Wireless reaching 1500ft outdoors

Has anyone had any experience connecting wireless points at this
distance? I'm looking for recommendations on equipment and antenna.

Currently it is to connect 2 buildings, that are just shy of this 1500
foot mark. There actually is direct line of sight with no obstuctions
(* at this time *).

Here's what I've looked at thus far, and I'm just thinking, so feel
free to tell me how off I am!

Looking at DLinks website they have a number of wireless bridges,
however only their outdoor bridge gives numbers of range and says it
does 500 meters (1600+ ft) maximum. However the outdoor bridges cost
$1,000+ a piece (too much for this project for one bridge). So I'm
looking for something more indoors for the actual router placed by a
window with a cable connected to an outdoor antenna! Am I nuts? Their
indoor wireless bridges are more in the range of $150 bucks, and they
have a wide variety of outdoor antennas in that $ range as well. I'm
guessing the higher the dBi the further range?? And I'm probably
looking at a directional antenna like maybe the ANT24-1800 18 dBi
Directional Panel Antenna?

Ok, well if anyone can point me in the right direction, or has any
experience in this, let me know!

Thanks,
Student Alpha

Student Alpha wrote:
> Has anyone had any experience connecting wireless points at this
> distance? I'm looking for recommendations on equipment and antenna.
>
> Currently it is to connect 2 buildings, that are just shy of this 1500
> foot mark. There actually is direct line of sight with no obstuctions
> (* at this time *).
>
> Here's what I've looked at thus far, and I'm just thinking, so feel
> free to tell me how off I am!
>
> Looking at DLinks website they have a number of wireless bridges,
> however only their outdoor bridge gives numbers of range and says it
> does 500 meters (1600+ ft) maximum. However the outdoor bridges cost
> $1,000+ a piece (too much for this project for one bridge). So I'm
> looking for something more indoors for the actual router placed by a
> window with a cable connected to an outdoor antenna! Am I nuts? Their
> indoor wireless bridges are more in the range of $150 bucks, and they
> have a wide variety of outdoor antennas in that $ range as well. I'm
> guessing the higher the dBi the further range?? And I'm probably
> looking at a directional antenna like maybe the ANT24-1800 18 dBi
> Directional Panel Antenna?
>
> Ok, well if anyone can point me in the right direction, or has any
> experience in this, let me know!

This gets asked regularly in this group. I've recommended Tranzeo
equipment recently. It's outdoor type equipment and the AP can be found
for under $300. The CPE (customer premise equip.) bridge can be had for
well under $200. And they work reliably and for much further distances
than 1,500 feet. No separate antenna to buy, they're integrated.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?B6193279B
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N1292579B

A few years back I used a couple of Dlink inside bridges with a couple of
their outdoor patch panels and were shooting about 600 metres quite
reliably. The application was not internet related but rather extending an
in-house network between two buildings. I cannot recall specific model
numbers and cable lengths to the antennas were about 5 metres each with a
line of sight being achieved over the rooftops (just) of intervening
buildings. We actually dropped the bridge power levels to 25% to reduce
range past our required target.

Peter

"Rôgêr" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:iuOdnZ6e9IdLC2ffRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Student Alpha wrote:
> > Has anyone had any experience connecting wireless points at this
> > distance? I'm looking for recommendations on equipment and antenna.
> >
> > Currently it is to connect 2 buildings, that are just shy of this 1500
> > foot mark. There actually is direct line of sight with no obstuctions
> > (* at this time *).
> >
> > Here's what I've looked at thus far, and I'm just thinking, so feel
> > free to tell me how off I am!
> >
> > Looking at DLinks website they have a number of wireless bridges,
> > however only their outdoor bridge gives numbers of range and says it
> > does 500 meters (1600+ ft) maximum. However the outdoor bridges cost
> > $1,000+ a piece (too much for this project for one bridge). So I'm
> > looking for something more indoors for the actual router placed by a
> > window with a cable connected to an outdoor antenna! Am I nuts? Their
> > indoor wireless bridges are more in the range of $150 bucks, and they
> > have a wide variety of outdoor antennas in that $ range as well. I'm
> > guessing the higher the dBi the further range?? And I'm probably
> > looking at a directional antenna like maybe the ANT24-1800 18 dBi
> > Directional Panel Antenna?
> >
> > Ok, well if anyone can point me in the right direction, or has any
> > experience in this, let me know!
>
> This gets asked regularly in this group. I've recommended Tranzeo
> equipment recently. It's outdoor type equipment and the AP can be found
> for under $300. The CPE (customer premise equip.) bridge can be had for
> well under $200. And they work reliably and for much further distances
> than 1,500 feet. No separate antenna to buy, they're integrated.
>
> http://makeashorterlink.com/?B6193279B
> http://makeashorterlink.com/?N1292579B

