First time posting here, and glad to have found such a useful forum!
I'm looking to set up a fast point to point link between two buildings, with a target of 90 Mbps throughput in each direction - distance is only 5 yards but I don't want to dig up the tarmac to lay a cable, so I'm planning on 802.11n to provide maximum bandwidth for backup traffic.
I can see a few 2.4 GHz SSIDs though at very weak signal as there are no nearby neighbours. I would prefer to use 5.4 GHz (UK band B) with the 40 MHz band in order to get the most throughput.
What 5 GHz equipment would you recommend that is highly reliable and not too expensive given the short range - less than $200 US or 140 GBP if possible? My current plan is to put a WAP with external patch antenna in one building, and (probably) another WAP in the other building with an internal antenna.
Distance: 5 yards/meters, no obstacles
Building 1:
- very thick stone walls, line of sight to building 2 from external wall only
- 5 GHz 802.11n WAP inside building with 1.5 yard cable through wall to external antenna
- 12 dBi panel antenna on external wall, pointed to building 2 - something like this
Building 2:
- single glazed window with line of sight to antenna on building 1
- single Linux server in building (for backups over this link)
- could use a second 5 GHz 802.11n WAP, or client bridge
- or use a 5 GHz USB or PCI adapter that works well with Linux
- possibly use the built-in antenna since there's line of sight through window
- or use a small indoor antenna just inside the window, such as this one - or I could use a panel antenna like this
I'd prefer to only have to mount an external antenna on one of the buildings.
My current setup is that I have a WRT54G WAP in building 1 with a 9 dBi omni antenna, and in building 2 there is an 802.11g PCI WiFi card in the server, with the built-in aerial close to the window. I get about 18 Mbps with this through the thick walls.
Any hints and tips welcome, as this is the first time I've done this. In particular:
- will it work to do 802.11n using a single antenna in both directions? Do I lose the speed benefits of MIMO?
- good WAP that is reliable and fast
- whether I should use a WAP or a USB/PCI client in building 2
- if so, which ones work well with Linux?
- any tips on mounting the antenna - grounding, lightning arrestors, etc?
I'm looking to set up a fast point to point link between two buildings, with a target of 90 Mbps throughput in each direction - distance is only 5 yards but I don't want to dig up the tarmac to lay a cable, so I'm planning on 802.11n to provide maximum bandwidth for backup traffic.
I can see a few 2.4 GHz SSIDs though at very weak signal as there are no nearby neighbours. I would prefer to use 5.4 GHz (UK band B) with the 40 MHz band in order to get the most throughput.
What 5 GHz equipment would you recommend that is highly reliable and not too expensive given the short range - less than $200 US or 140 GBP if possible? My current plan is to put a WAP with external patch antenna in one building, and (probably) another WAP in the other building with an internal antenna.
Distance: 5 yards/meters, no obstacles
Building 1:
- very thick stone walls, line of sight to building 2 from external wall only
- 5 GHz 802.11n WAP inside building with 1.5 yard cable through wall to external antenna
- 12 dBi panel antenna on external wall, pointed to building 2 - something like this
Building 2:
- single glazed window with line of sight to antenna on building 1
- single Linux server in building (for backups over this link)
- could use a second 5 GHz 802.11n WAP, or client bridge
- or use a 5 GHz USB or PCI adapter that works well with Linux
- possibly use the built-in antenna since there's line of sight through window
- or use a small indoor antenna just inside the window, such as this one - or I could use a panel antenna like this
I'd prefer to only have to mount an external antenna on one of the buildings.
My current setup is that I have a WRT54G WAP in building 1 with a 9 dBi omni antenna, and in building 2 there is an 802.11g PCI WiFi card in the server, with the built-in aerial close to the window. I get about 18 Mbps with this through the thick walls.
Any hints and tips welcome, as this is the first time I've done this. In particular:
- will it work to do 802.11n using a single antenna in both directions? Do I lose the speed benefits of MIMO?
- good WAP that is reliable and fast
- whether I should use a WAP or a USB/PCI client in building 2
- if so, which ones work well with Linux?
- any tips on mounting the antenna - grounding, lightning arrestors, etc?
