Question about running ethernet a few blocks in the city

[TechBoyJK]

I have a private office that resides in a bandwidth exchange building. I'm getting an apartment a few blocks away. I have Internet access to my office in the exchange building, and was wondering what might be my best way to get a private network connection from the apartment to the office. I'd rather not do wireless.

 

[InlineFive]

I highly doubt you will be able to run ethernet cable a few blocks in a city. Not to mention that the signal in the cable would probably give out after such a distance. I think a high powered encrypted wireless solution is your best bet. Make sure to use directional antenna.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I'm probably going to be able to get right of way. They can run it through the sewers. The bandwidth exchange building did it to connect a few buildings. And this is for an important project that the city will support.

I need to use several VOIP lines, and I'm so very nervous about wifi. M

 

[InlineFive]

If the city endorses it that's fine. I thought it was for personal usage. If they are helping why not ask some city engineers to help out.

 

[Zuke]

cat5 isn't spec'd for that distance. You'd have to run fiber.

 

[Goosemaster]

Yep. Cat5 is 100m max before attentuation isets in....that is 100base-TX (twisted pair)

100base-FX, which is fiber, can be fun for 2km in multimode or 10km in single mode

 

[Goosemaster]

Useually for high-bandwidth innercity traffic they use MANs which end with Fiber or just plain cat5 @ 100Mbps.

If you can get a MAN into your appartment willingly, you will be a GOD

 

[Garion]

No offense, but you're talking about a HUGE expense to run this cable. Look at how many hours it will take to get city permission, how many hours will be spent permitting and getting right-of-way, how much the fiber will cost, how much the network equipment on each end would cost, how much the ducting will cost, how much the drilling of the entrance facility into your building would cost, etc. If this all didn't add up to $20,000+, I'd be VERY surprised.

Are you saying you want to do this to an APARTMENT, not even a permanant residence? For all they know, you might get laid off two weeks after the install is complete and leave town. All that money would be wasted.

If you need guaranteed service, go out and get a couple of T1's from a Tier 1 carrier (MCI, AT&T, Sprint, etc.) and then a DSL or cable line for redundancy. Use a load balancing router for redundancy and you'll be just fine.

Failing that, call some of the existing dark fiber places and see if any of them happen to have your building lit. Level3, AT&T, etc. It would be way cheaper to get them to spin you up a lamdba on their DWDM network than you having to run your own fiber cable, especially if the other end-point is one of the major local peering points for carriers.

- G

 

[TechBoyJK]

My real hope was that the apartment building is already wired some capacity beyond dsl. I was hoping for a 100Mbps private link back to the bandwidth exchange building, where I could run the link directly to my office and get internet access. I've already got a Cisco switch with an fx port.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: Garion
No offense, but you're talking about a HUGE expense to run this cable. Look at how many hours it will take to get city permission, how many hours will be spent permitting and getting right-of-way, how much the fiber will cost, how much the network equipment on each end would cost, how much the ducting will cost, how much the drilling of the entrance facility into your building would cost, etc. If this all didn't add up to $20,000+, I'd be VERY surprised.

Are you saying you want to do this to an APARTMENT, not even a permanant residence? For all they know, you might get laid off two weeks after the install is complete and leave town. All that money would be wasted.

If you need guaranteed service, go out and get a couple of T1's from a Tier 1 carrier (MCI, AT&T, Sprint, etc.) and then a DSL or cable line for redundancy. Use a load balancing router for redundancy and you'll be just fine.

Failing that, call some of the existing dark fiber places and see if any of them happen to have your building lit. Level3, AT&T, etc. It would be way cheaper to get them to spin you up a lamdba on their DWDM network than you having to run your own fiber cable, especially if the other end-point is one of the major local peering points for carriers.

- G

In Garion speak, what is DWDM and a lambda....

JK

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: Garion
No offense, but you're talking about a HUGE expense to run this cable. Look at how many hours it will take to get city permission, how many hours will be spent permitting and getting right-of-way, how much the fiber will cost, how much the network equipment on each end would cost, how much the ducting will cost, how much the drilling of the entrance facility into your building would cost, etc. If this all didn't add up to $20,000+, I'd be VERY surprised.

Are you saying you want to do this to an APARTMENT, not even a permanant residence? For all they know, you might get laid off two weeks after the install is complete and leave town. All that money would be wasted.

If you need guaranteed service, go out and get a couple of T1's from a Tier 1 carrier (MCI, AT&T, Sprint, etc.) and then a DSL or cable line for redundancy. Use a load balancing router for redundancy and you'll be just fine.

Failing that, call some of the existing dark fiber places and see if any of them happen to have your building lit. Level3, AT&T, etc. It would be way cheaper to get them to spin you up a lamdba on their DWDM network than you having to run your own fiber cable, especially if the other end-point is one of the major local peering points for carriers.

- G

In Garion speak, what is DWDM and a lambda....

JK

A wavelength on an already existing fiber link...ie renting space.

 

[HKSturboKID]

I think it would be cheaper if they build you a bedroom in the office. Save time to commute and you can literally be at work within seconds.

 

[Garion]

Sorry, it was late and the geek-speak engine was on full speed, apparently.. As Goosemaster said, it's kind of like renting bandwidth - DWDM is the multiplexing of several optical connections onto a single fiber - Each connection is a Lambda.

- G

 

[EULA]

You dont want to run copper between buildings anyway, you'd have potential electrical ground differences, and would just be asking for trouble...

 

[imported_ppc]

Is there any specific reason you don't want to use wireless - speed/security?

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Garion
Sorry, it was late and the geek-speak engine was on full speed, apparently.. As Goosemaster said, it's kind of like renting bandwidth - DWDM is the multiplexing of several optical connections onto a single fiber - Each connection is a Lambda.

- G

Sir, that's purple for $500/month. Will you want anything else with that?

Only in the "year 2000" do we charge a hand and a foot for colors running through glass tubes thinner than strands of hair...