ok need help. We are in the process of working out how to build our own WWAN, spread over a 3mile radius. heres what we need. Wireless Network Cards Wireless Network 3mile Aerial (structual penertration) Cabling (WTF you are thinking, but yes i need cabling for the aerial) and heres the big bitch, Building to Building WLAN bridge. ive found all of this tight gear (cept the bridge) on Dabs. now ive heard about LRP. and i heard that you can use WLAN instead of LAN on the LRP. but i'm not 100% about this, what i want to know is if i can use LRP as a bridge rather than buying one (£500!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) the network cards are connected to the bridge, bridge connected to the aerial, every house partaking in this project needs one
Ok, here we go.... Lets assume some things: 1.) Clear line of site between all buildings (including trees, water is natural enemy of 2.4Ghz) 2.) You are going to use 802.11b equipment for 11mb/s (max)throughput All you really need are standard access points. Industry standards dictate they are all the same for compliance reasons. Ideally, you want the shortest cable possible between the access point and the antenna because of impedence issues (you absolutely must use the manufacturers antenna cable because the cable impedence has to match the antenna's). The reason for this is for every 3ft of cable you use between the antenna and the antenna and every connectory you have, you loose 1db of signal strength. What you need to be obsessed with is the signal strenth, 802.11b steps the throughput down based on it. Close to the antenna, you may have 11mb/s... several hundred feet away and you may only have 2-1 mb/s. You can compensate this by using directional antennae that focus the coverage, perfect for point to point bridges (an example would be a yagi or parabolic antenna). I doubt linksys equipment at your local computer store would have this but if you have a cisco, intermec, symbol, or avaya dealer near you they could help. whew...
huh. The antenna can go through structures and what have you so that don't matter. all i want is a cheap building to building bridge, can i build my own using LRP or what?? check 3coms out currently selling for $700 http://emea.3com.com/products/wireless/wls_b2b_bridge.html?hub=3
3com's access points and that buiding to building bridge is just an access point that allows you to connect a distributed antenna. Since 3com is geared toward the commercial market they only offer fixed antennae that don't have very good range, the original manufacturer of their equipement is a company called Symbol. You could save a lot of money by getting something like this (this is the same as 3com's access point without a cosmetic shell over it) it will allow you some antenna choices if you decied to use them. http://www.symbol.com/products/wireless/ap4131.html All access points are, essencially, wireless bridges, some just have more flexibility as far as hardware is concerned. The reason why I say this is what if you put it in your room with the assumtion that it will go through walls but it doesn't work. If you get a fixed commercial access point you are out of luck. If you get a more enterprise product, you could mount an antenna outside your window or out a vent in your attic. Because the access points connect 10baseT to the hard network you can put the access point anywhere you want, it doesn't have to be located anywhere near your computer. Once you setup the access point, you will probably never touch it again.
