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Need to create a VERY remote network in Haiti

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  • Wireless Internet
Last response: in General Connectivity
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April 8, 2013 6:11:01 AM

Hello, I have been tasked to design and implement a wireless internet at a remote clinic/school/food distribution compound in Haiti.I have just returned from surveying the location to understand the challenges, and there are many. I am a volunteer that has some experience with network support.

Here is what they currently have:
Unknown, and somewhat unrelieable, satelitte internet. I say unknown because the local resource that set it up is rather shady. I cannot tell if it is unreliable because of the twine and bailing wire installation or if it is just a bad service. We are now working with the mission to take over the service. I am researching the available options for that area, which are extremely limited.
At ther moment they have the satellite feed into a modem>Cisco E1500 Wireless Router which is then split with CAT5 to 3 other Cisco wireless routers trying to feed the entire compound with coverage. They are stretching the CAT5 to its extreme limits.

So, here is what they need:
Wireless access for 30-50 users on various devices when the clinic is staffed. Generally this is for the staff in country to communicate with family back home. As you might imagine, this is a very stressful location and reliable contact with home helps relieve the anxiety. There is no real need for medical information over the net as this is a field hospital in the most immediate of terms.

Challenges :

* The entire compound is built from concrete blocks. This blocks the signals from the current routers from any real distance. It is also hard to wire, but since there are no real windows (Glass) I can work around it. You just have to be creative and watch how far wires are extended. I need to find a way to boost the signal or allow access in several locations.

* There is no power. It's all run on a generator that feeds the compound. The power is up and down depending on the available fuel. Power can drop without warning so anything attached needs to be able to survive that. No way to put a UPS of any type in place. Typically power runs all night and some during the day.

* Shipping equpment is very difficult. Everything will be brought in by checked baggage with the airline. Otherwise I may as well give it away. So that limits any equipment I install to roughly 50lbs per item. That would include packing it to survive an airline.

* Heat and humidity. We have no climate control at all.

I appreciate any input as to the most cost effective way to provide them a connection. Right now the traffic is hit or miss, mostly miss, when trying to use any messenger over the network. You can buy data plans but they are horribly expensive.

More about : create remote network haiti

April 8, 2013 6:29:17 AM

first you may able to get better internet from a remote location via dsl, using ubiquiti or mikrotik wirelless solutions (upto 80km away).

second i also agree that penetrating concrete is hard work an may now work properly all the time due to humidity and interferences. so i suggest wiring your access point with copper(ftp cable or cat6) or optical cable( in extreme cases).

also you will need votlate regulator like APC LE1200 Line-R,they will help survive the spikes omitting from operating the generator.

last and important none can predict your wireless coverage in the building, actually is a trial and error think.

I work in a Hospital in Greece who has small departments in remote places mountains, islands. i think i can help.
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April 8, 2013 6:34:42 AM

Well i am no expert so please dont take this as the 'only' solution.
Firstly it seem you need to clean up the existing installation. good cable's / good connectors ect. This will go a long way to making the whole thing more reliable and will remove this from causing persistent difficult to find faults.
Secondly, adding roof top antenna's to your existing WiFi should fix the range issue. its well worth drawing out a plan of the site and see if you can use direction external antenna's these boost range and increase the quality of the signal.
Even a few small UPS units on your WiFi infrastructure could be a good idea. Small desktop ones will last for ages powering a Access Point.
I would also look at getting some power points which have power conditioners/filters in them - at least to filter out some of the generator noise. you need it for your specific site but beloew is the type of thing i am thinking of.
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/power-line-filters/213839...
http://glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1236747

As for getting internet to a remove site. it really depends without knowing the location. but you could look at long range WiFi with directional antenna's to the nearest town. Line of sight is the thing to think about there.
http://linkstate.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/site-to-site-...

I have noticed that survival and disaster preping web sites are quite good for homebrew solutions.
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April 9, 2013 6:54:11 AM

I have been going over the posts and looking at the suggestions and I have a couple questions.

1. A company called NetCom is setting up towers in Haiti to supply internet and they may have one near our compound soon. Would this type of cellular access be sufficient for multiple users if I can get an antenna placed properly on our roof?

2. Do you think I would benefit from upgrading the routers from the "home" user type to something like the Apple routers or a higher end Cisco? Here I am just trying to handle the traffic as people try to facetime or video chat back home.
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April 10, 2013 1:40:45 AM

1: bandwidth? are they charging by traficc, or time?
2:APPLE GOD NO, Cisco are good but expensive and may need some skill to configure the expert settings.
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April 10, 2013 4:57:50 AM

spigias said:
1: bandwidth? are they charging by traficc, or time?
2:APPLE GOD NO, Cisco are good but expensive and may need some skill to configure the expert settings.


IF the antenna is for a company called NetComm then I believe they offer access based on traffic. It could be a Digicell tower and I have not been able to confirm what they offer beyond cell phone coverage. I found the contact information for an IT team that was setting up WiMAX access in Port-Au-Prince. I am trying to reach them to see if they have any information about coverage in the area.

The satellite coverage we currently have is expensive, unreliable (possibly because of the install), and other company packages for satellite appear to be very limiting for upload.
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April 10, 2013 10:59:13 PM

Ken_M said:
spigias said:
1: bandwidth? are they charging by traficc, or time?
2:APPLE GOD NO, Cisco are good but expensive and may need some skill to configure the expert settings.


IF the antenna is for a company called NetComm then I believe they offer access based on traffic. It could be a Digicell tower and I have not been able to confirm what they offer beyond cell phone coverage. I found the contact information for an IT team that was setting up WiMAX access in Port-Au-Prince. I am trying to reach them to see if they have any information about coverage in the area.

The satellite coverage we currently have is expensive, unreliable (possibly because of the install), and other company packages for satellite appear to be very limiting for upload.


traffic charging will kill your budget really fast due the massive amount of users. Also
you are going to need good upload bandwidth, other options like dsl or cable?
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April 11, 2013 4:19:39 AM

spigias said:
Ken_M said:
10640485,0,316898 said:
said:


traffic charging will kill your budget really fast due the massive amount of users. Also
you are going to need good upload bandwidth, other options like dsl or cable?
said:


They do not have cable or any type of phone switching out there yet. Maybe in a couple years. There are a few cell towers dotted in the area.

I did confirm that they are set up with Hughes Net satellite service.I'm not sure which plan they have but it appears they hit a cap quite often. I think they have an issue with billing, possibly because of how it was set up. But that is more of an accounting issue rather than the service issue.

So at this point I am trying to confirm which companies in the area have any type of data access. I will have to compare that to the different satellite options and see what may be the best for this type of usage. I'm having a little trouble just trying to determine what actually exists.

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September 21, 2013 7:57:03 AM

Hi Ken,
Any updates on setting up the wireless internet? I am also working on a similar project for a school in a remote area of Lagonav. If you have any suggestions I would really appreciate it. thanks!
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