Wireless internet to metal pole building?

[Tim Hancock]

We live in rural area with antiquated phone lines. The only option for highspeed internet is a company that uses radio signals. I contacted the company and will probably be going with their system as 22 kpbs is just not cutting it anymore at home.

Currently I have a PC in the house and a laptop in my metal pole building which is about 200' from my house. I have and underground phone wire and an underground tv antenna line going out the building.

I know nothing about wireless routers, after the internet antenna from the internet provider is installed, I am wanting to hook it to a router and be able to access the internet in both my house and my metal building. What is the best way to go? I can have the router and internet service antenna installed in either building. Can someone tell me how to procede as I know nothing about current WiFi/router systems.

[widebody911]

You might have to mount an antenna outside and run a wire inside - do cordless phones work inside/outside the shop?

[RickM]

Hmmm, 200 ft and a metal building.

Personally I would have the incoming service installed where you'll be comfortable accessing most frequently...perhaps your home office. If using one PC in the home then use the router that usually comes with the service or purchase one (no need for wireless) for a few bucks.

Then I'd run a Cat 5 or 6 cable from the home router to the Pole building and either terminate to where your laptop plugs in or to a wireless router. The wireless router (aka access point) will allow you to place the laptop any where in the shop.

Remember that the best throughput is going to be realized through a hard wire installation.

[Tim Hancock]

What is Cat 5 cable? Would my television antenna cable work? I need internet in both buildings, but the metal building is probably where it would make the most sense to install the internet service antenna due to it's higher roof and most direct line of sight to the tower several miles away.

Thom, I have no idea if a wireless phone works in my metal building. It is wood pole frame with exterior and interior metal sheeting including a metal roof and metal ceiling. The few interior walls are also sheeted with metal.

[id10t]

Tie 2 pieces of cat5 cable to your phone line that is run out to the building, and pull it thru, removing existing phone line at same time.

You can run 4 phone lines over 1 cat5, and network over the second...

CAT5 is 4 pair (8 strands) wire, looks like phone jacks but has 8 connectors in it (RJ45, vs. RJ11 for phone)

You most likely aren't going to be able to get wireless signal in/out of the metal building (wireless network, hand held phone, cell phone, etc)

[stomachmonkey]

All depends on what equipment they drop.

Some co just drop the modem that you then need to hook a router to iin order to provide access for multiple machines.

Some will drop a wireless router as well.

200' is a good distance so you will most likely need a wireless in the house and in the shop.

A lot will depend on the location of the unit in the house.

Is it on the same side of the house as the shop?

Close to or near an outside wall?

Wait to see what equipment you get.

If they drop a wireless router then go and pick up a second repeater or access point of the same brand.

If they only drop the modem then get 2 wireless units.

You may want to hook up an parabolic (directional) antenna to the main router and mount it outside the house pointing at the shop. That might allow you to get away with one unit.

SInce I know you love to DYI check out these links

http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html

http://binarywolf.com/249/

http://binarywolf.com/249/wifi_basics.htm

[RickM]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

What is Cat 5 cable? Would my television antenna cable work? I need internet in both buildings, but the metal building is probably where it would make the most sense to install the internet service antenna due to it's higher roof and most direct line of sight to the tower several miles away.

This is fine...just reverse my suggestion. This will afford you internet access in each building. As mentioned by ID10T, CAT 5 cable is kind of like heavy duty phone wire but specific to carrying data. It can be purchased by the foot at Home Depot with proper terminating connectors.

You can also daisy chain routers, whether wireless or not.

[stomachmonkey]

Cat5 is an option. Good for 100 meters between devices IF the router is capable of supplying enough juice to push the signal that far. Most consumer grade routers are not.

Check with the manufacturer to see what it is rated for.

Also cheap cable will not help. Need to get quality Cat5. Otherwise do fiber and adapt at both ends.

[widebody911]

If you go cat 5, consider using the shielded cat 5

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by id10t

Tie 2 pieces of cat5 cable to your phone line that is run out to the building, and pull it thru, removing existing phone line at same time.

