Wi Fi Technical Question (Flash, wifi, kb/s, router)

[J Arp]

Originally Posted by Brian.Pearson

How about using a phone line, instead?

All you need is 4 wires in the cable AND it needs to be twisted pair. Cat5 has 8 wires, but all you need is 4 to get the interbutts. You'll be running at half duplex, but you wouldn't notice unless you were transferring stuff on a network. I honestly don't know if telephone wire is twisted (I never really payed attention), but if you happen to have some, go for it. You need the twist to keep your packets intact and keep a good signal/noise ratio. I would assume telephone wire would need to be twisted pair for the same reason cat5 is, but then again I really don't know. We would run network over plain telephone wire at work in the -old- buildings where we were too lazy to run cat5 or it was near physically impossible, but they were short hops.

Here is instructions on making your own cable:

How to Make a Category 5 /5e Patch Cable

Since you're not planning on using cat5 you are going to crimp your wire using only pins 1, 2, 3, 6 instead of all 8 as shown. It honestly doesn't matter what colors you use, but they have to be identical on both ends. You have a crimper?

[Brian.Pearson]

In my limited experience with CAT 5, I found it to be a little bit expensive. The modem and router are in the front of the apartment, and my computer is in the back. I had to get two lengths of the longest they had. Seems like it cost close to a 100 bucks. I don't know why was so much. Maybe it's cheaper, now, that was about four years ago.

[J Arp]

You bought it from the rip-off computer hut in town didn't you? I bet those guys love making a 10ft cable and charging you 25 bucks for it. The ends are the most expensive part, they cost about 2 bucks each. I never thought about how much the wire cost until I got into IT and found out.. I know I'm never buying from the local computer shops again.

You can buy a box of 1000ft of cat5 for about a hundred bucks. Ten cents a foot in bulk. Granted, since you're running this outside you'll want to go for the outdoor rated stuff which will about double the price. Go googling for "cat5 1000ft" or "cat5 outdoor 1000ft". If you want to try phone wire 1000ft outdoor rated is about 50-70 bucks. I'd only use phone line if you had a lot of it already laying around just incase it doesn't work that well.

Before you go buying anything though I would plot out the exact route you want the cable to go and measure it as accurately as possible. If the entire length of the route is approaching 500+/- feet I would forget about it. At that length your packets are going to have to be re-transmitted more and more which you won't really notice except your speed will be slower. Then you would be out about 150$ that could have gone to a real nice wireless bridge setup.
Also I don't know anything about causing ground loops and such like someone else pointed out so you might want to look into that.

[LBSer]

it is coz you bought in a store.. if you ordered in the internet you will saved 95% off the store price. internet stores are the best for prices IMO. the downside is the waiting time and if ever you wanna return your purchase.

[Brian.Pearson]

Ha! Sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

[Niners fan]

The OP stated he couldn't run cable because there was a river between his house and his parents'.

[JBrown]

Originally Posted by Niners fan

The OP stated he couldn't run cable because there was a river between his house and his parents'.

You need to read more carefully...he said...and I quote..

"Yes, I could put up coax to their house,"

go back and reread his second posting

[Niners fan]

Originally Posted by JBrown

You need to read more carefully...he said...and I quote..

"Yes, I could put up coax to their house,"

go back and reread his second posting

I stand corrected!

By the way, HughesNet satellite internet runs $59.99-99.99 per month. That's probably more than cable is costing.

HughesNet High-Speed Internet for Your Home

[Brian.Pearson]

Also, there is this. I guess you can go anywhere, anytime with a laptop and get Internet.

[Arcticthaw]

Originally Posted by Brian.Pearson

Also, there is this. I guess you can go anywhere, anytime with a laptop and get Internet.

It is basically a cell phone modem, and really only works well if your near on of their high density populations. Look at the coverage map for your provider and ask them lots of questions before committing to this.

I use a pair of older linksys routers in bridged mode with third party software. Sveasoft.com This has worked for me pretty flawlessly for three years. For 500 feet, line of sight and a directional antenna would be recommended. As distance increases throughput decreases, so instead of 54mbs, you might get 12 to 24mbs, which is still faster than most internet connections.