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cornbread4
join:2012-10-02
Beaverton, OR

cornbread4

Member

Campground 1/4 Mile Coverage help

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I'm not the greatest of IT guys. I have been kind of moved into the IT role at a camp ground and they are wanting wireless coverage. We have up to 1000 guests at a time in the area. I have attached a map.

We're looking to do this for cheap. I have installed a new firewall recently and made two separate networks one to run the wireless from and one for our administrative computers. I've heard about WDS and have looked into dd-wrt it's just a very large area to cover and I'm looking for reliable cheap hardware that will cover the necessary area.

All comments and advice is welcomed. Thanks in advance.

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

CylonRed

MVM

How is the Line of Sight you have for the areas you want to cover?
cornbread4
join:2012-10-02
Beaverton, OR

cornbread4

Member

Line of sight is decently good overall. Only obstructions are small shrubs and buildings. They are wanting to be able to walk from one side to the other without losing coverage (if that's possible)

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

CylonRed

MVM

What is the budget? You are not likely going to be doing this with consumer hardware as I share my DSL with my neighbor and my signal barely goers across the street....
cornbread4
join:2012-10-02
Beaverton, OR

cornbread4

Member

My budget is likely whatever it needs to be. I just need to get all of the facts together and submit them for the time being. We might start by only covering half of the area then expanding depending on costs. As with all businesses like this it seems they would like to get everything for as little as possible

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav to cornbread4

Premium Member

to cornbread4
THe fact that it appears you have buildings and electricity in most areas is a good start. Is there any cabling on the premises ie coax, telephone etc. When you say 1000 guests, do you mean 1000 people total or 1000 campers. Either way 1000 guests probably equates to approx 500-1000 devices potentially requireing wifi from ipods to cell phones to laptops etc...... Not cheap!!
cornbread4
join:2012-10-02
Beaverton, OR

cornbread4

Member

Yes at the office and the tabernacle. also there is a dsl bridge at the Mt. Hood building and riverfront building.

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav to cornbread4

Premium Member

to cornbread4
»Wireless solution for campground

There may be some stuff here but hint, there may be some experts you can ask for help directly.
OHSrob
join:2011-06-08

OHSrob to cornbread4

Member

to cornbread4
Could you post a google maps photo of the area ?
cornbread4
join:2012-10-02
Beaverton, OR

cornbread4

Member

Here is the link: »maps.google.com/maps?oe= ··· &iwloc=A

It is the tree'd area north of the road.

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav to cornbread4

Premium Member

to cornbread4
Ouch thats a pile of thick looking trees and branches.
cornbread4
join:2012-10-02
Beaverton, OR

cornbread4

Member

Yeah... I recently ran across the Ubiquiti Nanostation LOCO M2 Outdoor MIMO device. Looks like people are saying they can point two at each other and get service at over 1/4 mile away. I'm wondering if I could just put 4 all facing outward of the office and get most of my coverage down.

Seems like everything is just theoretical and no one wants to give even a conservative number for coverage on their devices. The problem is I have to come up with a price range with a minimum and a maximum cost for coverage. There are a couple field areas that could not be covered but I gotta have something. I guess I could buy one out of pocket and test it then hope it works well and then guesstimate.

Then it feels like I'd need two and bridge them to make sure coverage is how I feel it may be.... Again any help or input or advice would be much appreciated.
SipSizzurp
Fo' Shizzle
Premium Member
join:2005-12-28
Houston, TX

SipSizzurp

Premium Member

said by cornbread4:

Yeah... I recently ran across the Ubiquiti Nanostation LOCO M2 Outdoor MIMO device.

You have the right idea about testing. The Nano Station ( non- loco ) would provide more range than the cheaper loco version. Get a Nanostation M2 and do some testing. With "Some trees and buildings" involved it is nearly impossible to give any solid advice. You need to see for yourself what they will do where you need them. If used as a point to point bridge a pair of Nanostation M2 can link over 5 miles away with no problem. An 802.11G laptop transmitting at it's lowest link rate will link to a Nano Station at about a 1/2 mile and will receive about 8 Mbps from the Nano Station under those circumstances. TX and RX speeds are not symmetrical in Wi-Fi so the transmitter can provide much higher bandwidth than a client potentially could due to the difference in RX/TX speeds.
LLigetfa
join:2006-05-15
Fort Frances, ON

LLigetfa to cornbread4

Member

to cornbread4
said by cornbread4:

Yeah... I recently ran across the Ubiquiti Nanostation LOCO M2 Outdoor MIMO device. Looks like people are saying they can point two at each other and get service at over 1/4 mile away.

