WIRELESS BRIDGE SETUP APPLICATION SCENARIOS:
QUESTION1:
The information provided on your web site has been very valuable. I’m looking for some expert advice on how best to reliably and costs effectively extend my homes wireless network to an unattached building on my property, and how to setup a wireless bridge. The metal building sits about 75’ away from my main residence, with about 15’ of elevation change (e.g. slightly up a hill). There are no LOS obstructions and since I live in a very rural area, other wireless traffic is mostly non-existent. I currently use 2 Linksys WRE54G extenders to provide access to the detached building, but the connection does not provide the reliability that I require.
For my home network I currently use a Linksys WRT600N router which manages connectivity very well for about a dozen wireless G and N devices. I currently run WPA-Personal with AES and TKIP encryption, with the N traffic on the dedicated 5 GHz band and G traffic on 2.4 GHz. I have a Linksys WET200 wireless bridge to provide connectivity for some of my home entertainment gear.
My wife has a Mac Book Pro with built in Wireless-N network adapter and our children have notebooks with Wireless-G adapters. My preference would be to preserve the wireless capability within the classroom. Based upon what I’ve read on your site there are a number of solutions such as WAP with directional antennas or even wireless point to point bridge. I’m looking to make a purchase and perform the installation immediately and would appreciate any recommendations for a cost effective and reliable solution.
ANSWER1:
What you need is a cost effective point to point bridge to connect the two locations. This will allow you to have a separate wireless router inside the remote building, which can be used for local access to the laptops in that building. The part number is GNS-1151N, which includes everything you need to connect the two locations. At the main location, you will connect the radio to the LAN port on your wireless N router. On the remote building you will connect the radio/antenna to the WAN port on your remote wireless router, (routers not included.). The radios should be mounted outside, and pointed at each other. They are housed in a weather proof enclosure, with a small form factor of 6″ x 4″ square. The wireless bridge comes pre-configured, so all you have to do is mount them and power up.
—————————————————————————————————–
QUESTION2:
I have a customer that needs to connect their network to a building about 300ft away. I was looking at the wireless kit, Part # GNS-1141. Is this the least expensive solution you offer for share a internet signal between two locations, or to connect line of sight internet at 300ft.?
ANSWER2:
The most cost effective solution to bridge two buildings at 300ft, with clear line of sight, is the GNS-1162N,. This will include everything you need to connect the locations. The radios are outdoor rated, and weatherproof, similar to the GNS-1141, however, if you only require a simply wireless connection to bridge your two remote locations, and do not require high throughput, the GNS-1162N will work great in your situation. The connection will avoid other 2.4GHz frequencies and provide the faster, cheapest wireless bridge solution. Using the wireless n bridge, will allow you to connect the two locations similar to having an invisible Ethernet cable connected between your buildings.
—————————————————————————————————–
QUESTION3:
Hello, my dad has DSL at his home, I’m 500 ft. farther off the road and can’t get the DSL yet. We want to be able to pick up wireless from my house, the line of sight is pretty well clear what would be the best & cheapest wireless bridge to do this?
Thank you.
ANSWER3:
If you are 500ft. away from your fathers Internet connection, you have two options. The first would be to use a cheap wireless bridge, such as the GNS-1151N. This will include a complete wireless bridge setup, that ships pre-configured and can even be used for long distance wireless bridging up to 1/2 mile. It includes everything you need for “out of the box” operation.
Another option, and one that may be a bit more cost effective, is to create a point to point wireless link between your two locations using a cheap wireless bridge, such as the GNS-1172N, which means having an antenna on each end, pointing toward each other. The antenna on his home connects to the wireless routers LAN port, and the antenna on your home connects to your PC’s LAN port, or even to another indoor wireless router (WAN port). This will give you a quality signal between the two, and a solid connection. The radios will be mounted outdoors, and only a single cat5 cable will be required to provide data and power, which simplifies the installation. The antennas included in this wireless to wired bridge are very small, only about 3″x4″. They are outdoor rated, and weatherproof. A solution such as this one would be much more reliable then the older linksys wireless ethernet bridges. A linksys router, or cisco wireless router can be used on either end (not included). The exact router you choose is completely user preference. For more information on increasing your wireless range indoors, using wireless routers, and range extenders, or mesh networks, click here.
—————————————————————————————————–
QUESTION4:
Hi, I have been searching for a wireless bridge connection to transfer data from an IP camera at a remote location, and bridge the video to our home network. Your device GNS-1172N, 5GHz Wireless N Bridge, is the only device so far that meets all my requirements (since it has a very high data rate, it is small in size, with minimal setup and works in -40 °C weather which is very important since the camera will be located in the far north of Canada). I was wondering if this cheap wireless bridge will include everything I need to connect my two locations, which are about 250ft. apart? I hope you are having a great day. Thanks
ANSWER4:
For a distance of 250ft., and with only 1 or 2 IP cameras transmitting video across the wireless link, yes the GNS-1172N would be your best wireless bridge to use for this application. Because your distance is very short, you do not require a long distance wireless bridge to connect the two locations, and because you are not transmitting a large amount of data, you will not need a very high throughput wireless bridge. The GNS-1172N is pre-configured for “out of the box” installation, as there is no setup required to get this bridge wireless up and running. Setting up a wireless bridge such as the GNS-1172N requires pointing the antennas at each other, connecting power to the included POE injectors, and using the external LED’s for alignment. You will have the option to use any wireless n router at the remote location, such as any linksys router, or Ubiquiti router for local WiFi access. You can also connect a switch at the remote location if you have more then 1 IP camera connected at once. Items are in stock. Order online, or give us a call if you have any other questions.
—————————————————————————————————–
QUESTION5:
What is the best wireless bridge for 1/2 mile, clear unobstructed line of sight? We are trying to send 4x, 3MP, PTZ cameras from a remote barn, to our home, in order to view live video across the wireless.
ANSWER5:
Hi, the best wireless bridge for 1/2 mile, line of sight, would be either the GNS-1151N or the GNS-1155. The GNS-1151N would support the 4 cameras, however the exact speed that you get across the link will depend on what you set the FPS to be. With a full 30FPS, and 4 PTZ cameras, you may experience some slight lag across the connection, however it will still work flawlessly. If you want to be able to view all 4 cameras at the same time, with full 30FPS and live view, then I suggest upgrading to the more commercial grade, full duplex, GNS-1155. This will prevent any lag, and you have no latency across the link. Both items are in stock, and both wireless n bridges ship pre-configured. The GNS-1155 is a long distance wireless n bridge. The GNS-1151N is a wireless N bridge that replaces the linksys wireless Ethernet bridge. Both wireless n bridges can connect to your existing linksys router, or linksys e3000 router. The difference between a access point vs router, is that the router has 4 LAN ports on the back, handles DHCP and has firewall security settings. An access point is strickly a wireless node, which extends the range of your wireless network, wireless booster, wifi booster, or wifi extender.
