Ubiquiti P2P Wireless for Internet Connection

[meakjoe]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking at changing the way that 2 primary school sites currently have their internet connection set up, and utilizing a P2P wireless.

 

At the moment each site has their own FTTC internet connection, and my proposed plan would be to have a Fibre 100mb connection installed at one, and then share that connection through a Ubiquiti P2P wireless link.

 

The distance between the 2 schools is around 100 meters and is line of sight, so getting a fast and stable connection shouldn't be an issue.

 

My only concern however is when there are 50 - 60 users, all using the internet at the same time, and their connection being affected due to the P2P repsonse time and load on the link.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this type of set up and can say whether the Ubiquiti P2Ps are significantly affected when there are many people using the link?

 

Thank you.

[Norphy]

One of the primary schools in our MAT is connected to its secondary using one of these WiFi backhaul bridges from Ubiquiti. There are around 3/4 of a mile apart and the throughput between the schools is around 150mbit/sec or thereabouts.

 

The school has around 50-60 staff and about 300 students maybe. The link is OK and we don’t get much in the way of complaints but I would be more comfortable with a proper wired P2P connection. However, I think for the distances that you’re using it at and the amount of users you have, it’ll be fine.

[meakjoe]

Thats great thank you, do you know what the hardware model was? Was it one of their air fiber products or the lower priced range?

[forkies]

We use a pair of ubiquiti m5 loco for a p2p between our site and a gate at the back of our field range ~400m where we have access control and cctv run out of a cab. We installed ourselves and with the built in tools in the interface it is really easy to line up the units to get excellent signal. I get 300mb throughput on the wireless according to ubiquiti test, but as the nic on the units is 100mb it caps out at that on speed tests. Passes vlans fine.

 

If you only want/need 100mb these are perfect as when we installed them, the pair cost me £150 including mounts. Otherwise airfibre range will give you much faster link but not worth it if your incoming line is only 100mb anyway.

[meakjoe]

That's great thank you, yes a good point about AirFibre, I'm thinking the NanoBeam dishes might be a good option looking at their range

[localzuk]

One thing to take into account with the AirFiber stuff is that it does need to be a good distance above the ground - if it is too close to the ground, you start getting reflections that mess everything up. Also, pay careful attention to the DFS channels. Basically, if you use them and something else comes along and uses the frequency (eg radar, military etc...), your link will disable itself for a fixed period of time. Oh, and you may need a license if you use certain bands on 5ghz.

[meakjoe]

Hmm very true, I'm thinking the AirFibre might be a bit overkill as the buildings are so close.. They mainly market them for carrier backhaul services.