500 meter wireless

[navychop]

A relative of mine wants to set up a router approx 500 meters away from where he lives. Much of the distance will be over a lake. Not sure how high the roofs are. Not even certain about trees or other obstructions, but I guess we'll have to assume he has a clear line of sight. Wireless is a must, no cable runs.

Can anyone here give me suggestions on how to do this and speeds he may expect? Source is likely to be 15Mps.

 

[diogen]

Cantenna (google the term).
20%+ in good weather conditions.

Even better with sat dishes...

Diogen.

 

[Frank Jr.]

How-To: Build a WiFi biquad dish antenna -- Engadget

 

[Stargazer]

Get a pair of cheap Ubiquiti radios that are around $50 each setting one up in AP mode and the other up in Client mode or get a used Tranzeo CPQ-19 off of ebay first to see if it will pick up the router and make sure the router is in line of site in a window of the house towards the house that is going to pick it up.

If the Tranzeo CPQ-19 radio alone will not work (which is about the same cost as the cheap Ubiquiti radio) then get one of those Ubiquiti's and set it up in AP mode. The CPQ-19 cannot be setup in AP mode, only client mode. What I like about it is that it seems to have great sensitivity, has 19 db antenna and has LED lights on the back which shows you signal quality once you connect to the router.

It is easiest to go ahead and make a connection to the router first at the house that has the router using the CPQ-19 so that it will automatically look for it when you go to the other house with the LED lights without having to go onto the computer to do it.

If you want better assurance of 15 MB connection then you need the Ubiquiti radio in AP mode on the end where the internet is originating at instead of the router as it would be a bit more powerful.

 

[navychop]

Thank you all. I've passed it on to him. He was an engineer before retirement, maybe one of these approaches will appeal to him.

 

[navychop]

He "discovered" they already had wi-fi but now wants to set up a string of "repeaters" to reach his place. For Netflix. I'd love to know the facility's reaction when he approaches them with this plan. Or they find out about it otherwise.

 

[Jared Twomey]

If he has clear line of sight, he should look at cheap microwave equipment. I have a couple Trango 5.8Ghz radios I could sell him really cheap, but they top out at 10 Mbps. They are very small and easy to install radio and is designed to work up to 10 miles, so at 500 meters the link should be completely solid. If he is interested, PM me and I can get them to you.
If he wants a solid connection, I would skip trying to bounce a 2.4 wifi signal around and go with equipment that is designed to do what he wants to do.
If he is interested feel free to PM me.

 

[navychop]

I think it's turned into something way over his head, and will go nowhere. I'm trying to stay out of it now. BUT, if he persists, I'll make him the offer. I just don't want to drive a few hours to set it up for him, and provide support LD.

 

[harshness]

He "discovered" they already had wi-fi but now wants to set up a string of "repeaters" to reach his place. For Netflix. I'd love to know the facility's reaction when he approaches them with this plan. Or they find out about it otherwise.

If your relative is sharing a Wi-fi connection with others, they're not going to sit still for someone filling the bandwidth with Netflix.

 

[navychop]

NSS.

Not even going to TRY to explain that to him. I think he can get internet in his dwelling, just doesn't want to pay for it.