From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Apr 7 21:33:50 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6829E1065677 for ; Wed, 7 Apr 2010 21:33:50 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from norgaard@locolomo.org) Received: from mail.locolomo.org (97.pool85-48-194.static.orange.es [85.48.194.97]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1A9738FC22 for ; Wed, 7 Apr 2010 21:33:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: from beta.local (ppp-93-104-95-187.dynamic.mnet-online.de [93.104.95.187]) by mail.locolomo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 224151C0871 for ; Wed, 7 Apr 2010 23:33:48 +0200 (CEST) Message-ID: <4BBCFA3A.6010506@locolomo.org> Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:33:46 +0200 From: Erik Norgaard User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1.9) Gecko/20100317 Lightning/1.0b1 Thunderbird/3.0.4 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Subject: Re: Outdoor wireless - has anyone used Ubiquiti power stations? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:33:50 -0000 On 07/04/10 22:02, Modulok wrote: > List, > > This might be a little off topic, but it still involves FreeBSD. I > figured this list has many a smart folk, so I'd ask here. > > If I buy two of these Ubiquiti power station 2's, I can set them up to > provide a long distance ethernet link to my BSD box right? Has anyone > used these? > > Basically, I have an remote office with a FreeBSD box acting as a > router, but no Internet connection. At the other side of the valley > (15 miles) I have a DSL based Internet connection, but no office. In > theory, I should be able to link them via a wireless bridge, right? > That way I'd have local connection at the office on one interface, and > a long distance link which hooks up to an ISP through their DSL router > on the other. If I treat the link between the office and the DSL > router as if it were the public Internet, I shouldn't need any > encryption between me and it, right? Does this all sound like a > reasonable approach? In theory it would work, but reallity may be something completely different. I recall there have been a lot of community initiatives back when geeks were more abundant than broadband. However, 15 miles sounds like stretching it. IIRC people were able to get around 1-5 miles on standard gear with a home made antenna and a clear line of sight. Even if you get connection over 15 miles, you might loose it on rainy or cloudy days. Wifi signals are easily absorbed by water and anything that contains water - that means leaves and other vegetation. I must add that I don't know the hardware you're looking at and I never experiented myself. BR, Erik -- Erik Nørgaard Ph: +34.666334818/+34.915211157 http://www.locolomo.org