Blanket wifi on farm

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SFP is a choice or just use media converters for fibre optics for your backbone.

Evaluate the prices and choices.
There are APs or routers with SFP, good for bridging, routing, doing some sort of control and such.
There are media converters
So the cost is either using a media converter or SFP + the SFP module
If you are setting up a tower in the center and have multiple APs, you can get a POE switch with SFP so it makes powering everything easier and it would have built in SFP too.

Depending on whether you have any buildings that use wire on the inside you can either put your main router/modem with the tower or in the main building, really depends on your setup. If none of the buildings are using any wire connections inside for networking than your main router can be with the tower in which case you wont need SFP or media converters except for internet and you wont need to worry about a backbone over a larger distance.

While ethernet is rated up to 100meters there are cables that dont fit the claimed spec and over longer distances fibre optics are more efficient and is easier to implement than copper as the copper/ethernet would be much larger and less flexible and would maintain better data rates over long distances.

Also very important to remember, dont use consumer APs, ubiquiti does really well here. Mikrotik has products too and there are other business vendors in this space. I would recommend ubiquiti for outdoor because even engenius outdoor stuff has poor quality(very high failure rate, especially if you have humidity and lightning) and mikrotik's wireless line is actually their buggiest product. If your router is going outdoor (even if going to be enclosed) you should also choose non consumer as it would be more reliable, option of POE and SFP and they are usually made to be used in tougher environments.

 

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Howdy,
Listen. You want it cheap and to work. I would say $200 and your done.

You do not need fiber. You do not need business class hardware. Its only 60 acres. One AP with a omni directional antennae in the middle. Your done.

 

[System Error Message]

Howdy,
Listen. You want it cheap and to work. I would say $200 and your done.

You do not need fiber. You do not need business class hardware. Its only 60 acres. One AP with a omni directional antennae in the middle. Your done.

You do need business class hardware because business class hardware like ubiquiti's outdoor AP has a much higher transmit power and can be used with a larger antenna with many different antenna options not to mention it being outdoor is less likely to fail than having to put a normal AP in a sealed box with antenna cables. Also having POE in can help in some cases too. Im not sure how large 60 acres is in meters but wifi does have limited range. The outdoor non consumer ones can go up to 100m
Now assuming 60 acres in a squarish land thats almost 500meters per side so from the center its a 250M radius excluding the square corners. The reason why i suggested ubiquiti's outdoor AP is because aside from them being inexpensive compared to other business ones you can buy one, try it out and you can buy more if you need or just turn it into directional to directional with ethernet to omni APs. Its not as simple as just sticking an AP in the center and cranking it up to max as clients also need to be able to communicate with me.

So while business APs can have really good range (and i really think a single AP with omni wont cover it) the client also needs to have enough power to communicate back. In an environment of high powered outdoor APs with big antennas i can get the signal from it from far but cant connect to it. 50meter radius is usually the common achievement for wifi clients.

If you want to save money than provide set up the center and provide wifi to areas that need it most first.

 

[Daybreak]

You do need business class hardware because business class hardware like ubiquiti's outdoor AP has a much higher transmit power and can be used with a larger antenna with many different antenna options not to mention it being outdoor is less likely to fail than having to put a normal AP in a sealed box with antenna cables. Also having POE in can help in some cases too. Im not sure how large 60 acres is in meters but wifi does have limited range. The outdoor non consumer ones can go up to 100m
Now assuming 60 acres in a squarish land thats almost 500meters per side so from the center its a 250M radius excluding the square corners. The reason why i suggested ubiquiti's outdoor AP is because aside from them being inexpensive compared to other business ones you can buy one, try it out and you can buy more if you need or just turn it into directional to directional with ethernet to omni APs. Its not as simple as just sticking an AP in the center and cranking it up to max as clients also need to be able to communicate with me.

So while business APs can have really good range (and i really think a single AP with omni wont cover it) the client also needs to have enough power to communicate back. In an environment of high powered outdoor APs with big antennas i can get the signal from it from far but cant connect to it. 50meter radius is usually the common achievement for wifi clients.

If you want to save money than provide set up the center and provide wifi to areas that need it most first.

Howdy,
Go back and read the thread. Also click on the link and read my thread from 5 years ago.

 

[System Error Message]

Howdy,
Go back and read the thread. Also click on the link and read my thread from 5 years ago.

The point is i asked him to test with a single AP first before doing a complicated and more effective setup so he can gauge how many APs he would need.
Also where you place it is important too whether you want to cover to whole farm or only the buildings.

You should also know that wifi has limited range. You cant just plant a consumer wifi router and expect it to do well. If the AP is unreliable it would be a pain.

it is wireless A that has a long range rating.