How much do you think this cabling job would be?

[Sonic007]

Hi,

 

We have a seperate building which is the kitchen at our school.

It is an old building with very thick walls and full of machinery, ovens, fridges, etc.

There are two offices in there too for the chef and our premises officer has an office nextdoor too.

 

The Wifi signal is litterally non existant which I would say is due to the walls and all the machinery in there.

 

I want to put in a phone and a Wifreless AP in there to get better Wifi so need data points.

 

How much do you think it would cost to have cable run from the main buiding (about 10 metres away) over the courtyard, and into the kitchen?

 

I don't have the time or the tools to drill through thick walls like that and then would it be better to bury the cable or put it along a metal line up in the air?

 

Thankyou.

[Olliedawg]

Hi,

 

We have a seperate building which is the kitchen at our school.

It is an old building with very thick walls and full of machinery, ovens, fridges, etc.

There are two offices in there too for the chef and our premises officer has an office nextdoor too.

 

The Wifi signal is litterally non existant which I would say is due to the walls and all the machinery in there.

 

I want to put in a phone and a Wifreless AP in there to get better Wifi so need data points.

 

How much do you think it would cost to have cable run from the main buiding (about 10 metres away) over the courtyard, and into the kitchen?

 

I don't have the time or the tools to drill through thick walls like that and then would it be better to bury the cable or put it along a metal line up in the air?

 

Thankyou.

I just had a quote for something similar, running 5 Cat6 cables from one building to another (new building going up containing 2 classrooms). Quoted £550.

 

This includes patching in the network cab, fitting data points in the classroom side.

 

New build is going to have a duct put in for cable to run under the ground from the old building

[Tefters]

Day rate for cabler - £400/£450 + materials.

 

Depends what the building looked like, how easy it was to get to the ceiling corners for surface trunking etc...

 

The bigger question really is how many days and that would depend on a visual check/quote.

 

No cabler will quote without visual.

 

Ducting is always better but time / work / cost are always a factor.

 

Nothing wrong with a banjo wire from building as long as it's done high enough but always runs the risk of kids throwing stuff on it (power lines and trainers anyone...).

 

Alternatively you could do direct beam WiFi building to building with something like Unifi and then have it feed into a switch in the building.

Edited June 26, 2024 by Tefters

[Davit2005]

How Separate is separate? Is there existing usable cable run? Will cabler need cheery picker to run a cable high up between building? Easiness for the internal cabling in each building? You mention machinery so will EMI be an issue, will you need shielded cable?

 

All things that will add to the cost.

 

I can see at least £500 plus parts TBH.

 

I'd also build in either extra capacity so run 4 cables rather than 2 or run at least 2 and put a switch in the separate building if necessary. Or run a fibre and jus put a switch in on the offset but more of a cost.

Edited June 26, 2024 by Davit2005

[dhicks]

How much do you think it would cost to have cable run from the main buiding (about 10 metres away) over the courtyard, and into the kitchen?

 

For a similar setup (two buildings next to each other, although running a cable either underground or overground wasn't an option for us) we use a Ubiquti point-to-point wireless connection, which has worked well - I don't think we've had any issues for the last couple of years. It does need to be securley attached at each end (we initially used their window-sucker attachement, which tended to fall off in high winds), and of course you'll then need at least a small PoE switch at the other end to power the receiver and any access points / phones you want.

[Andrew_C]

Be aware of running a cable between two separate "earth zones". Particularly if you use a screened cable.

 

Fibre would obviate the potential* issues.

 

 

*Sorry

[Planehazza]

potential* issues.

 

*Sorry

 

I see what you did there. Shocking joke.

[speakercon]

Would a point to point be an option instead of catenary wire? Would obviously need a small switch in the remote building.

[dhicks]

Would a point to point be an option instead of catenary wire? Would obviously need a small switch in the remote building.

 

Actually, just thinking, with modern access points capable of auto-meshing (Ubiquiti's do, I'm pretty sure other makes do something similar), you might not even need a specialised point-to-point device, just a mini switch in the remote building with a standard WiFi access point where it can pick up a resonable signal from the main building. You'd then also get a wireless signal in the area between the two buildings, which might be a handy added bonus. We're only using specialised point-to-point hardware because nothing else seemed to be able to get a reliable signal through the leaded windows of the church next door.

 

Edit: rough pricing (because that's what you're actually asking about): £170 * 2 for two outdoor-rated WiFi access points (although cheaper options are probably okay), £30 for a mini PoE switch, call it around £400.