But that is one NSLM2 to another NSLM2 which is very different than one NSLM2 to a weak mobile device inside an RV with metal siding.

Nobody can accurately predict the outcome when trees and Faraday cages are involved. We rely on our years of experience and still end up using SWAG and trial-and-error site surveys.
LLigetfa

LLigetfa to SipSizzurp

Member

to SipSizzurp
said by SipSizzurp:

An 802.11G laptop transmitting at it's lowest link rate will link to a Nano Station at about a 1/2 mile and will receive about 8 Mbps from the Nano Station under those circumstances.

"Those circumstances" being clear LOS and clear spectrum, like out in a corn field, not in the middle of a campground with hundreds of other mobile devices polluting the spectrum.

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav

Premium Member

said by LLigetfa:

said by SipSizzurp:

An 802.11G laptop transmitting at it's lowest link rate will link to a Nano Station at about a 1/2 mile and will receive about 8 Mbps from the Nano Station under those circumstances.

"Those circumstances" being clear LOS and clear spectrum, like out in a corn field, not in the middle of a campground with hundreds of other mobile devices polluting the spectrum.

It must be getting close to Halloween, that conjured up an image of a large axe weilding murderer dressed up like a scarecrow running through the corn field and may I add causing RF interference with that axe.
LLigetfa
join:2006-05-15
Fort Frances, ON

LLigetfa

Member

said by Anav:

It must be getting close to Halloween...

Also pot harvesting... :P

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav

Premium Member

Hey, know its not illegal to have an imagination and besides Im not from California or BC. If you must though, dont smoke it, bad for your health!
SipSizzurp
Fo' Shizzle
Premium Member
join:2005-12-28
Houston, TX

1 edit

SipSizzurp to LLigetfa

Premium Member

to LLigetfa
said by LLigetfa:

"Those circumstances" being clear LOS and clear spectrum, like out in a corn field, not in the middle of a campground with hundreds of other mobile devices polluting the spectrum.

This is correct. I had almost edited my OP to make this clarification, but since I had already said ;
said by SipSizzurp:

Get a Nanostation M2 and do some testing. With "Some trees and buildings" involved it is nearly impossible to give any solid advice. You need to see for yourself what they will do where you need them.

I figured I had said enough for one post until the OP responded with some interest. I wanted him to at least know what was possible since he seemed so incredulated about the 1/4 mile link with a pair of LOCOs.
meowmeow
join:2003-07-26
Helena, MT

meowmeow to cornbread4

Member

to cornbread4
Please contact me by PM I have done an almost identical campground install this year, using EnGenius and Ubiquiti equipment. Doing it again, there's changes I'd make, but I'd be happy to detail the install in details. Capacity is going to be your killer.

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav

Premium Member

Thats what I thought, one heck of a load. So Markie how does one deal with the number of users, capacity of the system given the number of potential concurrent wirless users??? conceptually not looking for the details......
meowmeow
join:2003-07-26
Helena, MT

meowmeow

Member

Ideally, using a system like Ruckus designed for huge numbers of concurrent users. On a non-profit campground budget, deploying large numbers of AP's, planning channel usage well, and making ideal use of 5 GHz (where there is plenty of channels) as much as possible. The campground I did is also limited by a 10/768 DSL line. Believe it or not, even with hundreds of concurrent users it works very well.
SipSizzurp
Fo' Shizzle
Premium Member
join:2005-12-28
Houston, TX

SipSizzurp

Premium Member

said by meowmeow:

The campground I did is also limited by a 10/768 DSL line. Believe it or not, even with hundreds of concurrent users it works very well.

What system were you using for user bandwidth control ?
meowmeow
join:2003-07-26
Helena, MT

meowmeow

Member

pfSense
SipSizzurp
Fo' Shizzle
Premium Member
join:2005-12-28
Houston, TX

SipSizzurp

Premium Member

That will do it alright.