400ft Outdoor LAN

I need to connect one computer to another in another building 400ft away. The land is owned by us so we can dig where we need. The computers aren't built yet so they can be equipt with any hardware needed. What would you recomend in terms of a wirless or cable network solution that could do this distance outdoors? If cable is used, should the wire be shielded by PVC pipe or something?

 

Hmmm, this is a little tricky. The max run length of cat5e is 300ft. As far as I know cat 6 enjoys the same max run length. Now fiber of course enjoys a 20KM run length but that's a little expensive. So this 400ft run causes some issues.

Odds are if you ran a 400ft cable it would work. But the signal may be weak and it could cut out a lot. So really what you need is to install something at a halfway point to boost the signal. You can accomplish this by using a router/hub/switch. Or even a computer, but you'll need something around the 200ft mark if you want to have a nice working run. Of course since you're running under ground it could be a problem. Maybe you've got an old hub you don't mind burrying.

As for the PVC pipe. Well, it may be a good idea, although it would most likely run fine for years without it and there are no legal requirements (in most areas anyways) about how to run network cords. So it's really up to you. Obviously the cord will wearout quicker without some sort of shielding.

 

As previously stated, 400 feet is beyond Cat5 limits. If you can run power, a halfway point with a switch would work. The issue would be this, though: You don't want power run parallel to your cat5 within a couple feet... especially not in the same run. So you'd have to power it seperately. I'd also suggest a metal sheathing, grounded, instead of pvc. It's more expensive, and perhaps not very necesary, but it will prevent interference a lot better than pvc... which would prevent none, to my knowledge

Option 2 is wireless. I'd only suggest it if you're willing to get it secured. But with the right setup, directional antennae on both buildings, etc, I think you could have a quality connection, without too much of a chance of a security problem. Of course, I'm assuming Line of Sight. It may still work, I've seen am antenna that claims to have a 5 mile outdoor range, but I doubt that includes interference from landscape/power/buildings.

Overall, you have some pretty good options. Let us know how it goes!

 

OH btw, about the half way point idea. They do sell routers which are powered directly from the cat 5e cable. You need power injectors for them and they are typically used in schools and office buildings to add wireless access poitns all over (since nobody likes running power cords after pushing through all that cat5e).

The power injectors work by simply using the four unused wires in a cat5e cable to run electricity, they are pretty cool to use since it saves a lot of time by not having to run power cords. Although getting a router that uses that is a little more expensive. I've only ever used them myself when doing large schools like colleges/universitys. I've never seen them sold at a local computer store, so you'd likely have to buy them offline.

 

oooo, PoE, forgot about that... I haven't seen any products on the consumer market, personally. Are they more commercial grade, or just really expensive?

 

They seem to be a commercial grade thing, I've never seen them otherwise. But there pricing isn't too high. At least last time I checked it wasn't. It's been a year or two since I've actually seen any.

 

Thanks for the help guys. After looking around at PoE stuff, I found a cheap injector and a splitter for the other end that will split the ethernet and the power to a DC 5V plug. I'm going to put a normal cheap hub and the spliter in an electric box halfway. The hub will be powered from the spliter. Then I should be able to get another 300ft. I also found some direct burial cat5, never seen or heard of it before but I guess I should be able to directly bury it. I'll be getting the stuff in the mail within a week and post whether it worked or not. Thanks for the help again.