How much does a Fiber NIC cost ?

[vulcanman]

We have two offices that are seperated by 250 feet of concrete open compound. We need to network these together. I have two choices:

1 - Dig a conduit between them and place a CAT5 cable
2 - Run a fiber optic cable between them and use Fiber NIC cards at either ends. The property in the middle belong to us ... so this is not a problem

Option 3 (using 802.11b wireless) was already tested and it never worked. Worked fine at 30 feet but not any farther than that.

I think I will go with option 2 since option 1 is very expensive. So, how much does a cheap fiber NIC cost ? Having never used one ... I have no clue.

Thank you.

 

[RSMemphis]

Apparently they can be had for $100 - $150 by now:

example linky poo

I guess you will have two gateways installed in the respective buildings to forward traffic between those two?

Then you don't need a fiber switch, which would definitely drive costs up.

Sounds pretty cool!

 

[slunk]

You may get a more knowledgeable response from the Networking forum. I know this has been discussed there before. Try a search, and if your results yield nothing beneficial, post your question there. There are some pretty experienced individuals over there.

 

[jmitchell]

definitely avoid trying to use cat 5 cable for connecting different buildings. This is a definite no-no, especially at 250+feet. Fiber sounds like the way to go if you ask me...

 

[vulcanman]

<<
I guess you will have two gateways installed in the respective buildings to forward traffic between those two?

Then you don't need a fiber switch, which would definitely drive costs up.

>>



Yes ... a PC at either end will sport a second NIC (regular) ... with routing configured ... we should be able to talk ..

Does anyone know how much fibre cables go for ... the kind that is weather proof ... I don't want to run a thin fibre cable thats exposed to the outside elements.