Do we have any Wi-Fi experts in the house?

Hi All,

I have a friend that owns a small business and he wants to have internet access in three different buildings: two metal office type buildings and his house. I'm looking for suggestions on setting this up.

The distances aren't great (maybe 100 ft separates each building), but there isn't line of sight connectivity between the two metal office buildings. The internet connection comes into the center office building. There is a router there. I am thinking of connecting this router to an access point and then connecting an outside high gain (like the Hawking 15db omni-directional) antenna to the access point.

Then, in the other office, there is a router as well. I am thinking of connecting a bridge to this router and another external antenna. I don't know which antenna to use here as there is no line of site.

The house simply has one computer, but I'm thinking of installing another external antenna, bridge, and router here as well. In addition, I'm debating about getting signal boosters (like the Hawking model) for each of the 3 Access Points/Bridges.

Can anyone give me suggestions on what would be the best solution that is also cost effective? Does this arrangement sound like it would work? I'm worried about the non-line of site between the two metal office buildings...the signal will have to pass through (or around) the corner of the building even with the external antennas. I'm currently looking at Hawking products, but notice some generic companies are offering mega-outdoor antennas for a much lower cost. Would these be better? What type of antenna would be best? Is this overkill?

I'm eagerly awaiting opinions!

Thanks,
Robert

Any chance they could use wired connections? 100 feet is well within the 100m spec for your regular ol' Ethernet on UTP cabling. Although I suppose you already considered that

For WiFi you don't need line of sight, first off...but certain materials - metal in walls, etc. can be more restrictive to range. Are these buildings completely made of metal? That sounds challenging...

I would plop a wireless access point of any variety (Linksys, etc.) in that center facility and see if you can access it via a laptop or other client in the other facilities, range test it on a laptop, looking at a signal strength meter as you are walking away from the primary site and into the secondary and tertiary sites. Then, if you can't get enough range out of it, stick a range extending router/switch in each facility that requires it which will extend the range of the same 802.11x network. Some regular wireless routers now may be able to act as an "extender" in the native firmware, or you can buy dedicated router/extenders that are effectively just wireless access points that rebroadcast the same wireless LAN signal.

Thats how I would go about it anyway.

the main thing here is the antenna to fight through the walls ...i have used these panels and they are great.. if i were you since you know which direction to point the antenna the directional is defintely the way to go as it will focus its power as the omni has to spread 360 , the panel will also reach further

A cable isn't really a viable solution. It would need to buried and there is quite a lot of expense associated with that.

I have an Access Point in the center facility and get no signal in the other office building and weak signal in the house. The buildings are all metal (you know those aluminum or tin buildings that are really inexpensive?).

I really need a reliable system as the workers really have no clue about this sort of thing and I don't want to be getting calls about "the internet is down." Could external antennas deal with the metal building problem? Could they "see" around the corner of the building?

Thanks,
Robert

for the house i would definitley get a panel and aim it at the building...now for the building where exactly will the access point be , do you have a corner office or able to set up the antenna right out the window or at the window facing the area of interest...my idea would be something like this






2 panels in the office hopefully one can point to building 2 and other point to house..then have house panel point to building and same for building 2

That's a very cool idea to have an access point with 2 antennas and then face them at each building. Would this work better than just having an omni directional on the middle building?

There really isn't anyway to get line of sight between the two office buildings. Could I just point the panel through the corner of the middle office?

Thanks for the great diagram!

the directional panels i think are much better , try here too they can really help

RH said:

A cable isn't really a viable solution. It would need to buried and there is quite a lot of expense associated with that.

I have an Access Point in the center facility and get no signal in the other office building and weak signal in the house. The buildings are all metal (you know those aluminum or tin buildings that are really inexpensive?).

I really need a reliable system as the workers really have no clue about this sort of thing and I don't want to be getting calls about "the internet is down." Could external antennas deal with the metal building problem? Could they "see" around the corner of the building?

Thanks,
Robert

Click to expand...

My only concern with wireless in a business like that would be security. Its easy to control who can use a wired network since you already control who is going in and out of the buildings. With a wireless network, not so much. Wireless security HAS gotten better but I am not sure I would trust it. Of course I could be overly paranoid.

Wouldn't it be easier to just get an internet connection in all buildings and use a VPN setup?

If you have any problems with signal you can also mod you router to put out more power. there are also signal repeters to boost the wifi. But before you go spend alot of money you should check to see if you already have a wifi signal in the building.
Macdonalds starbucks and other places have wifi so you may be able to spend the 3 dollars a month and use there system for almost no money.
You can buy a signal checker at best buy for like 15 dollars to check the signal. If you are going thru walls trees or building a directional antenna will work the best.
And remember the higher the dbi on the system the stronger it is.

Fizz753 said:

My only concern with wireless in a business like that would be security. Its easy to control who can use a wired network since you already control who is going in and out of the buildings. With a wireless network, not so much. Wireless security HAS gotten better but I am not sure I would trust it. Of course I could be overly paranoid.

Click to expand...

My kind of person! Yes, security is an issue. You need (must) use encryption. Also change the SSID (the name that is broadcast) to something other than the default, and set the access point to NOT broadcast the name. Also use MAC filtering so unauthorized users cannot access. That's at a bare minimum. I'd suggest better encryption than comes with any current access point if it's at all possible. Wireless is NOT secure. Also if you run into weird problems--works for some people, then does not work, drop me a PM. One or two possible issues here.

Repeat after me: wireless is NOT secure. I must use all possible security measures. Wireless is NOT secure. I will send Prof all my lights when I ignore this warning. Wireless is NOT secure.

(smile--I mean no harm, but do some research on how to best secure this network--if ANY sensitive data is to be exchanged, you'll need to go beyond the built-in insecurity systems).

You really can't run cables? Because twisted pair is low-volt, and fiber optic is no-volt you can get direct-bury cable and usually run it with no need for inspections or any such hoopla.

The reliable WiFi is of course a premium and introduces a new layer of whodunnit into the tech support mix.

For WiFi repeaters, Engenius Tech has some 400 mW wireless bridges that provide long-range and are configurable requiring only a web browser. They support Power Over Ethernet ("POE") so that if you buy a POE injector you can place the unit nearly anywhere that's convenient. I haven't used their WiFi products, but I have their amazing telephones, which work as promised. They're not the only game in town, of course. They can be used as in qip's diagram, which seems a very good WiFi solution idea.

Just in case prof didn't say it enough...wireless is not secure. To add to what he said about encryption - WEP is almost at the point of not being encryption. Anyone who can use google and is not computer phobic can learn how to crack WEP. That attack will take them maybe 5 minutes. Use WPA or WPA2. You also want to look at having a strong key, and changing the default hardware password to a strong password.

I know you talked about want it to be a robust system because there was nobody there technically skilled. If you don't involve someone during the setup you probably will end up being tech support. Strongly recommend you walk them through the system as you are setting it up. Hardware fails, things need to be reset. The more self sustaining you can make someone the less "the network is down" calls you will get.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions everyone. I went back today and see that if we put the antennas higher on the buildings, we can get line of sight.

One question regarding the suggestion to get an access point with 2 antenna jacks and then attach 2 directional panel antennas facing the other two buildings. Don't access points with two antennas use both antennas in conjunction to speed up the connection? Will having just one antenna in each direction impede performance?

Thanks,
Robert

You'd want 2 separate network bridges anyway, methinks, and separate from the actual router. Limit yer "single point of failures".