Long Range Network Question?? Wireless OR RJ-45 Cable?

:hp: Hi everyone. I have a problem that I need help. I live in a country home. I have 2 houses. The main house has a router with DSL internet. I want my other house which is 500 feet away from the DSL router to have access to the internet also. My question is: Is there a wireless router out there for under 200 dollars that will have a coverage area up to 500 feet or more? Or can I just buy a 500 feet CAT-5 Ethernet cable and just run it from the router in my main house to the other house? If anyone can help me with his dilemma, please help. Thanks.

 

See if this might do the trick, www.cantenna.com

 

If the computer in the second house is a desktop i.e. you will not be moving around the house and wanting internet, AND IF you can run the cable between the houses without the possibility of it being torn up accidentally, then I would go for the cable run instead of the wireless.

But I should add that wireless over 500 feet is easily doable with the correct antennas. There are several antennas out there with enough gain. Do a google search for wireless antennas.

 

thanks for the reply, but if I go with the wire, doesn't it loose signal after 100 feet? They always say when setting up a network to not pass the 100 feet from the router to a pc cause the singal gets weaker after 100 feet.

 

I know this is not what you want to hear, but the most reliable & probably expensive way to do this would be to have a Fiber optic cable run between the two houses, preferably buried. There can be serious attenuation when you have runs over 100m,(300ft).

Now you can have a directional Yagi antenna pointing at the primary DSL location where the wireless lies, but a variety of factors can cause interference. The wireless option is definately cheaper, but the fibre route gives you alot more options in the future, and whole lot more bandwidth between the homes.

 

Taken from taken from http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/cablingcat5/f/cat5outdoors.htm

Eternet is good for about 100 - 200 meters which is just on the edge of your needs so it may work. Wireless would defintley be cheaper as if you go wired -

"special exterior or direct burial CAT5 cables should be used for outdoor runs instead of ordinary CAT5.

Both ordinary and direct burial CAT5 cables attract lighting strikes to some degree. Simply burying a cable underground does not lessen its affinity for lightning. Accordinly, CAT5 surge protectors should be installed as part of outdoor Ethernet networks to guard against lightning strikes"