You can run 4 phone lines over 1 cat5, and network over the second...

CAT5 is 4 pair (8 strands) wire, looks like phone jacks but has 8 connectors in it (RJ45, vs. RJ11 for phone)

You most likely aren't going to be able to get wireless signal in/out of the metal building (wireless network, hand held phone, cell phone, etc)

Can I simply pull 1 Cat5 thru and use it for both a phone line and computer network? Sorry, I know absolutely nothing about this stuff.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Can I simply pull 1 Cat5 thru and use it for both a phone line and computer network? Sorry, I know absolutely nothing about this stuff.

Yes, you can run phone over cat5.

It's done all the time.

[Joeaksa]

Tim,

Put a good wired installation in the hangar and use Skype to call the house!

[stomachmonkey]

A plug for a phone line is referred to as an RJ45. For ethernet it's RJ11. They look nearly identical, the RJ11 is wider.

Where does your phone line come in in relation to the the home computer?

Let's assume you have the internet access start at the shop, they should drop the modem/router next to where the phone enters to ease integrating the two.

The cat5 will run out to the house and terminate at the phone drop as well.

Then you'll need to run some cat5 to the home PC.

Total from modem/router to home PC is limited to 100 meters max.

[id10t]

You can run ethernet and phone (2 lines) over 1 cat5 cable, but it is "out of spec" and you will be limited to 10mb connection ...

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by id10t

You can run ethernet and phone (2 lines) over 1 cat5 cable, but it is "out of spec" and you will be limited to 10mb connection ...

Yeah but he's on dial up right now and is going with a radio broadband solution which I doubt will get him more than 3 mb of bandwidth anyway.

[HardDrive]

Tim,

These guys are on target with the suggestions for running Cat 5/6 wire. Its easy work with, and you can get everything you need at Home Depot. 200' is pretty long cable run, so I would go with Cat 6e. I don't know if they make Cat cable with jacketing for underground burial.

Another option would be a point to point wireless setup. Instead of a tradition setup with a single broadcast point, point to point setups are designed to jump across gaps. The skys the limit on price, but you can find them relatively inexpensively.

Here is a kit: http://radiolabs.com/products/wireless/point-to-point-bridge.php

If you are willing to use used equipement, we might be a able to put something together for less. I've only worked with Cisco products, but they are a lot of $$$. Can I assume you don't want to sink $1500 into this?

[stomachmonkey]

Who is your cell provider and how good is the coverage/signal in your area?

You might get away with a verizon 3g pc card in the laptop and then share the connection with the PC in the house.

~$60 a month for unlimited.

[RickM]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Tim,

These guys are on target with the suggestions for running Cat 5/6 wire. Its easy work with, and you can get everything you need at Home Depot. 200' is pretty long cable run, so I would go with Cat 6e. I don't know if they make Cat cable with jacketing for underground burial.

They make Exterior Cat5 cable...I'd probably go with Cat 5e at a minimum. Would be best to run underground through PVC pipe.

[Tim Hancock]

Alltell with good coverage.

Somehow doing it with radio repeaters sounds good, as our ground is frozen now and I dont believe our present phone line and tv antenna lines are run thru conduit...rather they were probably just buried.

The house definitely needs to be wireless, as my wife and daughters would want to use their laptops there, but I could get by with poor or no wireless in my shop, as I typically use the computer in just one location. Is there any chance my existing phone line or co-ax cable for my tv antenna would work to run the computer signal thru? I could live without either one of them if it allowed a simple hookup to my computer.

[RickM]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Is there any chance my existing phone line or co-ax cable for my tv antenna would work to run the computer signal thru? I could live without either one of them if it allowed a simple hookup to my computer.

I will say no to this. The data wire mentioned makes use of "twisted pairs" of wire designed to keep from being infiltrated by external interference. While your phone wire may be twisted it is likely not up to the specs required.

From Wiki: "Twisted pair cabling is a form of wiring in which two conductors are wound together for the purposes of canceling out electromagnetic interference (EMI) from external sources, electromagnetic radiation from the UTP cable, and crosstalk between neighboring pairs."