I have a link between my house and my parents house Id like to get setup, its less than 300meters distance. We used a GoPro mounted to a telescoping rod to find out the line of sight issues. Looking at the video (right now its fall and no leaves) we saw one tree that the top 15-20ft of its branches will be in the way and when summer rolls around it will be full of leaves. So we wont have a line of sight. Right now we technically see one through the braches. We only saw this one tree that could be an issue for us. So at max Im thinking we would have to break through maybe 15-20ft of leaves.
Id like to know if the SXT 5 ac will work for this? I keep seeing everyone recommend 900mhz, but my link isn’t that far (300meters tops) and then it also doesn’t have the bandwidth. Id like something in the 200Mbps+ range for dropping data between us. If that SXT 5 AC cant work, what else do you all recommend?
Dear Dixit
200Mbps is too much for a NLOS link !! it’s better to use repeater or cabling may be the best way if your traffic is real time and important
Remove the branches if possible.
2,4Ghz is better for NLOS. Consider looking at SXTG-2HnD. It will not do 200Mbps, but should do 100mbps in these conditions.
I don’t necessarily need realtime data, we are mainly going to use this to send large backups between us. Cant do a cable as we 300meters apart and has to pass through 4-5 houses. Theres too much redtape and issues in trying to use the easement to put down your own cable. If I do that, Id do fiber but it would have to be encased on a tube/solid plastic like utility companies use, but the cost of that is easily going to hit 5digits just to get all the ditch-witch work done. So that is probably not an option since it also requires HOA approval which probably wont happen either.
Our only option is really a PTP wireless link. Will this SXTG-2HnD give me 100Mbps real world? I know we will probably get better speed in fall/winter without the foliage but 100Mbps is pretty decent. There are 900mhz units like the Ubiquiti NBM9 that may also do the trick but don’t know if that is really going to give me 100Mbps in real world. They claim 150Mbps+.
Wanted to chime back in here to let you all know some more findings. Originally we were looking to mount these about 50ft off the ground near the apex of the roof on the house or chimney. After relooking at options, we found a clear line of sight option at the ground level that allows us to only mount the devices only say 5-8ft off the ground max. We have a clear line of sight to the other side where it would be mounted basically to a tree trunk with no foliage issues in the middle even during summer time.
So I think we may just pull the trigger on two SXT 5 AC units and see how this works for us. Again the exact distance we intend on mounting these units is approximately 648ft or 197.5 meters.
Cars wont be an issue or people as the other house is higher than the 2nd house by about 50-100ft (goes up hill from the street). Only obstacle could be if my neighbor parked a box truck at the base of his driveway. If that happens I guess we will lose the link temporary till that box truck moves which I don’t see happening as we don’t have neighbors parking box trucks in their driveway for extended periods of time, maybe 1hr tops for deliveries.
Looking at some Fresnel calculators. Seems like at 200meters the first Fresnel zone is 2meters in radius. The 60% no obstacle seems to be a 1.2m or 4ft radius. I don’t think that’s going to be an issue, I believe we have that 4ft radius of direct line of sight in my opinion. I will have to check again now that its daylight, but hard to judge that radius for the 60% no obstacle Fresnel zone with trees 100ft away.
With that being said, the SXT 5 AC still a good option to test this link out?
Ultimately you will have to decide what you want speed or reliability and then experiment with the equipment to get the best results. If you don’t have good LOS then 900Mhz or 2.4Ghz is needed for reliable links. Light foliage and open LOS can utilize 3.65Ghz and 5Ghz. Not many here would ever recommend mounting low enough that people or vehicles can block the signal. Corrupt downloads and link loss is not typically anything that is acceptable when a Wisp is concerned. But that being said there are several links that I have seen that are sketchy looking and seem to work satisfactorily. You will get no guarantee from users here but you are on the right track if you want bandwidth vs reliability. typically you will have bandwidth that is equal to or less than half of the links datarate providing your Ethernet port and equipment support it and weather conditions permitting.
I agree with what you are saying. Its really a link to connect the two houses for data backup and other things. We understand the link may not be reliable in that if a box truck gets in front of it breaks it. But generally we probably know 90% of the time it will be up and shouldn’t be an issue.
I think we probably will test this out using the SXT 5 AC and see how that works and if needed we can move down to the 900 or 2.4ghz units if we feel this 5ghz one isn’t cutting it.
Originally the plan was to run literally a fiber to the house, but the main issue there is cost, as well as dealing with 4-5 home owners and the HOA to have a dedicated utility style tube with a fiber inside of it run across that many houses and under their driveways. Im 95% sure we were going to get a no on that answer. Not to mention even if we got a yes, the Ditch witch cost and the plastic tube to run it will easily run over 5digits.
Yes in your situation it seems like wireless is the best option. In the event you needed more bandwidth you could probably even use an Ubiquiti Airfiber 5 if you needed more throughput. or bond two SXT units.
I don’t think that Ubiquiti Airfiber will be a good idea for me only because that thing is massive and not what I call inconspicuous either when mounted. That’s almost 3ft tall just that unit. I got hooked to the SXT mainly because of its small size and how its under 6" in diameter. Seems just around 2" depth which makes it mountable to areas where its not easily seen from a distance.
On your 2nd statement, what you mean bond two units? Sorry if I sound like a newbie, but not really an expert on the WISP side of wireless technology. You saying we can put 2 pairs on each side? Is it then setup for one pair to say be dedicated for TX and one for RX or do I have this all wrong?
So what I have done to increase bandwidth is to separate the radios as much as feasibly possible like 6-10 feet and and set them up as wireless bridges. so no routing function just bridges. then plug each radio into its own eth port on a Mikrotik router and under interface bonding you can setup the desired type of bonding. So two radios connected to two ports on a Mikrotik router and the same on the other side. setup bonding on each router and then you can play around until you get it the way you want. Technically you could also not do bonding and setup OSPF on each router and have TX and RX split as you mentioned. Basically OSPF is doing math to determine the shortest path and if you make adjustments to the cost you can make TX cheaper on one link and on the other side make the TX cheaper on the other link and each side will choose the opposite one for TX.
Come on, guys, taking into account the distance (which is not 300m by the way) and the power these devices can output, if it’s not a wall or something between them I can’t possibly think there wouldn’t be a quite good link, foliage or not.
I’d suggest you to just take 2 units and put them up.
They are pretty cheap considering the alternative and If for some reason they don’t work (although the chances for them not to work i’d say it’s under 5%) you can just resell them or maybe you can return them.
But if we’re talking about 200m, that’s piece of cake for these devices.
I did get this working. However we found a small area on the ground where there was a LOS. The link actually crosses the street at slightly above ground level.