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Networking and Distance

bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
a friend needs to go ~550'. line of sight is not available. running a cable and also a switch is possible, but who has used whatever outdoor boxes and which ones would you recommend? temps will be at most 105F w/ 90% humidity and down do ~10F w/ possibility of snow. how to handle the humidity is also a concern. also, does cat5e or cat6 carry a farther distance?

is there any other alternative to copper that is reasonable in price? the end result is that 10Mb/s speed would be fine as this is for internet

also, if the option is to put a switch out in the middle, is there a certain one - are there switches rated for this type of enviornment - should we pick up a used older 10Mb/s cisco unit vs a cheaper home switch?

thanks in advance,
bob
 
Your best bet would be fiber optics with a couple of media converters on either end. That's the way I would do it. It's not cheap, but that's the most reliable and proper way to go.

If you want to use copper, you must put a repeater of some sort in the middle. Whether a hub or switch, it doesn't really matter. Some sort of repeater will be necessary.
 
I would not be surprised if you got a functional link at 550' with copper. Sure, it is way over spec, but it would probably work.
That's not the big issue. Connecting two distant buildings with copper like that is inviting disaster. Any time you leave a premise it must be protected by some form of static protection device.
example 1
example 2
You can use a couple of those, one at each end.
you can use POE to run the switch in the middle if you want full rated speeds.
link to injectors.

Edit: yes, I would use fiber in this case too, but not everyone has the tools to properly terminate it.
 
any kind of static event, including nearby lightning could get conducted into the building, taking out equipment or worse.
 
is there any reasonably price fiber terminating equipment? as this would be a 1x job....and what media converters would be recommended?

thanks again
 
I'm sorry, I hired it done every time for a couple hundred bucks. In every case I had a network switch with a gbic slot on each end.
 
bob4432, fiber is the right way here, copper creates serious safety issues.

You can buy factory-manufactured pre-terminated fiber cable. It might be longer than you need. but you can just coil up slack in loops at each end. Make sure to buy direct burial cable, or to stick it in some conduit (e.g. PVC).

For your distance, use single-mode fiber and optics.
 
Multi-mode is perfectly fine at 550 feet and is more readily available than single mode.

Your best bet is not to try and do it yourself, but to hire a contractor to do it for you. That way, you know it's done right.
 
I second the "hire a contractor" suggestion.

First, a *cheap* fiber kit starts ~US$1000.00 ... for a single use, it ain't worth it.

Second, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll screw up the first dozen attempts .... these are one-shot connectors, screw up and you're tossing $10 to $35 in the waste basket PER ATTEMPT (depending on the termination system and type of connector).

Third, aside form pure trial and error, you have no way to determine that your termination was successful (and the test equipment is also very expensive)

About the best you can do from a pure "do it yourself" effort would be to call someone like Anixter (www.anixter.com) and have them pre-terminate a cable for you, then you pull, hang, and / or bury it yourself. This is ALSO NOT SUGGESTED ... as a practical matter, I can give you a better than 80% chance of screwing the cable and / or termination up during the pull, then you're out the money, and you still don't have a connection.

There are quite a few less-than-obvious key points that must be followed when you pull cable for that distance. When you bring in a (bonded, insured, professional) installer, they assume the risk and will guarantee performance and give you a report on the numbers associated with the run.

BTW: When you pull this run, pull in multiple pair ... four strands would be a good start, ideally a hybrid cable with single and multi-mode cable would be best, then you also have some "future technology" stuff covered as well..

Good Luck

Scott
 
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