Five Acre Hobby Farm Wireless Access Point

[Jim1348]

I am brand new to this forum and I have looked at some other similar posts here, but I thought I would list my specific situation to see what people here suggest for my needs. I am on DSL through Frontier Communications. I just performed a speed check and got got the following results:

-Download Speed: 8740 kbps

-Upload Speed: 753 kbps

This would be a pretty typical speed for my area.

Anyway, I have a Siemens SpeedStream 6520 from Frontier, which I believe is a combination modem and wifi router. The antenna is not detachable and since it belongs to Frontier, I don't want to modify it.

The Siemens SpeedStream 6520 is on the first story and provides okay coverage throughout most of the house, including the basement and second story.

Several days ago I added a 25 foot length of CAT-5 in the living room for the X-Box 360 that both of my sons use. I couple of days later my oldest son had two friends over and they were using a second X-Box 360. One was connected via wifi and the other via CAT-5.

I was considering simply buying a 4 port ethernet switch, but as I started looking at them I realized that perhaps I should consider a combination wireless access point and 4 port switch. Which brings me to my questions:

What are some good quality wireless access points that I should consider?

What is the highest power legally available in the US?

Should I select 802.11g or should I go with 802.11n?

Can I use the same SSID, password, and encryption method so that users can roam on both wifis around the farm? Would their be any reason to intentionally go with different names and not roam?

What are some good, quality antennas that I should consider to attach to the wireless access point to increase range even further?

As a practical matter, I really don't need coverage throughout the entire 5 acres, BUT I might be nice to have coverage out in my horse barn, which is about 150 feet from the house, where the wireless access point would be located?

I do have a MicroCenter within a reasonable drive to me. They do carry EnGenius, Amped, Hawking, etc. Are there any certain brands that I want to avoid? Conversely, are there any certain brands that are generally very good? Do I understand correctly that the FCC limits us to 1 watt (1000 mW) when using omni-directional antennas of less than 6 db? So, are there wireless access points rated at 1 watt? Thus, I would be able to connect a 5 db omni-directional antenna and be done with it? Or is it not quite that simple?

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,
A router with the routing turned off (making it a access point is what you would be talking about. (4 ports, dual concurrent wifi (2.4 + 5), but this leaves the extra antennae connections. Not to many out there. A true access point usually has one rj45 port which hopefully is a POE unit. This way the access point can be mounted wherever you want within 328ft from the power injector. Most access points are kinda directional (maybe a 70 degree radiated pattern). There are other units to which you can then attach a external antennae like a 8dbm omni directional antennae. A quick example would be a EnGenius product like the EOC2611P unit with a 18 inch sma cable connected to a 8dBi EAG-2408 These are outdoor rated units. The coverage would go to every corner of that 5 acres. Even with it mounted to say the side of your house, you would of course have signal inside just as well. Since you stated farm, I would hope you do not have tons of other wifi interference. I have done a few things similar, but coverage is from a EOC2611P and a 12dBi omni directional antennae covering about 300 acres. EOC2611P set as "B" only cranked up to 28dbm, with the 12dBi omni. I then have 3 other EOC2611P set as client bridges at other buildings, connected to routers turned into access points. (gives me 4 ports, and little local wifi in the building). Very rural area. I used a forum member here for the products. Good prices and shipped quick. Jeff Keenan Systems

Good luck with your wifi

If you went with a router turned access point, you could have it by the window facing the majority of your property. It might work fine too.

 

[Jim1348]

Thank you very much for the reply. I see that the EOC2611P is rated at 600mW. Is that the maximum that the FCC allows? also, because of the "wife factor" I might be steered towards an indoor unit. Does anybody here have an recommendations for an inside unit that can still attach to an external antenna? I was thinking I could attach an external antenna, but simply hide it behind something in the living room.

 

[stevech]

5 acres will take several access points - very much terrain and foliage dependent. Much better to improve coverage with the use of a 9-14dBi gain omni antenna per AP. Don't elevate these high gain omnis less than about 10' nor higher than about 25 ft. due to the the narrow vertical beamwidth that comes from their high gain. High power in the access point does not help the weakest-link, that being the low power of the client devices.