Bridging buildings

Captain Pooka

Daemon Poster
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1,108
Alright, we're near the end of 2012. There's bound to be some new products people have been exposed to other than Cisco.

Right now I need to network a Church. The church has three buildings that arn't very far apart, but are composed of thick brick. Even an extender doesn't penetrate the brick well. What I was thinking is just briding the three buildings.

Just like anywhere else, I was thinking three outside bridges. Drill a hole through the brick and have my switch placed inside. Cisco's bridges are running ~1k a pop. I see engenius is running ~250 on some of theirs that look pretty solid. The church doesn't have a lot of money, that's why I need to get something not to cheap... but not the most expensive out there. Anyone have suggestions?
 
I use TPLink. I've had very good results with their products and I do networking for the office and internet for the guests. I've done some massive layouts and honestly not one hiccup anywhere.
For all it does and how reliable it is, the bang for the buck ratio is very good.
 
you want wireless bridges?

if you want to spend very little money I recommend using gear from a company called planet. they do a box that can run as an access point, (serving wireless) or as a client. or act as a bridge using WDS.
I'll let you know the model number when I'm home from work and can just read it off the units.

WDS is the way to go for this I imagine.

I bought 2 of these for my own WDS bridge. they cost about £20 each (so very within budget).
you'll need to get a separate waterproof mounting

the only question I have is...
if you are happy to drill holes, why not run cable? I assume when you say the buildings are not far apart you mean within 100m?

Personally I'd run CAT5 if I were allowed to drill in the walls anyway. and I'd either bury the cable, (or if that weren't possible) I'd run a steel cable between the buildings and clip the cat5 to that.

Then I'd just have a few access points effectively connected to just a single switch.

Physical CAT5 will likely be a much cheaper solution than any wireless.
 
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