Wifi signal from 1 farm to another

[Fergieman]

We have fttp in one farm and only copper at another 2 miles away.

We can't see each other from the farmhouses but can see the same spot on the hillside across the valley. So can we bounce the signal from one house across the valley and back again. No power on the hillside so would need to be 12v battery with solar and or wind.
It's either that or a 4g router but signal isn't that strong.

A beginners guide would be good.

 

[Turnip]

Keep in mind it is not simple, all things are related. For instance a higher power antenna setup will increase possible distance, higher speeds reduce distance, latency will be affected as well. If you want to go diy/cheap check out “cantenna”, lots of instruction videos out there.

For the hillside which both locations can see I would suggest you look into an in-vehicle router as that would work nicely with your 12V battery and a solar charging kit. The in-vehicle router could also have a 3G or whatever generation backup for redundancy.

as a minimum you would need a setup with 2 sets of directional antenna.

 

[Turnip]

Would it not be an option to run a fibre optic cable yourself with a subsoiler? 3000 meter of pre terminated cable should set you back £300 or less.

 

[deleted user 436632456]

You can get WiFi bridges but I personally never had much luck with them, mine were tp links going about 750m and worked perfectly for signal strength but kept disconnecting randomly and had to do a full reset each time including the IP addresses, which was a complete PITA.

Changed for a mobile router with a proper aerial installed, the aerial makes a massive difference especially if you can get in high on a building.

 

[upnortheast]

Have a chat with the support boys at Solwise. https://www.solwise.co.uk/networkingwireless.htm about the kit you would need
In theory no probs sending a signal that distance.
If you want to talk to someone more local, David Flatman he is a farmer as well as his tech business, https://www.stockcam.co.uk/ near us does this sort of stuff all the time

 

[rollestonpark]

Long distance wifi needs good line of sight to be reliable and fast.
douncing it through an intermediary station would not be recommended.
I'd test an outdoor directional 4G/LTE dish towards the nearest phone mast first and test.
Normally the Mikrotik LTE6 dishes I've tried reach about 3 or 4 times the download speeds that a mobile phone can achieve at a particular location.
I tested 1 at a friends house recently, phone did 8-10mb (whilst I was sat on their roof), dish did 72mb download

 

[Fergieman]

Long distance wifi needs good line of sight to be reliable and fast.
douncing it through an intermediary station would not be recommended.
I'd test an outdoor directional 4G/LTE dish towards the nearest phone mast first and test.
Normally the Mikrotik LTE6 dishes I've tried reach about 3 or 4 times the download speeds that a mobile phone can achieve at a particular location.
I tested 1 at a friends house recently, phone did 8-10mb (whilst I was sat on their roof), dish did 72mb download

This sounds like a better idea.

Are multi provider sim cards available?

Any links to an external dish/aerial and 4g router

 

[willyorkshire]

This sounds like a better idea.

Are multi provider sim cards available?

Any links to an external dish/aerial and 4g router

We use Quickline round here, not sure how far North they've got yet but def in N Yorks. It's a fixed wireless system, uses microwaves, needs line of sight but that can be several miles. I get around 55mbps which is fast enough for most applications. Google it. There are other companies doing similar in different areas.

 

[Wombat]

We use Quickline round here, not sure how far North they've got yet but def in N Yorks. It's a fixed wireless system, uses microwaves, needs line of sight but that can be several miles. I get around 55mbps which is fast enough for most applications. Google it. There are other companies doing similar in different areas.

Sorry to hijack but what are quickline like? we have a fibre cable past the yard about 10m away but openreach won;t but the splice in for us to connect and sick of 2mb copper adsl

 

[willyorkshire]

Very reliable, rarely goes off then only a blip. Our BT line could only manage 2mbps. Been on Q line since 2011 I think.

 

[Badshot]

I've put a point to point wifi from the house to grainstore, it's only a few hundred meters, but the kit can do something like 15km!!! Never seems to drop out, it does cut the speed a bit though.

 

[upnortheast]

This sounds like a better idea.

Are multi provider sim cards available?

Any links to an external dish/aerial and 4g router

If you are buying a 4G (also know as LTE ) router make sure it is "unlocked "
then it will take any network sim that has the best service in your area.

