Teach me about wireless bridge.

FORANE

FORANE

En-Route
Joined
Mar 7, 2013
Messages
3,756
Location
TN
Display Name
Display name:
FORANE
I have a metal building with cable internet service. I have another metal building which I would like to have internet service about 250 feet from the other building. Initially I installed a Ubiquiti UAP-AC-PRO access point thinking it would reach the second building. The access point gives 2 bars on one side but zero bars inside the second building. Now, I am considering a wireless bridge.

Wireless bridges come in 2.4 and 5.8 frequency. Does it really matter which frequency I get? The receiving building will have a 2 frequency wifi router in bridge mode anyway so the bridge itself shouldn't matter, correct?
Should I just get one of the highest rated bridges on Amazon? What don't I know that I should know with regard to bridges?
 
When we set up a long range campground network we started with one Ubiquiti Rocket access point with an omni antenna... same thing, not enough range. We added two more Rocket APs, configured as repeaters talking to the main AP, at remote points. It worked quite well. It is important to use the same vendor's hardware at all points.

But if you're going to have a second AP in the receiving building you can wire it to a third router configured in wireless client mode (i.e. receiver), with ethernet cable to the local AP your devices will access.
 
I did the same you are planning, but used the $60 KuWfi bridge from Amazon. Easy set up ( good thing because the Chinglish manual is a hoot) and it's been working great for a number of years. Run the house station from a Lan port on a Ubiquiti router v8a the wireless bridge to the barn about 300 ft away and a TP link router up there.
 
The wired part being better is only half a joke. Any wireless bridge should work, as long as you mount them both outside and with line of sight between them. Use copper cable to connect them to the router or access points inside. Best plan would be copper from your cable box to the bridge for that building, rather than trying to go wireless to wireless to wireless in a daisy chain. 5.8 generally better than 2.4 because there's normally less channel congestion. A good factor of safety is that the vendors mislead you by a factor of at least 4 on range. So for 250', something rated for a mile should be good, line of site, and that's in a suburban or rural area.
 
5.8 has nominally a higher bandwidth. If the traffic goes from your barn is to the Internet, that doesn't matter as your speed is governed by the ISP connection.
 
Last edited:
I've read 2.4 is better through wooded area between the sender and receiver. Is there truth to that?
 
weilke said:
5.8 has nominally a higher bandwidth. If the traffic from your barn is to the Internet, that doesn't matter as your speed is governed by the ISP connection.
Click to expand...
However, 5.8 is worse than 2.4 at punching through trees and such, if that's an issue. If there's a lot of vegetation, 900mhz is even better.
 
FORANE said:
I've read 2.4 is better through wooded area between the sender and receiver. Is there truth to that?
Click to expand...

Yes. 2.4 is also better through drywall. But building to building with a clear line of sight that should not matter.

If the OP lives in a place with 250ft between metal buildings, I would assume that 2.4 band congestion is not an issue (I live in a apartment complex where it is).
 
weilke said:
Yes. 2.4 is also better through drywall. But building to building with a clear line of sight that should not matter.

If the OP lives in a place with 250ft between metal buildings, I would assume that 2.4 band congestion is not an issue (I live in a apartment complex where it is).
Click to expand...
Yeah, no drywall within a mile. Trees, brush and terrain are all present.
 
FORANE said:
Yeah, no drywall within a mile. Trees, brush and terrain are all present.
Click to expand...

Prob better off with 2.4 if you have any shrubbery in the path. At times, those kind of setups work in the winter and get wonky once stuff greens up or needles get wet or covered with dew.

There are some bridge products that are on proprietary bands so they don't have a interference issue with 2.4 or 5.8. But unless you are in a super congested area, 2.4 should have no issues with frequency congestion.
 
Last edited:
5ghz is significantly faster.
 
I bought one of these:
The EZ-Bridge-Lite EZBR-0214+ High Power Outdoor Wireless Point to Point System https://a.co/d/9Y8ipVy

Hooked it up in the house just to test functionality. It immediately worked without any settings adjustment as if it were a wired connection. Was able to stream without buffering. We'll see how it does once installed in place with trees and brush blocking signal.
 
FORANE said:
I have a metal building with cable internet service. I have another metal building which I would like to have internet service about 250 feet from the other building. Initially I installed a Ubiquiti UAP-AC-PRO access point thinking it would reach the second building. The access point gives 2 bars on one side but zero bars inside the second building. Now, I am considering a wireless bridge.

Wireless bridges come in 2.4 and 5.8 frequency. Does it really matter which frequency I get? The receiving building will have a 2 frequency wifi router in bridge mode anyway so the bridge itself shouldn't matter, correct?
Should I just get one of the highest rated bridges on Amazon? What don't I know that I should know with regard to bridges?
Click to expand...
Generally speaking, these rules apply;

Wired will be faster than wireless.
Wired will be more stable than wireless.
Wired will be more secure than wireless.
The higher the wireless Ghz, the faster the speed will be.
The lower the wireless Ghz, the better it will push through obstacles.
The lower the wireless Ghz, the farther/stronger the signal will be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top