sundance-communications.com/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX Networking Broadband Solution for Large area

I'm looking for a good solution for wireless service for a boat harbor. It is a T-shaped harbor consisting of two areas of water, approximately 350'x 1000' and 50'x 350' with docks built with metal walls and roofs. Although there are about 500 boats docked, there are very few people sitting in the boats while in the harbor. I am told it is a very low-traffic area. I am guessing traffic could be anywhere from 1 to 20 people at once using the internet or using a broadfband telephone at the same time, although they might have considerable space and metal walls between them.

One thought was to use a HF RF transmitter with a booster for the signal. The broadband size would only be one DSL for the entire harbor. I am not optomistic about this solution no matter how much power or high frequency is used, due to traffic exceding DSL limitations and the metal walls reflecting/blocking the signal I believe the metal walls would reflect the radio waves whether the metal is steel or an alloy.

What I am considering is to use a DSL inside each dock with metal walls and for each line -of-sight open area. The total would be 6 DSL "cells". AC power is abundant as is cabling from the MPOE to provide DSL. As for telephones, I was thinking about trying the Magic Jack, or just plain headset through the PC. This is a low cost solution, as requested (of course). 6 DSL's is only about half the cost of one T1 on a per month basis and DSL hardware is inexpensive.

I am wondering if one can link these DSL's somehow to make 6 cells work together. Also,I am wondering if the DSL's overlapping would be any problem. I am open for suggestions.Thanks.

I am

1 DSL will not be an issue and if you use an access portal then you can limit and manage the traffic usage so that if one person decides to hog up the bandwidth downloading then you can set limits. One such portal which ive used in the past and is FREE is Monowall. Very easy to setup and works great. Ive got one in right now thats been running for over a year nonstop. The main thing you need to worry about is going to be access point placement. You would definitely need to do an extensive site survey to determine optimal placement and quantity of access points needed. I would probably be looking at something like the D-Link DWL-7700. Their pricey but rock solid from my experience. They also support WDS with AP mode which means they act as access points and repeaters at the same time. This will help greatly with the cabling needed as you wont have to provide cabling to every access point. They also support POE which is definitely a plus in an environment where you may not have electrical available where you need to mount access points.

You don't mention how 1 DSL will get through the steel walls. I have done an extensive site survey and determined that I would like to omit a central point, like a server. Did you have any user-based access issues with The M0n0wall or did it require any Linux support? The D-link DWL-7700 sounds good, but at a thousand bucks each, customer would balk.I like the fact that they can be bridged and used a repeaters. But once again, I am concerned about the enclosed steel walls.

The DSL wouldnt have to get through any walls. The setup would be an incoming internet line, in this case DSL which goes to a router. The router would then plug into a switch which would go out to the access points. The access point mounting is flexible if you use the external antennas to get above walls if needed. When I say site survey I mean a wireless site survey. This will tell you what the wireless signals are doing in that environment and give you an idea of how many access points you need and the proper placement. Without that site survey its a guessing game how the walls and any other environmental factors are going to affect the wireless signal. You dont have to use a server to manage the connection and I made that suggestion since you were concerned with traffic usage. The end user sees no difference when using the Monowall proxy server. It does run on linux but the install comes on an ISO. You just install the image after burning it and it will install all of the required OS and program files. Once its installed you configure it from a browser. You may also want to take a look at the DAP-3520 outdoor access point. Dlink presales support can help you decide what equipment would work best for your situation. You can reach them at this number Call 1-800-326-1688.

How is the switch connected to the access points? Cable or line-of-sight? I will call D-Link, Thanks!
I've never done a wireless site survey, but it sounds real.What would I use to do this?

The switch would have to be cabled to at least one of the access points. You can use the WDS mode of the access points to distribute from there. I would have several of the access points cabled and that way if one of those cabled APs goes down then the rest of the APs can still communicate with the router. I use WirelessMon from Passmark Software.

https://www.passmark.com/products/wirelessmonitor.htm

Basically you would create a map of the area and with the software you would measure the signal strength of the APs at different locations. It is best to use the same equipment that you plan to install. So if you go with the D-Link APs then buy one just for the site survey. That way there will be no signal surprises. Another thing you might want to do is take some frequency analyzer readings to make sure there's nothing in the area that will interfere with the wireless signal. One tool that I use for this which is very economical is WiSpy. I probably wouldnt worry too much about this step in the environment your working in.

https://www.metageek.net/

If you wanted to go really cheap you could use Netstumbler which is free.

https://www.netstumbler.com/

This isnt a knock to your skills but one thing you may want to consider if this isnt your cup of tea is to pass on this job or work with a local IT company whos experienced in wireless installation. Contrary to what many people may think installing reliable, secure, and operational commercial wireless is not simply a matter of plugging in a $50 Linksys router and its definitely not low cost to do it right.

I understand. Although I am CCNA certified, I have little experience in a wireless environment, neither do I have the testing equipment necessary-at this time. I just spoke to D-Link and am arranging the wireless site survey.Thanks!

As you pointed out, a $50 Linksys router probably wouldn't be good for this application. The D-Link guy doing the test want to jump to a $500 per device because it's waterproof. While I can see the point of installing something that won't get corroded by salt air, this device will be in an enclosed box. I am hoping to find something less expensive that will suffice for the same small area that a home router would cover. Any suggestions here?

I wouldn't touch this unless they are willing to spend the money. If they are, take a look a Motorola Canopy systems.

~r

Look at the stuff from Ubiquity.. Small, powerful, inexpensive, outdoor rated.. POE.