What type of wifi antenna's for gigabit across 2km distance?

[stu17323]

Hi, I want to share my friends gigabit internet connection 2km away, as he is in the only subdivision in town with fibre. I understand I should use 5ghz parabolic antennas for the speeds I want at this distance.

Iv'e been looking at this website but I have no idea what gains are necessary?

Do I need two parabolic antenna's facing each other, or could I get away with one big antenna facing his current WAP.

Thanks, Dylan.

 

[The Paladin]

for long distance like your suggesting , yes you will be using antennas, but will need directional, and line of sight (no hills between you and the other location) and your antennas will not be Wi-Fi but will be cell based transmitting wireless. and there is your problem it requires a permit (well in the usa anyways) this is a commonly used by ISP in farming area and out of the city smaller cities.. I used to have one on the roof of my house (on top of a 30ft mast) to be in "LOS" line of sight with transmitter..

5GHZ Wi-Fi has a limited distance, your looking at best antennas +40db get you maybe 300ft at a shot, then you will need a repeater, and another antenna and another antenna... 1KM is about 3280Feet/300 = 11 antennas per km alone not counting their equipment attached to the antenna's (repeaters power etc.) financially not practical.

 

[stu17323]

for long distance like your suggesting , yes you will be using antennas, but will need directional, and line of sight (no hills between you and the other location) and your antennas will not be Wi-Fi but will be cell based transmitting wireless. and there is your problem it requires a permit (well in the usa anyways) this is a commonly used by ISP in farming area and out of the city smaller cities.. I used to have one on the roof of my house (on top of a 30ft mast) to be in "LOS" line of sight with transmitter..

5GHZ Wi-Fi has a limited distance, your looking at best antennas +40db get you maybe 300ft at a shot, then you will need a repeater, and another antenna and another antenna... 1KM is about 3280Feet/300 = 11 antennas per km alone not counting their equipment attached to the antenna's (repeaters power etc.) financially not practical.

On the website I linked it says you can get up to 5miles distance with the highest gain 5ghz antenna. With a max possible speed of 1.3Gbps?

 

[USAFRet]

On the website I linked it says you can get up to 5miles distance with the highest gain 5ghz antenna. With a max possible speed of 1.3Gbps?

Under absolute perfect conditions.

What, specifically, is between the two locations? Actual line of sight?

 

[stu17323]

On the website I linked it says you can get up to 5miles distance with the highest gain 5ghz antenna. With a max possible speed of 1.3Gbps?

Under absolute perfect conditions.

What, specifically, is between the two locations? Actual line of sight?

Yes sorry, I should have mentioned there is line of sight.

 

[USAFRet]

Assuming they have a good return policy if it does not work, buy them. Try them.

But that "1.3 GBPS" is pure marketing speak. That is almost certainly the 2 way number aggregated. So 650MBPS in each direction. And if you see half of THAT in actual performance, I'd be very surprised

Aim carefully.

 

[stu17323]

Assuming they have a good return policy if it does not work, buy them. Try them.

But that "1.3 GBPS" is pure marketing speak. That is almost certainly the 2 way number aggregated. So 650MBPS in each direction. And if you see half of THAT in actual performance, I'd be very surprised

Aim carefully.

Thanks for the replies, so should I buy two of the highest gain antenna's for the fastest speed?

 

[USAFRet]

Assuming they have a good return policy if it does not work, buy them. Try them.

But that "1.3 GBPS" is pure marketing speak. That is almost certainly the 2 way number aggregated. So 650MBPS in each direction. And if you see half of THAT in actual performance, I'd be very surprised

Aim carefully.

Thanks for the replies, so should I buy two of the highest gain antenna's for the fastest speed?

You should try whatever combination they recommend for that range.

 

[stu17323]

Assuming they have a good return policy if it does not work, buy them. Try them.

But that "1.3 GBPS" is pure marketing speak. That is almost certainly the 2 way number aggregated. So 650MBPS in each direction. And if you see half of THAT in actual performance, I'd be very surprised

Aim carefully.

Thanks for the replies, so should I buy two of the highest gain antenna's for the fastest speed?

You should try whatever combination they recommend for that range.

Thanks, I have actually found quite a few different cheaper wifi antennas capable 2km. Do you know if the speed increases with higher gain antennas making it worth buying a high gain parabolic antenna? What would be the speed differences between one 30Dbi antenna with the normal WAP vs two lets say, 24Dbi antennas?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks, I have actually found quite a few different cheaper wifi antennas capable 2km. Do you know if the speed increases with higher gain antennas making it worth buying a high gain parabolic antenna? What would be the speed differences between one 30Dbi antenna with the normal WAP vs two lets say, 24Dbi antennas?

At distances like that, just establishing any connection is good.
"Higher speed" is just a bonus.

 

[stu17323]

Thanks, I have actually found quite a few different cheaper wifi antennas capable 2km. Do you know if the speed increases with higher gain antennas making it worth buying a high gain parabolic antenna? What would be the speed differences between one 30Dbi antenna with the normal WAP vs two lets say, 24Dbi antennas?

At distances like that, just establishing any connection is good.
"Higher speed" is just a bonus.

Are you sure? Tp-Link says it's 2.4Ghz parabolic antenna works 56km away?

http://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-5067_TL-ANT2424B.html

 

[USAFRet]

Are you sure? Tp-Link says it's 2.4Ghz parabolic antenna works 56km away?

http://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-5067_TL-ANT2424B.html

And at 56km, how tall of a tower do you need to compensate for the curvature of the earth?
Line of sight.

 

[stu17323]

Are you sure? Tp-Link says it's 2.4Ghz parabolic antenna works 56km away?

http://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-5067_TL-ANT2424B.html

And at 56km, how tall of a tower do you need to compensate for the curvature of the earth?
Line of sight.