When we were on 4G we had a Huawei router which was very good. something like this -

Huawei 4G+ Router 3 Pro (B535-235a)

Important note: if using this router with an external antenna, be sure to enable to external antenna ports in the router's system settings. Click here for instructions. The Huawei B535-235a is a fast, reliable 4G+ router from Huawei featuring two SMA-female antenna connections, for use with an...

paradar.co.uk

don`t know about aerials. Solwise as above would advise

 

[upnortheast]

You can get WiFi bridges but I personally never had much luck with them, mine were tp links going about 750m and worked perfectly for signal strength but kept disconnecting randomly and had to do a full reset each time including the IP addresses, which was a complete PITA.

We have wireless bridges across the yard. When first installed found they were inclined to freeze every few days requiring manual restart Found in the settings you could schedule a reboot. Have them rebooting at 2am every day - no more bother.

 

[rollestonpark]

This sounds like a better idea.

Are multi provider sim cards available?

Any links to an external dish/aerial and 4g router

I have used this in the test I did, that I mentioned above:

SXT LTE6 kit | MikroTik

The evolution of affordable connectivity in remote areas

mikrotik.com

other more concentrated versions from mikrotik are:

LHG LTE6 kit | MikroTik

Great solution for great distances

mikrotik.com

LHGG LTE6 kit | MikroTik

LHGG LTE6 KIT – a great solution for great distances. With Gigabit Ethernet, an upgraded dual-core CPU, a powerful 17 dBi antenna, and a massive heat sink, you can trust the LHGG LTE6 kit to handle any challenge!

mikrotik.com

but if your speed test on your mobile phone is slow, I would avoid going for cheaper options.
These are highly concentrated focused beams. The 'LTE6' versions also aggregate multiple frequencies from the mast to pool the connections in a faster one.
Which is needed for weak locations.
Only buy indoor LTE/4G routers if your mobile phone downloads fast indoors. Else you'll be disappointed.

A word of warning though with Mikrotik, their products are very nerdy and you need to have a very good understanding of networking to get them going (or luck)
Cause of this they are extremely configurable, but can be hard for the untrained to get working.
They get bad reviews because of this from people who have no understanding of how the products are configured.

They normally only take 1 sim card, so use 1 for your nearest mast. And line of sight is highly recommended.
Also outdoor antenna's need shielded cat5e/6 and the shield must be grounded.
Else static will build up and cause problems, eventually destroying the dish.

 

[deleted user 436632456]

We have wireless bridges across the yard. When first installed found they were inclined to freeze every few days requiring manual restart Found in the settings you could schedule a reboot. Have them rebooting at 2am every day - no more bother.

Wish I had knew that, the last time they quit on me I got thick and that was the end of them

 

[Timbo]

Wish I had knew that, the last time they quit on me I got thick and that was the end of them

The better more pro grade wifi kit has the option of auto reboot scheduling, so look out for that feature when the kit is set up remotely

 

[upnortheast]

The better more pro grade wifi kit has the option of auto reboot scheduling, so look out for that feature when the kit is set up remotely

Ours are these ---

Solwise - EnGenius outdoor 300Meg 11n 2.4GHz CPE unit - EL-ENS202EXT | Solwise Ltd

www.solwise.co.uk

 

[Timbo]

Ours are these ---

Solwise - EnGenius outdoor 300Meg 11n 2.4GHz CPE unit - EL-ENS202EXT | Solwise Ltd

www.solwise.co.uk

Also use those as ap's and the 5ghz versions for p2p

 

[Nearly]

We use Quickline round here, not sure how far North they've got yet but def in N Yorks. It's a fixed wireless system, uses microwaves, needs line of sight but that can be several miles. I get around 55mbps which is fast enough for most applications. Google it. There are other companies doing similar in different areas.

Sorry to hijack but what are quickline like? we have a fibre cable past the yard about 10m away but openreach won;t but the splice in for us to connect and sick of 2mb copper adsl

Quickline seemed to get slower once they bought the business from clannet.
We've sacked them and gone to sharing a 4g signal between 4 cottages. 75meg incoming.

 

[upnortheast]

Also use those as ap's and the 5ghz versions for p2p

Yes. For clear line of sight 5 ghz will give better speeds.
2.4 ghz signal is more robust, better if less than ideal line of sight & getting through walls etc.

If using 5ghz as an ap, some, especially older phones only work on 2.4 ghz.
A dual band unit is available to get round that. So point to point on 5 ghz, transmit a wifi signal on 2.4 ghz