Wireless Bridge or Repeater

[rshortland]

I am looking for a simple and cheap solution for an on going problem.

 

We have 2 buildings seperated by about 20 meters of open ground. In building one is a router which has a directional antenna attached to it aimed through a window at a dormer window building 2. The aim of this is to provide wireless internet access to building 2. All the way across the open ground right upto the wall of building 2 you can access the internet via the wireless with no problem. However once inside building 2 you can still see the wireless signal but it is very difficult to connect to it and when you do manage too you cannot browse the net.

 

The ideas I have throwing around are:

 

a) to set up a wireless bridge between the 2 buildings but that would mean replacing the router in building one as the current one doesn't support bridging and then installing a second router and an AP in building 2.

 

b) to set up a repeater in building 2 attached to an omni-directional antenna located as high up as we can get it.

 

Any other ideas or suggestions gratefully received as I have to give my boss an answer by end of work today

[Michael]

What about either external rated CAT5e or Fibre? A decent speed is guaranteed then.

 

I've never really been a fan of connecting buildings wirelessly, there are just too many problems like you're experiencing.

[rshortland]

What about either external rated CAT5e or Fibre? A decent speed is guaranteed then.

 

I've never really been a fan of connecting buildings wirelessly, there are just too many problems like you're experiencing.

 

We cannot run a cable as the people who own the buildings do not own the ground between them so it has to bed wireless.

[Michael]

So there's no single route (even a long way around) where you could have Fibre from building to building?

 

I suppose you need to look at what's causing the signal to be weak. Poor weather, trees, or just interference in general.

[rshortland]

So there's no single route (even a long way around) where you could have Fibre from building to building?

 

I suppose you need to look at what's causing the signal to be weak. Poor weather, trees, or just interference in general.

 

We have already looked and it has to be done with wireless there is no way to run a cable. With regards to interference it is a straight line of sight with no obstructions externally. Internally in the in the target building there are 3 exposed steel roof trusses which my boss is aware of but he says they should not interfere with the wireless signal.

[Oaktech]

buy two cheap domestic ap's (netgear are ideal), and get a directional antenna from these guys: Parabolic antenna / 2.4 GHz Parabolic Antennas / Wifi antenna / Grid / Solid / IEEE 802.11b / 802.11g / Wireless LAN (WLAN) / Bluetooth / Wimax they are about £30-60 each, or get what you can from ebay and set up a mac locked bridge, with a non broadcast IP and a strong wpa key. I've been running this exact setup for about 5 years without any kind of issue.

[jamesreedersmith]

We have already looked and it has to be done with wireless there is no way to run a cable. With regards to interference it is a straight line of sight with no obstructions externally. Internally in the in the target building there are 3 exposed steel roof trusses which my boss is aware of but he says they should not interfere with the wireless signal.

 

Unless they are earthed - big faraday cage!