
I need a building-to-building wireless bridge that will require the use of external antennas, and I honestly don't know a good, cost-effective way to easily set up such a connection.
Ill give two current examples that I need to deal with. Id like to be able to handle the following type of situations with little delay, reliably, without requiring any excessive costs.
Example 1:
We did an install for a customer and took the cat5 line from the SM to his wife's PC inside their home. He wants to share that connection to his shop, a metal building, thats 250' away from his home. He has a *perfectly clear* LOS between the buildings.
I expect the best way would be a wireless router/ap in the home, and a wireless bridge in his shop. However, I dont know what the best antenna equipment will be to use for the situation.
Example 2:
A potential customer has their home built low, and into a hill. We cannot mount our Canopy equipment on their home and get a signal because all around them are other hills and homes.
However, on their property, and probably 80 feet or so away, they have a large metal-construction shop on the top of a hill. From this shop I can get a good enough LOS to an AP that we can give them our service, but I need to get the signal from this shop, into their home. These customers also have a perfect LOS between their shop and home.
I expect to run into this a bit more often, especially as the company acquires new service areas with lousier and lousier terrain ;)
But I have *no* experience with any equipment best-suited for these situations, and after reading and searching a bit, I have learned some, but not enough, except that it would seem a number of people here have quite a bit of experience, and are rather helpful.
We *do* have some flat-panel 15dbi and 11dbi antennas that would probably work for this, but I dont know how I could affordably mount them outside and get them connected to the equipment *inside*.
The canopy is trivial, since we can use cat5 to make the run. But the canopy equipment is a bit overkill for this, of course. Is there any worthwhile equipment I can use that resemble what we do with a 900SM? Antenna w/ coax to the SM (which is, of course, weatherproof, and mounted with the antenna) then cat5 w/ PoE to the router/bridge inside?
We also have some Tranzeo 2.4ghz equipment, but its still a bit pricey for this kind of situation, nevermind overkill :)
If you read all of that....thanks :)
If you dont want to:
*cliffs*
i need some wireless bridges using external equipment thats easy to acquire, reliable, and not too costly. I have no experience setting up short-range equipment for these situations.