Wifi signal over 300 feet?

[Pghpooh]

HI
Just daydreaming and curious.
Is it possible to use a hi-gain antenna to send a wifi signal to another location that is around 250 to 300 feet away?
My house sits on top of a hill and the location I want to get the signal to sits slightly below the house around 250 to 300 feet away. There is a straight line of sight, but some trees when full can block the sight, and no buildings and other things in the way.
I want to use a laptop at the other location and would be willing to use a usb type wifi adaptor.
To make this more of a challenge,,, there is no ac power at the far location so everything must be powered by the laptop!!!
I think this cold winter is getting to me!! LOLOL
Any thoughts??

 

[gsaldivar]

Yes.

 

[Texashiker]

HI
Just daydreaming and curious.
Is it possible to use a hi-gain antenna to send a wifi signal to another location that is around 250 to 300 feet away?

Yes, go to amazon and look for "TRENDnet High Gain Directional Antenna". There are some high gain antennas out there that will cover 1/4 mile.

 

[RU482]

Yes, go to amazon and look for "TRENDnet High Gain Directional Antenna". There are some high gain antennas out there that will cover 1/4 mile.

You'd need them on both ends for it to work, right?

 

[Texashiker]

You'd need them on both ends for it to work, right?

Yes, from what I understand

Wireless router - bridge - antenna ------ antenna - bridge - wireless router

Or, if your router has a built in bridge mode, that might work?

 

[drebo]

You'd need them on both ends for it to work, right?

It depends. I've got a Cisco Aironet with a 12dbi omni-directional antenna that I can connect a laptop to from a half-mile away.

I've also got a bridge set up with 28dbi directional dish antennas that spans over 7 miles.

300 feet outdoor line of sight should be within the range of pretty much any consumer-grade equipment with higher-gain omni antennas. For instance, Bountiful Networks makes some high-gain onmi directional antennas that work pretty well. I use them on a WRT54G and get very, very good signal.

The trees may pose a problem, but you'll never know until you try.

 

[imagoon]

It depends. I've got a Cisco Aironet with a 12dbi omni-directional antenna that I can connect a laptop to from a half-mile away.

I've also got a bridge set up with 28dbi directional dish antennas that spans over 7 miles.

300 feet outdoor line of sight should be within the range of pretty much any consumer-grade equipment with higher-gain omni antennas. For instance, Bountiful Networks makes some high-gain onmi directional antennas that work pretty well. I use them on a WRT54G and get very, very good signal.

The trees may pose a problem, but you'll never know until you try.

This will depend on the laptop. Some laptop antennas suck.

 

[Pghpooh]

Thanks for the info!!!
Once the weather breaks I'll start to look for parts to install for the extended wifi. Also will be able to install and use power at the far location making it easier to set up the wifi network.
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[bobdole369]

My house sits on top of a hill and the location I want to get the signal to sits slightly below the house around 250 to 300 feet away. There is a straight line of sight, but some trees when full can block the sight, and no buildings and other things in the way.

This thread is riddled with poor info, bad info, just plain wrong info, and some correct info.

Possible - yes. It's even likely.

The issue at 300ft does not require use of a high-gain antenna. In fact, if you use a high enough gain with a standard 802.11g device you may very well exceed the Part 15 rules


http://havenzonesupport.com/helpdesk/knowledgebase.php?article=252

http://wiki.robotz.com/index.php/FCC_Regulations_on_WiFi

Looks to be 30dBm on omni and 33dBm on directionals.

Typical Buffalo AP has 380mW power or 25dBm.

If you put an 8dB antenna on that or higher, you violate part 15 of the FCC rules.

There is also such a thing as too narrow a beamwidth. My idiot boss put up a 23dBi dish (to the tune of $300 each) on either end of a 700 foot run. RSSI varied so much because the laserlike signal was moving around in the casual wind. I put up a 7dbi yagi set instead and we have 3 9's of uptime now.

Each site is different and requires appropriate engineering to determine the best equipment for the job.

You mentioned trees - anything organic within the fresnel zone will affect the signal. Go googling for that - it's important and out of scope here.

A typical userland (that is USB or PC card) wifi card will have only 15dBm of available signal so that side can easily use a quite directional antenna (up to 18db).

To be honest - you can probably just put a buffalo AP in the window or under the eaves and get it at 300ft. I'm guessing there aren't many houses in the way.