Looking for wifi ideas for a 4 acre property

[dane_jah]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum but I wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions for me. I just recently bought a 4 acre property and was hoping to be able to get WiFi on a good portion of the property. Not sure what some good options would be. Most of it would have to be able to be outside because I only have one small house on the property. There is only power at the house but I'm going to be running power and water to different parts of the property. The house is on one end and the gate to the property is around 500 feet from the house. It would be nice to be able to get wifi all the way over there for a smart gate opener and maybe a camera. Please let me know if any more info is needed. Thanks

[paddy-stone]

You can get outdoor intended wifi antennas access points, or extenders. But whether they are powerful enough for that distance I don't know as I don't personally have or need them.

eg  https://www.box.co.uk/CPE210-TP-Link-CPE210-2.4GHz-300Mbps-9dBi-Outdo_1693393.html

 

should be powerful enough if you're only looking for 2.4Ghz (which has better range).. and should support upto 5Km even.

[fredrichnietze]

wireless + cameras is never a great solution, and wireless extenders + cameras isnt going to work well.

 

the best way is to run outdoor rated cables with drip loops from a central point in the house to cameras with a dedicated line for each camera, and dedicated lines for wireless access points. depending on budget and how much coverage you want, you could place more or less wifi access points outside near/on the house or expanding outward. i would suggest unifi/ubiquity as i have used them before and they have a lot of nice features and good ui for a good price. linus recently did a video on some of their high end access points. if you are running a lot of cameras it will be cheaper and easier to use power over ethernet (POE) via a switch to power the cameras/wifi then to get a electrician in there to do a lot of work. ideally you would dig a channel for the wires and run pvc or some other pipes to run the cables through and protect them from shovels, animals, weather, ect then pop up where you need a camera/wifi like a sprinkler system but going a bit higher up.

 

bit about outdoor cabling. use drip loops and the right type of cable, and make sure to keep the bugs out. 

 

[Falcon1986]

@fredrichnietze - Agree with wiring if possible.

 

@dane_jah - Do you only require outdoor wireless coverage for cameras and IoT devices? If so, and you're going to be running underground channels for power and water, I'd suggest you just run ethernet at the same time (in it's own conduit, of course!). You'll get a more reliable signal from your cameras than with WiFi. But at a distance of 500 feet, you will need an ethernet amplifier if you want to maintain gigabit speeds.

[dane_jah]

Thanks for the info. I was looking in some of the Ubiquiti products because of his video on there system actually. So you guys have any recommendations for what would be the best ones to place maybe on poles or trees that would give me the most coverage and I will be hard wiring them. But I think I can only run the cable 300 feet before needing a switch is that right?

 

@fredrichnietze @Falcon1986

[Falcon1986]

7 hours ago, dane_jah said:

Thanks for the info. I was looking in some of the Ubiquiti products because of his video on there system actually. So you guys have any recommendations for what would be the best ones to place maybe on poles or trees that would give me the most coverage and I will be hard wiring them. But I think I can only run the cable 300 feet before needing a switch is that right?

Ubiquiti has their own line of PoE cameras.

[kirashi]

18 hours ago, fredrichnietze said:

bit about outdoor cabling. use drip loops and the right type of cable, and make sure to keep the bugs out. 

--SNIP--

Is that... Fiber Ninja? I haven't seen one of his videos in months. Really hope he makes a comeback on YouTube sometime, as he is/was one of the best independent networking guys making videos on YouTube. @dane_jah your best bet would be to look into what Ubiquiti Networks offers - they make some decent outdoor rated Access Points that would work fine if you have somewhere elevated to mount them.

[fredrichnietze]

20 hours ago, dane_jah said:

Thanks for the info. I was looking in some of the Ubiquiti products because of his video on there system actually. So you guys have any recommendations for what would be the best ones to place maybe on poles or trees that would give me the most coverage and I will be hard wiring them. But I think I can only run the cable 300 feet before needing a switch is that right?

 

@fredrichnietze @Falcon1986

you can run 300 feet of cat 6, but 5e has less insulation and noise isolation and will have signal degradation at that range which may be a big deal if you are trying to get gigabit wifi some day, or high resolution cameras, and outdoor rated is essential. 

 

also i would suggest poles, or underneath building overhangs. trees grow

 

also i would suggest protecting the wifi from the elements at least to a degree. somewhere the rain wont get it. and i cant stress the importance of drip loops in the pipes and wires, otherwise water getting in them could end up in your basement or wherever the pipes run to, which could kill your network, and cause flood damage. 

 

for the cameras, they tend to be built a bit tougher. you can run your pipe to a outdoor box like what your isp uses, then seal it up and mount the camera to the box with a bit of drilling. you get a water/bug/sun ect proof box and no wires or ports exposed to the outdoors, just the part of the camera that has to be and is built for it. you cant put wifi inside these boxes unfortunately or you will get a Faraday effect.