- Oct 17, 2001
- 571
- 5
- 81
Eight neighbors of mine are considering setting up a wireless network to share internet access. We live in a relatively rural area (we live on 6 acre lots) and there is no DSL or cable access (nor will there be for the foreseeable future). We can have a T1 line run in for $500 a month and we're trying to figure out if we can easily set up a network to share the service. We would use the network to share internet access and to occasionally game amonst ourselves. We can see two big issues that need to be addressed:
First, what network technology should we use? Each house is about 120 meters from the other so cat5 cable is out of the question. Fiber would cost about $400-500 per house (NICs, cable, and conduit). So we're left with wireless. Most of the houses have a very clear line of sight. However, three of them have some trees that obstruct the line of sight. The obstruction is not complete and you can easily look through the trees and tell where the houses are. However, I'm not sure how well the various consumer grade wireless technologies (even when augmented with directional antennas) can penetrate some foliage. My thoughts are that some form of 802.11g would be best because it would provide the most room for error. That is, it's highest theoretical limit is much higher than 802.11b so if the connection is less than perfect, we might still have pretty good performance. Any thoughts? If 802.11g is the way to go, we would want to get equipment that allows for after-market high gain antennas (or cantennas). Any recommendations?
Second, whoever gets the T1 run into his house will have to set up some sort of server. Can anyone provide some info or recommend a decent website that gives some basic information on what would be needed from an equipment and software perspective to set this up? All eight up us already have basic home networks set up using the internet connection sharing that comes with WinXP but this project will probably require quite a bit more.
Thanks.
First, what network technology should we use? Each house is about 120 meters from the other so cat5 cable is out of the question. Fiber would cost about $400-500 per house (NICs, cable, and conduit). So we're left with wireless. Most of the houses have a very clear line of sight. However, three of them have some trees that obstruct the line of sight. The obstruction is not complete and you can easily look through the trees and tell where the houses are. However, I'm not sure how well the various consumer grade wireless technologies (even when augmented with directional antennas) can penetrate some foliage. My thoughts are that some form of 802.11g would be best because it would provide the most room for error. That is, it's highest theoretical limit is much higher than 802.11b so if the connection is less than perfect, we might still have pretty good performance. Any thoughts? If 802.11g is the way to go, we would want to get equipment that allows for after-market high gain antennas (or cantennas). Any recommendations?
Second, whoever gets the T1 run into his house will have to set up some sort of server. Can anyone provide some info or recommend a decent website that gives some basic information on what would be needed from an equipment and software perspective to set this up? All eight up us already have basic home networks set up using the internet connection sharing that comes with WinXP but this project will probably require quite a bit more.
Thanks.