Roger,

I've seen a couple posts about Tranzeo and have looked at their
website.. Only it's hard for me to figure our from their literature
what distances any particular AP or bridge can do. Maybe I'm just
missing it somewhere. Although I know LOS (line of sight) can effect
distance quite a bit.

My other question, and maybe I just need to contact Tranzeo, is whether
or not they can support PPTP connections. They mention TCP/IP and IPX
but in order to initiate PPTP connection it has to be able to send GRE
packets. If you know this information, I think it would be helpfiul.
The only other downside I see to these Tranzeo is that most of them
only support WEP and not WPA...

Pierre,

Thanks for the information.. Although with model or more detailed
information (Antenna dbi, power output) it's hard to tell just which
models will get me the 1500 without any problems.

Thanks again,
Student Agent

Student Alpha wrote:
> Roger,
>
> I've seen a couple posts about Tranzeo and have looked at their
> website.. Only it's hard for me to figure our from their literature
> what distances any particular AP or bridge can do. Maybe I'm just
> missing it somewhere. Although I know LOS (line of sight) can effect
> distance quite a bit.

More than quite a bit. That's why they don't list distances. How can
they guarantee a distance when they have no idea what kind of
environment you're going to use them in?

> My other question, and maybe I just need to contact Tranzeo, is whether
> or not they can support PPTP connections. They mention TCP/IP and IPX
> but in order to initiate PPTP connection it has to be able to send GRE
> packets. If you know this information, I think it would be helpfiul.
> The only other downside I see to these Tranzeo is that most of them
> only support WEP and not WPA...
>
> Pierre,
>
> Thanks for the information.. Although with model or more detailed
> information (Antenna dbi, power output) it's hard to tell just which
> models will get me the 1500 without any problems.

This info was listed in the ad for the AP:
Transmit Power: +28dBm EIRP
Receiver Sensitivity: -92 dBm (1 Mbps) / -85 dBm (11 Mbps) @ <0.08 PER
Antenna: 15dB Panel

This was listed for the CPE:
Transmit Power: +31dBm EIRP
Receiver Sensitivity: -82dBm @ 11Mbps
Antenna: 15dB Panel

There's further information available on Tranzeo's website. I'm not
going to try to sell them to you, I don't have a dog in that fight. Some
of their models state they support PPTP, some don't mention it so I'd
assume they don't. All of their outdoor gear is made to cover distances
of several miles, 1500 feet is falling off a log, drop dead easy. And
yes, the models I suggested are 802.11b so no WPA. There are some
outdoor 802.11g outdoor pieces of equipment coming on the market from
differnt mfgs but most that I've seen so far are more expensive.

I live about 1,300 feet from my office and I have a 8dbi omni on the
roof of my office and I have a 6dbi panel antenna just sitting on my
porch, not screwed down and not carefully aimed and I get near 100% link
quality and signal strength. Without reaiming it, I can connect to
another of my APs another mile and a half further away (it has a 15dbi
sector if I remember correctly) and get the full speed of my T1 line.
This is with smartBridges equipment which is very similar to Tranzeo.

If you need a load of numbers, perhaps Jeff will happen along and
explain. I just know it works for me.

The actual units used in our link were a pair of DWL-1000AP+ in bridge mode
with ANT24-801 outdoor patch antennas. The DWL-1000AP+ has a rated power
output of 50mw (17dBm) and the patch antennas are rated at 8.5dBi gain each.
No doubt other antenna with higher gain such as the ANT24-1801 with 18 dBi
gain would give quite a high margin to work with if necessary. The majority
of commonly available WiFi devices are usually rated at 30mw which is only a
dB or so down from the 50mw of the units we used. We did reduce the power
levels considerably anyway.

It may be worthwhile to check antenna polarization when shooting over water
or any longer distances. Sometimes it can make a difference but often this
can only be found out at installation time and will vary from installation
to installation.