Edited June 26, 2024 by dhicks

[Tefters]

Actually, just thinking, with modern access points capable of auto-meshing (Ubiquiti's do, I'm pretty sure other makes do something similar), you might not even need a specialised point-to-point device, just a mini switch in the remote building with a standard WiFi access point where it can pick up a resonable signal from the main building. You'd then also get a wireless signal in the area between the two buildings, which might be a handy added bonus. We're only using specialised point-to-point hardware because nothing else seemed to be able to get a reliable signal through the leaded windows of the church next door.

 

Edit: rough pricing (because that's what you're actually asking about): £170 * 2 for two outdoor-rated WiFi access points (although cheaper options are probably okay), £30 for a mini PoE switch, call it around £400.

 

Your are correct good sir, you can indeed use standard AP's from Ubiquiti in meshing to bridge a network into a switch and then on to others or use their point to point.

 

Their point to point is very good and you can get it in either a 1Gbit or 10Gbit variety but I believe they are OOS at the moment and suppliers don't have many in the channel either (+ rip off prices from partners).

 

If its a courtyard i'm guessing we are talking sub 100 meters easily so I would go with their U6 mesh or above.

 

Checkout UniFi Outdoor WiFi Access Points - Ubiquiti and scroll down to their visual construction dock image for an idea.

 

I use 3x U6 Mesh outside AP's at our school and they are super easy to install and work great! I just buy a J-pole from a local supplier (Broadbandbuyer) drill to the wall, zip tie the AP to the top and then run an external cable to it.

 

Depending on how much kit and what speeds your expecting to push in the building you might want to look at the new Wifi 7 model as its a 2.5Gbit throughput but obviously I don't know your backbone and whether the bandwidth need is really there.

 

Personally I would go 2x U6 mesh if its a few desktops and laptops hanging off an indoor AP (U6 Pro) and switch. Wifi 7 is great and all but by the time you actually really need it and push to those limits prices would of dropped, Wifi 8 would of probably been out and it ends up costing like £300/£350 in 5+ years time, not exactly a bank breaking upgrade for a solid 5 year life-span (decent hardware refresh cycle). I know I sound like a Ubiquiti fanboy on these forums nowadays but the price point to functionality with zero OPEX costs is ridiculous and the products / software get better by the day. For education networks including university its a no brainer to me and means I can actually have half decent network equipment and decent hardware refresh cycles. #My2Cents

Edited June 26, 2024 by Tefters

[dapaulio]

Normally I would suggest fibre over/underground would be better practice and future proof the building for expansion but the cost far outweighs the value add.

 

if you only getting data to a couple workstations and phones I did a similar project installed a switch cab as an edge cab in a suitable area of the building where a fibre could be laid to in future but uplink with a point to point using unifi nano. I cabled all my endpoints back to this cab. This was near enough a decade ago and just in the last year the building ict requirement expanded large enough to warrant the fibre to be installed. The fibre just replaced the nano uplink on the switch.

[PotNoodleTech]

Inter building links should really use fibre (especially as you've said it's an electrically heavy duty area) but looks like your on a budget.

 

If you are just having 2 cat6 shielded runs in there (one for phone, one for AP?) I wouldnt expect it to be more than £500 ish.

 

If your having a network cabinet in there etc too then probably nearer £1000.

 

It's no more than a days work probably half a day max for a decent contractor.

[Sonic007]

Actually, just thinking, with modern access points capable of auto-meshing (Ubiquiti's do, I'm pretty sure other makes do something similar), you might not even need a specialised point-to-point device, just a mini switch in the remote building with a standard WiFi access point where it can pick up a resonable signal from the main building. You'd then also get a wireless signal in the area between the two buildings, which might be a handy added bonus. We're only using specialised point-to-point hardware because nothing else seemed to be able to get a reliable signal through the leaded windows of the church next door.

 

Edit: rough pricing (because that's what you're actually asking about): £170 * 2 for two outdoor-rated WiFi access points (although cheaper options are probably okay), £30 for a mini PoE switch, call it around £400.

 

 

 

Wifi is flakey in there so wouldnt putting an AP in there just be the same if they are trying to connect to the main building.

[dhicks]

Wifi is flakey in there so wouldnt putting an AP in there just be the same if they are trying to connect to the main building.

 

Sorry, I don't know the details of your layout, so I don't know if you'd be able to access the outside of the building(s) and run a cable to put an access point on the outside of either (or both) of the main building and the remote building. For our couple of point-to-point connections here we were able to simply mount devices on the outside of window ledges, running to PoE-capable switches on each side, but you might have a more fiddly / difficult to access setup.