long distance bridge?

[kevin_bouchard]

hi,
I would like to know if its possible to network(or bridge) 2 houses together that are about 3miles apart.
I know that it is possible to make external antennas for wifi cards but I dont have a line of sight. Is there any way of networking these houses together without spending too much money?
this link doesnt really have to be fast, say about 128kbps, if that makes a difference.


Thanks

 

[engjohn]

VPN over the internet...
http://www.chicagotech.net/vpnsetup.htm#How to configure Win 2000/XP Pro as VPN host

 

[kevin_bouchard]

thanks for the reply, i guess i should have mentioned it was for internet sharing reasons. Because of the situation i'm in i have to move from house to house every two weeks and would hate to have high speed for only half the time. Also the objects blocking my line of sight are trees if that makes a difference.

thanks for your input, and keep them coming

kevin

 

[ccb056]

this is just an idea:

have 2 56k modems, put one in each machine
have one machine connected to the internet
have the other machine dial into the first machine
share the connect over the 56k line

 

[Cjwinnit]

You could try using wireless with Satellite dishes for transmitters and recievers, I think you can get 5 miles on a good day with them..

 

[Captain U]

this is just an idea:

have 2 56k modems, put one in each machine
have one machine connected to the internet
have the other machine dial into the first machine
share the connect over the 56k line

He said that he wants hi speed full time.
this type of network would only get 56k top speed.

 

[SniperXX]

If you wanted you could bounce a signal with a passive repeater to go abound some stuff blocking your line of sight. What if you used a big antenna with good strenth.

 

[Perre]

Or if you have the means and money you could dig down some cat5 cable Remeber you'll need some kind of amplifier every 100m or so.

 

[su root]

If you have line of site, you could try some optical networking, but that would be sketchy in bad weather/fog. If you know a friend or two, you could use wireless networking with some directional antennas, and hook it up that way.

Fibre would be the best solution, but something tells me that you wouldn't be looking for digging, city permits and expensive fibre optics.

I have heard of "do it yourself" DSL solutions, where you order a "dead pair" from the phone company between your house, and his house, and use two DSL modems.. provides 2mbit service, but I havn't found a good guide on it yet

 

[kevin_bouchard]

First i'd like to say thanks for all the sugestions.
a 56k line would be fine, but 128k is better, the only problem with using phone lines is the fact that you cant talk on it at the same time, so that wouldnt really work well for this situation.

Maybe I should give alittle more information, basically I move back and forth between parents every two weeks, they live about 3miles apart, and my moms house can get dsl, but my dads can't. Now what i wanted to do was buy dsl at my moms, and the network the houses together so that i dont still need a dialup account. I dont have a line of sight, trees are blocking it, and even with the many times of requesting a chainsaw to cut the trees(which are on the neighbors yard) they figured it would be a very bad ideal(and i agree). the two houses live in a country type area, not many trees, the the houses are about the same level. If it wasnt for the ~4 trees blocking the line of sight I would have created two bidirectional antennas just because it would be perfect. digging and laying wire wouldnt work for many reasons, one i dont want to work that hard, second my neighbors would kill me, and it would be just too costly. one ideal i had was to use bidirectional antennas and build a ~30 foot tower to get over the trees, but i think i would have to get some sort of permit for that and it would probably be hard to implement

So i guess I am basically looking for some sort of wireless system that can go through a couple trees if possitioned right.

su root, I'm interested in that "dead pair" ideal, but something is telling me that i wouldnt be able to do it since one line would already have dsl on it.

SniperXX, do you mean like off a tower or something? I thought about that but the phone company would never allow that, unless I pay lots.


well let me know if you have any other ideals, and thanks to those that have replied.


Kevin

 

[coin]

If the trees are in the neighnours yard why not run CAT5 cable to the other side of them and set up the wireless antennas from there. Admittedly a bit more long winded but easier than a satellite link
If you use STP (Shielded) cable then you could run the cable and a power line down plastic 2.5cm water piping to a point just beyond the trees, set up a short antenna and install the wireless antenna.


TA DAAAAAAA!

 

[nosilverman]

You could also use power over ethernet (POE) to avoid having to run a power line. Great idea Coin, it shouldnt be that hard to run a wire around the neighbors, once its in, they will never see it so i dont see why they would object, unless you have evil neighbors

 

[kevin_bouchard]

thanks POE sounds really interesting, never thought about installing on the other side of the trees.

now I feel like a complete idiot, yesterday it was pointed out to me that the location of the remote house was actually on an other angle, so now i more than likely have a line of sight!(which i will be checking tonight to make sure)

If you guys have any sugestions about a better way of networking two houses together with 802.11b(or g) wireless equipment, feel free to post .

Thanks again for the numerous replies, they have helped me alot.


Kevin

 

[Ddruid_SMP]

I have these posted (and more information) in another thread over at 2cpu here: Linky

These show a basic setup (at 7.13 miles, establishing a 5.5M link)

My tower is the shorter tower on the right (barely visible in the photo).

The AP on the tower is broadcasting with 4w-eirp (36db). On our office side we will be transmitting at about 40db (200mw prismII + 24db antenna - ~7db loss for cable, connectors, and lightning suppression)

For a 3mi link I would suggest using 19db antennas with a 100mw radio on each end at a minimum. As long as you have good fresnel you will be in good shape..

You can pickup Compex wp11b+'s fairly cheap and they are POE capable out of the box (ps + adapter is another $35-$40), so overall you are looking in the $500-$700 range for a complete link.

A Wp11a+ in a weather tight box

 

[kevin_bouchard]

thanks Ddruid_SMP, thats exactly what i was looking for, now all i have to do is find out if i really have a los, unfortunately i wasnt able to get up there today, but hopefully i'll have the time tomorrow. There's not nearly as many trees in my area then in the picture, but then again there is no way i'm building a tower that big.

I dug up this post http://www.ocforums.com/vb/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=249821 about long distance wireless, do you guys ahve any thoughts about me using pringle cans or similar device for my situation? Or should I really go with something manufacted for the purpose?

Keep in mind that i dont really need that fast of a connection and its probably less than 3 miles away.

Thanks again for all the help

Kevin