Need suggestions on Outdoor Wifi

Bandav94
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Need suggestions on Outdoor Wifi

Hi,

 

We are planning to extend wifi to remote area, This remote area is of 600 feet and 300 feet away from office building.

 

I'm planning to use Meraki MR74with outdoor antenna. 

 

Could you please suggest an antenna which can cover the distance.

 

Also, would one antenna cover 500 feet ?

3 REPLIES 3
Uberseehandel
Kind of a big deal

Creating and maintaining a WiFi link involves both the AP and the remote host device. There is no point in having a shouty AP if it cannot hear the remote host's radio. Test before buying.

Robin St.Clair | Principal, Caithness Analytics | @uberseehandel
PhilipDAth
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

@NolanHerring would you like to venture an opinion?

PhilipDAth
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

>We are planning to extend wifi to remote area, This remote area is of 600 feet and 300 feet away from office building.

 

Until I read @Uberseehandel  comment I did not click you were trying to support client access devices over this range.  My gut reaction is to tell you not to attempt this.  @Uberseehandel is right - the client devices are not going to have antennas that are going to be able to send a nice signal back.

 

 

If you want to persue this lets aim for a low data rates, like 2Mb/s.  It is only going to be able to handle very low bandwidth demands.  I would also only think about using 2.4Ghz.

 

Are you able to put some APs closer to the users in MESH mode?  You could use directional 5Ghz client for the backhaul and the 2.4Ghz to serve the clients.

 

Next option is to use multiple APs with narrow focused sector antennas to reduce the area they can see.  I would consider something like this 11dBi 2.4Ghz sector antenna.  Perhaps a pair of MR74's with these antennas offset by maybe 20 or 30 degrees.  I think these maybe indoor antennas, so you may need to put them into a waterproof enclosure if they are going outside.

https://meraki.cisco.com/products/wireless/antennas-power#sector-antenna-11 

 

 

Make sure you set low expectations about the performance and reliability.  It might handle a small amount of users.  You wouldn't want 50 people all attached and using it at the same time.

Also limit it to a single SSID.  Multiple SSIDs broadcasting will quickly eat up the available RF spectrum.

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