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I have to link two offices 0.62 miles apart with a wireless link. So far my setup is as follows :

  • 2 24db directional parabolic wifi antenna
  • 1 watt wifi amplifiers on each antenna
  • Access point on antenna on the main office

Cisco AP --> 1 Watt amplifier --> Parabolic Antenna --> Parabolic antenna --> 1 watt amplifier --> ???

I am able to get an internet connection when I hook up the antenna at the remote site to my wireless usb adapter, but I am unable to figure out how to redistribute the wireless signal at the remote site.

What I want to do is us a repeater with 2 external antennas one for sending and receiving to the office, and the other for redistribute the wireless signal to the remote site. So far I have not been able to get this setup to work. Any sugestions, or what to look for?

Thank you, Reid

Tom O'Connor
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Reid
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    Why not simply get two devices, one AP to act as a client, and a second to provide a router, and the wireless connectivity for the remote network. – Zoredache Dec 03 '11 at 03:26
  • Where could I get an AP Client, that works on one external antenna? – Reid Dec 03 '11 at 03:39

2 Answers2

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You should use dedicated hardware for the wireless bridge (the 0.6 mile shot between your offices) and then link that to whatever network infrastructure you think is appropriate at each office location.

I would do this because of 1) functional separation and 2) the lack of devices to achieve specifically what you want which is both a point-to-point directional bridge and an omni-directional access point for clients. I have yet to come across anything that really does this.

Buy a decent point-to-point directional wireless bridge (I like Airayas, but there are plenty of options out there), connect it to a "core" switch on the far side and then use cable runs to deploy your access points in the requisite locations required to get good coverage for clients. As far as your clients are concerned the wireless bridge should be transparent.

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I'm not convinced you'll be happy with the reliability of a wireless link over that distance so I want you to look into using laser based networks - I don't know where you are but if you google 'laser point to point network' there should be some options for where you are. I think they'll be more expensive than the wifi option but I've used them in the past and found them to be of real use and pretty reliable - unless you get a lot of fog anyway. So just wanted you to be aware of them ok.

Chopper3
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  • FWIW: We've had great results with purpose-built wireless links with distances over five miles and this is up in the mountains with weather. It's just a matter of getting the right setup. But lasers sounds cooler... –  Dec 03 '11 at 09:59
  • That's great news - just wanted the dude to be aware of other options. – Chopper3 Dec 03 '11 at 10:39
  • I'm glad you brought it up, because this is the first I've heard of it. There's even a GPL-ed implementation called [RONJA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RONJA) (Reasonable Optical Near Joint Access). –  Dec 04 '11 at 00:09
  • I get an extremely good link with my antennas, but I just can not re-distribute it. – Reid Dec 04 '11 at 04:32