Connecting two physical locations that are 350ft apart

just run a optical wire on the roof and cross the building at the shortest span..... NO digging needed and still a fiber connection.
Only use a wireless link if you don't own the property you need to span, but in this case you sorta do own the property.
If you fear a break run two cables at opposite corners of the building and make a ring.

It might not be allowed by the city to have a cable like that, plus you would need to assess if the cable is designed to withstand such structural and environmental stresses, particularly for an expensive cable.

1 Like

Aren't we over-engineering this too much? OP has already stated that running a cable is out of his budget, and is willing to test a wireguard connection, or go for the wireless link if that fails. I don't see the point in insisting on the wired options.

4 Likes

I agree, certainly the 5GHz point-to-point link should be tried before buying several hundred dollars of exterior grade fiber optic cable and running it across a 350 foot parking lot span with a high-tension guy-wire to keep it taught and support the weight, etc.

Note that the ubiquiti gear runs in two possible modes, their point-to-point radio mode is NOT based on WiFi but rather some kind of Time Division Multiplexing, it provides a reliable low-latency point to point link, with properties a little more like an ethernet cable (based on what I've read, I haven't used them).

1 Like

For low cost, mikrotik offers lot of options for wireless PtP.

1 Like

I've used a lot of ubiquiti NanoStation 2 and 5. They are really great, easy to setup, cost effective and i think is the best way to go without breaking the bank. You only need a line of sight in between them and a length of cat6 cable each. You'll be setup before noon! And on top of that, you be able to get rid of the second isp connection on the remote location, which means a lot a savings.

I'm just going to throw tinc VPN into the ring. I see there's a package for it. Have just been experimenting with that in a different context.

Cheap and hence worth a try

About 12 years ago I set up a link just like this
I used a pair of highest power Buffalo routers I could find and a pair of parabolics on the roofs firing at eachother.
Then I setup a full ethernet bridge across the link double encrypted (WPA and then also tunnel encrypted separately) which made both networks appear as one.
I heard the setup was still working as of 2 years ago, I haven't worked there or maintained it since setting it up...

2 Likes

I am not insisting.....
But you don't need a 350 foot fancy cable.
Over the roof or in the building you can use a cheaper cable in a sleeve or even run copper.
Then run a short fiber or PLASTIC optical cable in between the buildings. I don't know the distance needed but a guesstimate from the drawing is less then a 100 feet. And that does not have to be a fancy cable either if you have it in a sleeve.
Even so, you can get large spools for little if you can splice or 150m 500ft duplex lc multimode for less then $125 add 2 10gb sfp+ tranceivers for $12 each. with some outdoor rated pvs or abs conduit and a steel cable between buildings.

And I do know about ubiquity's nice wireless ptp tranceivers but I also know about other products like
https://fiber.ui.com/
And last time I checked it seemed like a no brainer for shorter runs in between buildings and offices in the same lot. this would be only interesting if better connections are needed within the buildings.

I have good experience with directional antennas like this one:
https://martybugs.net/wireless/biquad/double.cgi
I have two openwrt stations permantly connected at a distance of about 600 feet (200 meter). Directional antennas on both ends, pointing to each other.

183 m, approximately...

650 feet, in this case. splitting hairs

Not really. The error is approximately 2^24 of average hair diameter. So that's really far from splitting hairs.

A reasonable approximation is to calculate a foot = 0.3 m.

A tangent, for sure:
http://ronja.twibright.com

Wireless Wire Kit (RBwAPG-60adkit)

Mikrotik

$320.00
This would seem to do what you want.