Maybe the best thing to do would be using a couple of cheap adaptors with
some good antennas in an Ad Hoc mode and go from there. Go to
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~redwood4/ and its references for some
practical ideas.

Pierre

"Rôgêr" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1bKdnZx8A4zyZGbfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Student Alpha wrote:
> > Roger,
> >
> > I've seen a couple posts about Tranzeo and have looked at their
> > website.. Only it's hard for me to figure our from their literature
> > what distances any particular AP or bridge can do. Maybe I'm just
> > missing it somewhere. Although I know LOS (line of sight) can effect
> > distance quite a bit.
>
> More than quite a bit. That's why they don't list distances. How can
> they guarantee a distance when they have no idea what kind of
> environment you're going to use them in?
>
> > My other question, and maybe I just need to contact Tranzeo, is whether
> > or not they can support PPTP connections. They mention TCP/IP and IPX
> > but in order to initiate PPTP connection it has to be able to send GRE
> > packets. If you know this information, I think it would be helpfiul.
> > The only other downside I see to these Tranzeo is that most of them
> > only support WEP and not WPA...
> >
> > Pierre,
> >
> > Thanks for the information.. Although with model or more detailed
> > information (Antenna dbi, power output) it's hard to tell just which
> > models will get me the 1500 without any problems.
>
> This info was listed in the ad for the AP:
> Transmit Power: +28dBm EIRP
> Receiver Sensitivity: -92 dBm (1 Mbps) / -85 dBm (11 Mbps) @ <0.08 PER
> Antenna: 15dB Panel
>
> This was listed for the CPE:
> Transmit Power: +31dBm EIRP
> Receiver Sensitivity: -82dBm @ 11Mbps
> Antenna: 15dB Panel
>
> There's further information available on Tranzeo's website. I'm not
> going to try to sell them to you, I don't have a dog in that fight. Some
> of their models state they support PPTP, some don't mention it so I'd
> assume they don't. All of their outdoor gear is made to cover distances
> of several miles, 1500 feet is falling off a log, drop dead easy. And
> yes, the models I suggested are 802.11b so no WPA. There are some
> outdoor 802.11g outdoor pieces of equipment coming on the market from
> differnt mfgs but most that I've seen so far are more expensive.
>
> I live about 1,300 feet from my office and I have a 8dbi omni on the
> roof of my office and I have a 6dbi panel antenna just sitting on my
> porch, not screwed down and not carefully aimed and I get near 100% link
> quality and signal strength. Without reaiming it, I can connect to
> another of my APs another mile and a half further away (it has a 15dbi
> sector if I remember correctly) and get the full speed of my T1 line.
> This is with smartBridges equipment which is very similar to Tranzeo.
>
> If you need a load of numbers, perhaps Jeff will happen along and
> explain. I just know it works for me.

Roger and Pierre,

Thanks for the info.. That really helps me out.. After looking at the
2, I think I'm going to go ahead with the Tranzeo's for now since they
are an all outdoor equipment and can cover a mile without effort. I
never know when they might decide to change layout plans!

Thanks again guys for your time,
Student Alpha

i would think of a dish of somer kind of the router bountes
outside on the roof in a water tte housing
like gluged pvc pipe of the like
On 10 Aug 2005 15:54:04 -0700, "Student Alpha" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Has anyone had any experience connecting wireless points at this
>distance? I'm looking for recommendations on equipment and antenna.
>
>Currently it is to connect 2 buildings, that are just shy of this 1500
>foot mark. There actually is direct line of sight with no obstuctions
>(* at this time *).
>
>Here's what I've looked at thus far, and I'm just thinking, so feel
>free to tell me how off I am!
>
>Looking at DLinks website they have a number of wireless bridges,
>however only their outdoor bridge gives numbers of range and says it
>does 500 meters (1600+ ft) maximum. However the outdoor bridges cost
>$1,000+ a piece (too much for this project for one bridge). So I'm
>looking for something more indoors for the actual router placed by a
>window with a cable connected to an outdoor antenna! Am I nuts? Their
>indoor wireless bridges are more in the range of $150 bucks, and they
>have a wide variety of outdoor antennas in that $ range as well. I'm
>guessing the higher the dBi the further range?? And I'm probably
>looking at a directional antenna like maybe the ANT24-1800 18 dBi
>Directional Panel Antenna?
>
>Ok, well if anyone can point me in the right direction, or has any
>experience in this, let me know!
>
>Thanks,
>Student Alpha