Running internet to a building 660 feet away

   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #1  

quicksandfarmer

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
2,499
Location
Coastal Rhode Island
Tractor
Jinma 354, purchased 2007
The title says it. I have high speed internet, I want to extend it to another building on my property that's 660 feet away. Interested in hearing from people with real-world experience. It seems one approach would be to do it wireless with long-range WIFI, the other would be to string fiber optic.

Thoughts?
Thanks.
 
   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #2  
I have used these on many occasions both at work to link up weigh sharks on conveyor belts as well as at home to link my shop around 1000' away. There is no replacement for a hard wire but do you have the ability to do a fiber run? Also, my brother just had a second fiber line installed at his shop and cost was only an extra $1.50 a month from his provider.
 
   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #3  
I tried wireless to my shop, but couldn't get signal through the steel walls.

Ran ethernet underground about 200 feet total and works great. Interested to hear from experts if you can go 600.
 
   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #4  
I tried wireless to my shop, but couldn't get signal through the steel walls.

Ran ethernet underground about 200 feet total and works great. Interested to hear from experts if you can go 600.
Will it work? Yup, but may not offer optimal speeds. I have ran those distances in quarries feeding cameras with no issues.
 
   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #5  
The title says it. I have high speed internet, I want to extend it to another building on my property that's 660 feet away. Interested in hearing from people with real-world experience. It seems one approach would be to do it wireless with long-range WIFI, the other would be to string fiber optic.

Thoughts?
Thanks.
depends, do you have a clear line of sight between buildings? If so, a wireless access point or wifi bridge (my preference) are an easy answer. The bridge with a wifi router in the shop, barn, w/e is rather user friendly. Odds are the existing fiber switch only has one access point, so you would need some more hardware to convert fiber to ethernet.
regular ethernet would need a booster midway (100 meter max)
 
   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #6  
My separate garage I just ran cable (since that's how I get internet today) and a separate router.

I don't have the two networks talking to each other, but I get full speed in both the house and garage this way.

Getting through metal may mean a mast or something on the roof/side to catch the signal if you just want to expand the network.

There are some who have used the ubuiti like JH and have been happy on this site too.
 
   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #7  
Like most things...depends. Contrary to what internet gadget guys like to sell, hardwired and shielded is always better. But much more expensive. Underground Feeder ethernet cable is available and can certainly be done with time and money.

But, you might try some wireless systems at that distance first. If, and only if, you don't have anything major blocking straight line signal transmission. Put something in between the antenna transmitter and antenna receiver and things rapidly degrade.

I have done something like you want on the farm at a distance of 350 feet (actually going through some wood and vegetation obstructions). Before you spend a lot of money, you might try something like this:


That unit was pretty cheap for an experiment...and it works. It broadcasts a signal from inside my house to a receiver unit on the outside of my shop. The shop is tin or it might have actually established a signal to the antenna receiver and router inside. If your building is tin, however, you are going to have to do what I did: mount the unit outside (it's allweather), run Power Over Internet (POE) through a bushing to the inside of the building (POE and ethernet power ports are supplied with these antennas), and connect to a router inside and you're off and running.

I have no trouble running a video or getting on the internet to order parts with this system. Now, the box says its for Starlink...well, not so much. Look around on Amazon - there are a lot of these antennas with reviews that don't say Starlink. But, I used a Starlink modem/router to establish a DECO mesh system in an old 1840s brick house with solid brick interior walls. Yeah, you can do that if you have some doorways the signal can get through. Point I'm making is that I wirelessly sent a signal from a DECO mesh "repeater" connected to Starlink's modem/router on the first floor to a DECO mesh unit on the second floor of this house and attached the POE and ethernet cable to the "broadcast" wireless antenna aimed at the shop through a window.

Anyway, it worked fine. And was a cheap experiment to try. I am assuming you have good bandwidth at your house. But...if you have a lot of stuff between the transmission point and receiving point, it might not work. If you live someplace with a lot of possible radio interference nearby, it might not work. This is kinda' old fashioned line-of-sight radio stuff. But, if it looks at all feasible, I would certainly give it a try. Dragging thick equipment tech manuals back and forth to the house for parts ordering really sucks, and I was originally going to put service underground like you implied.

Best of Luck.
 
   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #8  
The title says it. I have high speed internet, I want to extend it to another building on my property that's 660 feet away. Interested in hearing from people with real-world experience. It seems one approach would be to do it wireless with long-range WIFI, the other would be to string fiber optic.

Thoughts?
Thanks.
Both wireless and fiber can work; if you have something close to line of sight between the buildings, if not, fiber is the way to go. I would distinguish between point to point systems (potential range miles) and WiFi extenders (typically hundreds of feet). Are you ok with a system going out in heavy rain or snow?

If you supply a few more details, e.g. can you trench easily, do you have a good line of sight, are you ok with external antennas on both buildings, etc., folks here can probably give better advice.

All the best,

Peter
 
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   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #9  
Both wireless and fiber can work; if you have something close to line of sight between the buildings, if not, fiber is the way to go. I would distinguish between point to point systems (potential range miles) and WiFi extenders (typically hundreds of feet). Are you ok with a system going out in heavy rain or snow?

If you supply a few more details, e.g. can you trench easily, do you have a good line of sight, are you ok with external antennas on both buildings, etc., folks here can probably give better advice.

All the best,

Peter
Good points - "extenders" are not going to do it. I should have used correct terminology: "Point to Point." You're essentially setting up a small radio station at your internet modem source ISP. Then you're broadcasting the signal through the antenna described, directionally, to another antenna which is looking for that signal. The rest of it is just routing that signal to dependent devices in your building.

As to the Chinese version of distance capabilities expressed in miles...only in a perfect world (which we never seem to live in LOL...)

And, as cautioned by ponytug, weather can play a part. However, I mounted my receiver antenna fairly high under an eave at the shop and seem to have few problems (well, except Starlink at the house may go off for a few minutes in a complete downpour...not in snow, it has a heater in its antenna which seems to work well.)

Good Luck
 
   / Running internet to a building 660 feet away #10  
Good points - "extenders" are not going to do it. I should have used correct terminology: "Point to Point." You're essentially setting up a small radio station at your internet modem source ISP. Then you're broadcasting the signal through the antenna described, directionally, to another antenna which is looking for that signal. The rest of it is just routing that signal to dependent devices in your building.

As to the Chinese version of distance capabilities expressed in miles...only in a perfect world (which we never seem to live in LOL...)

And, as cautioned by ponytug, weather can play a part. However, I mounted my receiver antenna fairly high under an eave at the shop and seem to have few problems (well, except Starlink at the house may go off for a few minutes in a complete downpour...not in snow, it has a heater in its antenna which seems to work well.)

Good Luck
An extender can absolutely do it. I can easily send a very strong signal the distance he is needing (and further) using a directional antenna with no need for a point to point network.
 

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