Bridging a Wireless Network

Ivan

Just looking for some general info/advice.
There is a water tower approx. 3km from my house, with perfect line of sight.
There is a company, who want broadband behind my house, with perfect line of sight, however they dont have LoS with the water tower.
Now, on the water tower, there is a transmitting wireless antenna, broadcasting a WiFi connection with broadband. Now the company, wants to connect to this link and they've asked me to function as a form of relay for them.

I was basically wondering what exactly would be involved in this.
Is it possible to create a fully hardware based, relay where I receive the signal with the same antenna that I transmit to the other company?

Would I have to get 2 aerials, would I need a PC or router to create a link between the two or would a simple switch or hub work as well?

Any advice or thoughts on hardware?
I hear breezenet are good and/or orinoco. But I really havent much of a clue.

Webmonkey

Actually you could just have 1 Access Point with an Omni Directional antenna in Repeater mode and this should work. For that distance i think it would work.
Don't need any pc . Just power it with PoE (Power over Ethernet)

EDITED: First post two complicated

Ivan

Webmonkey wrote:

Actually you could just have 1 Access Point with an Omni Directional antenna in Repeater mode and this should work. For that distance i think it would work.
Don't need any pc . Just power it with PoE (Power over Ethernet)

EDITED: First post two complicated

Could you run a lan connection off of the wireless ap?

Webmonkey

when it is in repeater mode i would imagine no

Ivan

Webmonkey wrote:

when it is in repeater mode i would imagine no

Then what is my best option if my goal is to relay the signal while still running a lan connection off of it?

bridigo

Get an outdoor AP/Router for your house. You can connect a LAN to it via a bridge, so can the company.

www.engeniustech.com - better than orinoco, and less expensive.

Ivan

Could I just set up the omnidirectional antenna in repeater mode as webmonkey suggested and then connect to it using a PCI wireless card to pick up the relayed WiFi signal?

[Edit]
The more I think about that ^^ the more obvious that it must be possible, becomes. Anything between me and the company should be able to connect to the relayed signal, using a wireless card? Just making sure though. A Lan runoff from the AP would be best as it would save me having to buy a wireless card, but if thats the easiest/best option then I think I'll go with that.
[/Edit]

Just had a look at the site and its a kinda hard to navigate. Products look perfect but I cant find a price or vendor.

bridigo

There are 2 types of WDS. If it's an access point repeating, then you should be able to connect using a wireless client. If it is a bridge repeating then you cannot connect a client.

oscarBravo

If it was me, I'd get a WRAP board, two CM9 radios and a StarOS licence. Point directional antennae at the two ends of the link, and drop an ethernet link into the house. It's a more robust solution than an AP acting as a repeater, and a lot more manageable.

Now that I read back, I think that's what bridigo was saying.

King Kong 2

I want to bridge my existing wireless connection to a house approximately 400 meters away. Which has a clear line of sight. Are there any suggestions on how I should do this?

oscarBravo

Wow. You can tell how old this thread is by the fact that I'm recommending WRAP boards and StarOS.

King Kong 2, lots of places sell outdoor wireless point-to-point bridges. Get something with a decent amount of antenna gain; in other words, as directional as possible.

King Kong 2

Thank you. Are there any products which you would recommend

oscarBravo

Ubiquiti Airmax kit probably offers a decent blend of being relatively easy to configure with decent performance at a reasonable price.