I have line of sight. So you'd think if you can get 2.4Ghz wifi to work with a 24Dbi antenna 56km away, it would be decently fast at 2km with two 30Dbi 5Ghz antennas.

 

[USAFRet]

I have line of sight. So you'd think if you can get 2.4Ghz wifi to work with a 24Dbi antenna 56km away, it would be decently fast at 2km with two 30Dbi 5Ghz antennas.

You'll have to try in it your environment.
They say it will work. It probably will.

 

[bill001g]

This is a product designed to really run at gigabit speeds.
https://www.ubnt.com/airfiber/airfiber5/

The price on that is massively more than the devices you are looking at. If could really be done for $100 do you think these products would even exist.

The big issue you are neglecting is the signal loss in the cable connecting the antenna to the router. Microwave cable that has low loss is extremely expensive.

If as I suspect you can not afford to buy a gigabit connection ubiquiti sell other products that are designed for this application. They will work much better than anything you can build yourself. When you consider the total cost of the antenna, cable and radios it many times will be cheaper to just buy outdoor bridges.

 

[stu17323]

This is a product designed to really run at gigabit speeds.
https://www.ubnt.com/airfiber/airfiber5/

The price on that is massively more than the devices you are looking at. If could really be done for $100 do you think these products would even exist.

The big issue you are neglecting is the signal loss in the cable connecting the antenna to the router. Microwave cable that has low loss is extremely expensive.

If as I suspect you can not afford to buy a gigabit connection ubiquiti sell other products that are designed for this application. They will work much better than anything you can build yourself. When you consider the total cost of the antenna, cable and radios it many times will be cheaper to just buy outdoor bridges.

The product you linked is designed for 100+km!! Surely I don't need to get that for just under 2km!?

Also signal loss from the cable won't be a large issue, as the cable can be as short as it can be, because there would be an access point right next to the antenna.

 

[stu17323]

Alright I have found hundreds of cheap wifi antennas / wireless bridges that operate at a 2km distance with speeds varying from 150mbps to 400mbps. So you can obviously do this but I still really want to know what setup I should consider to get the fastest speeds without breaking the bank.

What about this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/900Mbps-Outdoor-Pro-CPE-5KM-Long-Range-5GHz-Wireless-WiFi-Access-Point-Bridge-US-/222565748529?hash=item33d1f3cf31:g:94EAAOSwpjRZcFfJ or this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ubiquiti-NBE-5AC-Gen2-NanoBeam-5AC-19dBi-5Ghz-Wireless-802-11AC-Bridge-CPE-/172733914786?hash=item2837be5ea2:g:uMMAAOSwCkZZQ51C would they be faster or slower than the parabolic antenna's?

 

[bill001g]

You main issue is you are going to have to spend lots more time studding this topic it is a lot more complex that you think. The shape of the antenna mostly is related to distance it will go. The more narrow the beam the more distance it will go. A narrow beam also help to avoid interference from other wifi devices in the path.

I have use other ubiquiti units similar to the ones you link and they have worked well.

The key thing is you are going to have to accept that you will be very very lucky to get 100mbit.


If you look at the sites that test routers in a home type of environment they are lucky to get 300mbits from the most advanced systems. The large issue you have is to get these they need to run 4 antenna on both ends. This is not even close to practical to do that long distance. Some of the newer outdoor bridge units have 2 antenna in the same physical enclosure...I will avoid the details. This allows them to send 2 overlapping signals and improve the speed somewhat. The traffic is still half duplex both ends are transmitting on both antenna at the same time so it massively reduces the maximum speed.

It would be so nice if manufacture in wireless did not lie so much and use all the fake speed numbers.

As long as you will accept say 50-75mbits you will get that using most outdoor bridges. Getting more requires fancy technology.

 

[stu17323]

You main issue is you are going to have to spend lots more time studding this topic it is a lot more complex that you think. The shape of the antenna mostly is related to distance it will go. The more narrow the beam the more distance it will go. A narrow beam also help to avoid interference from other wifi devices in the path.

I have use other ubiquiti units similar to the ones you link and they have worked well.

The key thing is you are going to have to accept that you will be very very lucky to get 100mbit.


If you look at the sites that test routers in a home type of environment they are lucky to get 300mbits from the most advanced systems. The large issue you have is to get these they need to run 4 antenna on both ends. This is not even close to practical to do that long distance. Some of the newer outdoor bridge units have 2 antenna in the same physical enclosure...I will avoid the details. This allows them to send 2 overlapping signals and improve the speed somewhat. The traffic is still half duplex both ends are transmitting on both antenna at the same time so it massively reduces the maximum speed.

It would be so nice if manufacture in wireless did not lie so much and use all the fake speed numbers.

As long as you will accept say 50-75mbits you will get that using most outdoor bridges. Getting more requires fancy technology.

Thanks so much for all the help! Yeah the fake numbers are a massive pain, iv'e seen identical bridges advertised as completely different speeds. It would be really awesome if someone bought a bunch of these cheap antennas/bridges off ebay and benchmarked them. I think I will probably buy a couple of the 30Dbi 5Ghz parabolic antennas from ebay and hope for the best speed.

Update: Ok so after some research and help from my other thread I now know that the maximum speed you could ever get with this setup using normal wifi standards is 866.7mbps. But that is likely far from the actual speed because that would require QAM-256 modulation, which needs really good signal quality, and also 160mhz channel widths, which would require a fairly expensive router.

So I am still really curious as to what kind of signal quality in db you would get with two 5ghz parabolic antenna's 2km away with line of sight at various transmitting power?