Thread: Area network extension question

So, we have a network at our business, and we acquired a location 350' down the street. There is next to no line of sight between the two. How do we extend our network where we will have full connectivity 100% of the time? I'm already looking into a company that builds on city facilities to inquire about laying fiber wire between the two, but I'm more questioning my options for WIFI extension. I know long range options typically require a line of sight but what about non-line of sight solutions that can exceed 350' in range?

jmw

What kind of bandwidth are we talking about?

Well, we have a VPN service, but in order to use VPN, we would need some kind of network at this other building to VPN it to the network we already have at our main facility. Almost seems easier just to find a way to directly connect to our already existing network.

As for the Bandwidth, I'm still trying to figure out what's needed. It's mainly for machine tool monitoring. At this other building we have two Mori Seiki NL2500's that we want to add to our network. We also plan to buy a couple more machines that we want to add to the network. I wouldn't think the required bandwidth would be that high. The data is pretty simple; (time, off, and on).

I set up a company in a similar situation using an eithernet extender that could do eithernet over a single pair. I had the phone company install a dry pair at each building and cross connect them at the CO. Then I just used the eithernet extender on that.

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Interesting, so this was a physical connection that did not require an in-ground installation of fiber? The network was essentially expanded using the phone lines?

What would be my bandwidth limitation going this route?

Fyi, I'm reading about single pair and dry pair right now since this is the first time I've heard those terms. How much would the phone company charge for installing a dry pair at each building? Can you suggest an extender that would work with this setup?

Originally Posted by Gumby

I set up a company in a similar situation using an eithernet extender that could do eithernet over a single pair. I had the phone company install a dry pair at each building and cross connect them at the CO. Then I just used the eithernet extender on that.

Wow. That jogs my memory.

I know some who also did this (about 10 years ago). He was able to get this from the telco, but it was more expensive than paying for internet service at the new location and setting up a VPN.

Then he noticed that the telco offered what they called an Alarm Circuit. It was exactly the same thing (an unpowered copper pair), but it was still on the menu from back in the day when it made perfect sense to run miles of copper just to make a bell ring. Anything with "Network" or "Digital" in the title was expensive, but an Alarm Circuit was cheap. I think he ran DSL over the link.

Anyway; if your local telco offers it, Gumby's suggestion could work.

Cheers,


AetheLove

The dry pair was cheap since I worked for a CLEC/ISP/computer shop. We just charged them our cost on the two pairs which was$5 per month. This was back in 2005 so I don't remember the brand of the extender. I do remember that the box claimed 10 Mb/sec over 20000 cable feet. The lines showed about 2000 feet to the CO each when we did the loop qualification. We definitely got the full 10 Mb/sec on that short run. Back then that was much better than another Internet with a VPN would have gotten plus the latency would still be better than even a modern Internet and VPN would get.

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you will have limited performance over a dry pair but it will work. We run Fiber optic to our different locations and then tie them together with VPN. Once the campuses got big enough we had a dedicated pipe installed between campuses. Keep in mind that the VPN I am speaking of is an appliance not a software install on the PC. The VPN appliance links multiple intranets into and exrtanet extending networks. The vpn software client can then be used on laptops and such off site to connect to the network securely. I assume you are already going to pay for internet access at the new location and that you already have it at your current location so connecting them together just takes 2 VPN appliances and a server rack (I have seen people bypass the server rack and run the small VPN appliances in a closet) at each side.
Newegg.com - Cisco Small Business SA520-K9 Security Appliance 200 Mbps

378.99

This approach limits your bandwidth only to the service you pay for not the limits of copper wire between the sites. That appliance is rated at 200mbs

I think you could do what Phyrelight is suggesting much cheaper than that if you want to play with DD-WRT and some cheap routers. Or maybe some old PCs and a Linux distro set up as a router. But using a dedicated VPN router is probably more reliable.

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