non line of sight wireless

[rstrapple]

I have two buildings that are about 5000' apart. I need to connect them wirelessly.

I have used the Cisco Aironet 1400's before and they are great but pricy (4000.00) BUT I also do NOT have line of sight between the buildings.

I am able to use some telephone poles between the two buildings.

so I could use a couple bridges to get past the blind spot.

Anyone recommend any other product other then Cisco? Any first hand experience?

thanks

 

[fredweston]

How much NLOS are you talking? Like 1 relay's worth, or 5 relay's worth? To be perfectly honest, NLOS wireless is basically a waste of time. You would probably have better luck contacting your local phone and cable companies to see who can give you the best deal on metro ethernet.

 

[folken]

Can you get line of site if you put a directional wireless dish up on a tall pole on each building?
Or are there much taller buildings/other objects between the two?
In that case I'd go with Fred's suggestion of contacting the phone company. A point to point connection doesn't cost to much in some areas.

 

[fredweston]

Well, you can get P2P T1 for $200-300 a month if you really shop around, but that's still only 1.54mbps, which isn't a whole lot in today's world. Plus you have to invest in routers for each site. Metro ethernet, on the other hand is maybe $500 a month for 10mbps. You could actually use that to extend a Windows network provided you don't have a lot of huge files that need to go site to site. Plus with metro ethernet you don't have to buy any equipment. Just plug it right into the switch. Can't beat it!

 

[kwebb]

At 5000 feet your looking at getting line of site or looking for another alternative.

If you can get above your obstructions then affordable wireless bridging is fairly simple and cheap (Whomever told you the Cisco1400's were 4 grand was either pulling your leg or thought he had a sucker of epic proportions. They're expensive but nowhere close to that) to do. If you cannot and are set on wireless then engineering signal relay is an option. I never recommended and it's a definite "last resort" method. You certainly can't depend on it like you cant a true point to point or point to multipoint WWAN.