Blanket wifi on farm

[Rmfarm]

Ok have a farm that I need wifi coverage on. I have limited knowledge on setting up this network. The area that I would like to cover is 60 +/-. Please help

 

[L&LD]

Ok have a farm that I need wifi coverage on. I have limited knowledge on setting up this network. The area that I would like to cover is 60 +/-. Please help

60 what?

 

[Rmfarm]

Acres sorry. Thought I had added that in. I can do a google map image shot of area if that helps

 

[L&LD]

Acres sorry. Thought I had added that in. I can do a google map image shot of area if that helps

Acres. Okay.

Time to hire a local professional that can give you a quote you can live with and a performance guarantee that is acceptable to you too.

 

[Rmfarm]

seen a similar range covered here for less than 1000 dollars.

 

[netwrks]

Acres. Okay.

Time to hire a local professional that can give you a quote you can live with and a performance guarantee that is acceptable to you too.

Have a look here: http://community.ubnt.com/ - there are several community members that put this stuff in all day long, for a living. You may want to start a conversation on the UBNT forum. Post something to the effect that you are looking for pricing and installation. Just throwing out there..

 

[Daybreak]

Ok have a farm that I need wifi coverage on. I have limited knowledge on setting up this network. The area that I would like to cover is 60 +/-. Please help

Howdy,
OK, I take it you are talking about 60 acres. How are your neighbors? very rural? each farm on 100 acres etc...
You best bet is to use a POE access point with a pigtail to a Omni antennae.

 

[L&LD]

seen a similar range covered here for less than 1000 dollars.

I don't recall that thread (link?). Why not just copy it if it is applicable to your situation?

 

[Rmfarm]

No we are the only farm we have a neighborhood nearby. As in a mile range.

 

[Rmfarm]

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/farm-wifi-equipment-choice.6819/

That was the article I read.

 

[stevech]

terrain rather flat?

Backhaul among APs is the challenge. Not hard if one is experienced. I learned it from working on Earthlink's attempt to cover big cities.

 

[Rmfarm]

Not extremely flat.

 

[Rmfarm]

Area in red is desired coverage area

 

[L&LD]

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/farm-wifi-equipment-choice.6819/

That was the article I read.

That last post is great.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/farm-wifi-equipment-choice.6819/page-2#post-45169

$775 to cover that large (500 acre) area (much more than your 60 acres requirement).

Even taking into consideration that post is 4.5 years ago too.

Any reason to not duplicate it as stated in that thread?

 

[Rmfarm]

Well I would like to make sure it would work in my applicaton. Also would like to see a basic map and hardware location attenna height etc.

 

[L&LD]

Well I would like to make sure it would work in my applicaton. Also would like to see a basic map and hardware location attenna height etc.

As indicated in that old thread; a clear line of sight is required between antennae. Everything else is just details.

 

[Rmfarm]

yellow circle is mail location as well as highest elevation. the purple marks are areas that could have powered antennas and where the wifi would be used most.

 

[System Error Message]

if omni wont cut it i would use directional. Put a tower up in the middle and some directionals around.

If you cant use the directionals directly from clients than you can use a directional AP for bridging with the central directional AP and another one connected to it via ethernet with omni.

 

[stevech]

I've used 12dBi gain antennas with 1 ft. of low loss coax to an outdoor packaged AP. This is a vertical cylinder about 3 ft. long. That gain comes at a cost: the vertical beamwidth is about 10 degrees while the horizontal plane beamwidth is 360 degrees. So it can't be too elevated or there are RF shadowed areas at close range. This is a directional antenna but not in the sense that most people think (like dish, yagi, etc).

Again, with this kind of antenna for client access, you still have the problem of backhaul. That is the nemesis. You can use a single radio and create overlapping coverage, and do the backhaul on a different network ID. Costs throughput but in a rural application like this, it's what we call a "Coverage Limited Design", not a "Capacity Limited Design".

Don't DIY this in terms of hardware choices, coverage design. DIY the installation if you wish.

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,
OK, you are talking about my thread for the 500 acres farm area.
Update:
The 500 acre farm wifi setup is still working great. All units working. (knocks on wood)

I would think with looking at your overhead image, you could get away with $200 invested.

From your main internet source, and router. You will want to run a hard line (cat5e cmx (outdoor grade)) line to where you want to mount your AP (2.4Ghz) and antennae. (distance limit 100 meters (328ft)) Scan the area for other stray wifi signals. Decide on which channel to operate on. So, 2.4Ghz outdoor accesspoint, poe, with pigtailed Omni-point antennae. (looks like the base section of a salt water fishing pole) You are good to go. I would not see any further need for other equipment. After that is up and running, that is when you might find some low quality areas, and maybe add something else. Stay with the cheap and simple to start with.