Networking two houses together.

[reallyfull]

My friends and I would like to have a wired network going between our houses. I don't even know if this is possible but I'm sure I could get some answers here. Our houses are located directly next too each other about 200' apart. Budget would be $300. Uses would be for LAN gaming and the occasional file sharing. There are six of us total (3 at each house) that would be playing at the same time.

 

[Ernie99]

You can do this, but it is going to cost more than $300. Your main problem to overcome is differing ground potentials between the buildings. Then of secondary concern is the a 200 ft trench path between the houses, running of conduit, wire. Make sure you call before you dig. Do you live in a subdivision with an HOA? Check your covenant restrictions. Check to see if there are any rights of way or easements along your 200 ft stretch. This could be a problem if the easement owner wants to dig at some point in the future. Basically, I am saying do not do this. Go wireless instead. Directional, high gain antennas will transmit 200 ft.

 

[nweaver]

indeed. The absolute best option is to trench fiber, and convert on each end.

the easiest option would be wireless bridges between houses.

 

[kevnich2]

I agree with nweaver. IMO, put two wireless routers in bridge mode pointing at each other. This'll give you a nice wireless 54mb bridge. Total cost would most likely just be the cost of the routers ($50 each). As far as putting wired between the houses, I'd rule out CAT5 just because of the potential issues with it. You'll need to do fiber but as stated above, you'll need to call before you dig, check into your HOA for any issues there, get conduit, fiber and either two fiber-ethernet converters or two fiber switches at both ends. There's no way you can do this for $300. Cheaply, your look at $100 for the fiber, another 100-200 each for the converters plus the conduit, labor, etc for digging the trench and putting holes in your house.