Networking between buildings

[yutz23]

I am working with a camp that is looking to expand their LAN. Refer to the image for following.

Internet is coming into the Welcome Center. They have a a wireless router that broadcasts to the entire Welcome Center and has spotty coverage to the Inn and Main Lodge. They are looking to stretch the internet all the way out to the Chapel and have better coverage at the Inn and Main Lodge.

I have been testing the Open-Mesh technology and have had great success with it. I don't think I will be able to push wireless internet through the forest though. We are right up against our 100 meters with Cat5. By the time we run the cat5 through the trees, I figured that we would be exceeding our 100 meters by too much. I have been considering Fiber as a result.

Is it easy to bury Fiber or Cat5? I live here in Iowa so we would probably have to go down about 40 inches as well. I would be putting switches on either end and then extending it all the way out to the chapel where I would install wireless infrastructure.

The final thing that I need to consider is cost. They have a pretty good maintenance crew on hand and could probably bury the cable. Are there any sites that I could see approx cost of direct bury fiber?

Any comments / feedback would be very appreciated.


http://tinypic.com/r/mmrbwl/6

 

[john-b691]

I doubt there is a legal depth you must bury fiber. Most the issues with fiber it to prevent it from breaking. The stuff designed to direct bury generally has a steel jacket on it and is expensive.

I would use cheap water pipe to protect the fiber and I would only bury it a foot or so, just enough to prevent random damge.
Raw fiber has come down a lot. You can get 6 strand cables for less than 50 cents a foot. Problem is you will need to pay someone to cut it..it is glass and needs special tools... and put ends on it. Not real expensive but not something most people have the equipment to do themselves. They make 2 strand cable but the 6 strand is more popular so you can many times find it cheaper. You would only have to have 2 stands terminated and keep the other as spare.

Your other option is to buy premade patch cords of the length you need. The down side of these is you have to be extremely careful pulling them though your pipe, they are not designed to be pulled but I have done it many times by taping them to the string every 10 ft or so and leaving the pull string in the pipe.

In any case you want 62.5 micron multimode fiber. This is the least expensive fiber and it will go 550m and run gig speed. The ends on the fiber will depend on the equipment you buy. Most new stuff uses LC connectors but you will still see SC. Generally there is no difference in the price but you have to know what you need either to order the patch cables or to get a quote from someone to terminate the fiber.

 

[yutz23]

Thanks for the quick response. I know some individuals that can cut fiber and terminate it. Any advantage of doing the 6 strand cables over the 2 strands? Could I just buy 3 2 strand cables?

As far as burying it, what type of cheap water pipe were you talking about. Didn't think there was too much cheap water pipe for 100 meters.

 

[john-b691]

You would only buy the 6 stand stuff if it was cheaper than 2 strand cable. Why 2 strand cable is more expensive many times is one of those supply and demand things.
You cannot split the 6 strand cable, if you had 3 location you would need separate cable. If you can find 2 strand cable cheaper then it is your best option.

Cheap is a relative thing here I was talking about using 3/4 inch plastic water pipe compared to using those long rolls of conduit. But now after looking again you may very well be able to get armored fiber cheaper than the cost of the fiber and the plastic pipe. That stuff sure has come down in price since the last time I bought it.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Depending on line of sight and your budget, you may be able to use something like this.

http://www.bridgewave.com/products/default.cfm

We use a pair of 60GHz radios between our buildings to bridge our network.