Long Story:
My uncle is looking to get internet access in his home, problem is the cable company won't run a cable to the house because of distance. They will not run a line over 300ft from the road. My uncle lives about 600ft behind my grandfather's house on the other side of an open field. My grandfathers house currently has cable internet and you can see my uncle's house from the window next to the modem. I know consumer routers won't reach that far but are there any possible options for getting wired or wireless internet back there that don't cost a fortune?
TL;DR:
Looking to get internet in a building on the other side of an open field, 600ft away from the source building. Wired or Wireless options?
Good news, I was in this exact situation just recently! I had no idea this stuff even existed on a retail consumer level, let alone for as cheap as it is. The solution will cost you $99. You need a pair of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-NanoStation-loco-M2-Wireless/dp/B00HXT8FFI
What you are looking for is something called a "wireless backhaul" system, which is the same concept as a Pringles cantenna, but in retail format. The Loco M2is made for outdoor, line-of-sight (well, this is a 2.4ghz unit, so it can handle a
bit of interference like a few trees & whatnot) , point-to-point connections - basically a long-range wireless Ethernet wire, haha. Your setup sounds perfect for this! You buy two of them, aim them at each other (doesn't need to be laser-perfect), and voila, magic cordless long-range Wi-Fi! (range is about 3 miles) You get one unit per box (currently $46 shipped; you'll need two units), which includes the antenna, a zip-tie (lets you mount it to a pole), and a PoE adapter. The PoE adapter has 2 Ethernet ports & one power cable, so all you need is a couple of Ethernet cables per access point (AP). Alternatively for mounting, they sell a combo window/wall mount for $23 shipped. You mentioned there are windows; you could just suction-cup these inside each window & point them at each other:
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-NanoStation-Window-Mount/dp/B004EHUR8U/
This is the basic installation procedure:
1. Buy two units plus some Ethernet cables, and a dumb switch or WAP for your uncle's house
2. Get a laptop (you'll want one with both Ethernet & Wi-Fi for easy setup)
3. Program the transmitter as an access point (this is the one you'll plug into the router with the Internet connection at your grandpa's house).
4. Program the receiver as a bridged station (this is the one you'll plug into a dumb switch at your uncle's house)
To program the transmitter: (do this at your grandpa's house, also note that this is wordy just because I had to write it all out, but it only takes a minute or two to do)
1. Set your laptop's Ethernet port to static, 192.168.1.19
2. Connect the laptop to the LAN Ethernet port on the PoE adapter
3. Connect the AP to the PoE Ethernet port on the PoE adapter
4. Plug in the PoE power cable
5. After it boots up (LAN light will light up green on the back of the unit), log into:
https://192.168.1.20 (make sure it's httpS)
6. Default user/pass is ubnt/ubnt. Then starting on the top row of tabs:
7. Logo tab: uncheck airMax, then click the Change button in the lower-right corner
8. Wireless tab: Set mode to Access Point, check the WDS box, give your SSID a name, set channel width to 20mhz, set security to WPA2-AES, add a password (key), then click Change
9. Network tab: Should already be set to Bridge mode. Give the unit a static IP here. For example, 192.168.1.75 (or 192.168.0.75 if your grandpa's router uses 192.168.0.x). Set the gateway to 192.168.1.1. Optionally set to the DNS to whatever, like say Google (8.8.8.8), or just leave it blank (WDS transparently forwards networking requests to the router, I tested & this works left blank), then click Change.
10. System tab: Change device name to something like "Long Range Transmitter", set your time zone, change the username/password, click Change, and now finally, click Apply at the top right to save all of the changes.
11. Unplug the Ethernet cable from your laptop & move that cable to your grandpa's wireless router.
12. Try connecting your laptop to your new AP SSID & run a speedtest on Fast.com to verify operation
To program the receiver: (do this at your grandpa's house to make sure everything works before lugging it over to your uncle's house)
1. Keep your laptop's Ethernet port on static
2. Same setup as before, plug in the 2nd AP to power, LAN to laptop, PoE Eth to the AP
3. Log into
https://192.168.1.20 again (ubnt/ubnt). This time on the top row of tabs:
4. Wireless tab: should be set to Station as default, next to SSID click select, find the transmitter's SSID (the one you just made above), and lock to AP using the password key. Click Change.
5. Network tab: same deal, bridge mode default, change the IP to say 192.168.1.76 & the rest, click Change.
6. System tab: Change device name to something like "Long Range Receiver", set time zone, change user/pass, click Change, click Apply.
7. Set your laptop's Ethernet port back to auto-obtain the IP address. Once the AP finishes rebooting, you should be able to connect Ethernet > Receiver AP > (wireless) > Transmitter AP > grandpa's wireless router > modem > Internet. Go to Fast.com to check your speed.
Then run down to your uncle's house & mount that puppy (there are status LED's on the back to tell you how you're doing when you're aiming) & see if you can get some Internet from far away. Now, this is just a very basic setup & is the tip of the iceberg. There's all kinds of wicked cool stuff like airView to help you set everything up & see how the signals are in your area. You can do additional configurations with the point-to-point setup using various settings as well. This is just kind of a basic "plug it together & make it work" kind of setup. Check out the online manuals & Youtube videos for more detailed instructions. But you should be able to get up & running in about 10 minutes after opening the box. I had the receiving AP plugged into a 5-port splitter with a couple of hardwired computers & they both pulled IP addresses through DHCP no problem. If your uncle wants wi-fi, just get a cheap wireless router & turn off the DHCP routing stuff so it just acts a dumb switch & AP.
Here is a photo of the AP unit next to a pen, super tiny:
This is the PoE injector next to a small wireless mouse. PoE port goes to the AP & LAN goes to your switch or computer:
The AP is weatherproof. There is a clip on the bottom that pops off to plug in the Ethernet port, as well as a reset button. In addition, there is a reset button (use a paperclip) on the bottom of the PoE injector (in case the AP itself is mounted in a location that is a pain to get to). Software is super easy. Everything is very compact. They sell outdoor-friendly Ethernet (TOUGHCable) if you want to mount it outside.