My brother lives in a house about a quarter mile from my parents, and recently Dad called me wanting to know if he could share his internet connection with my brother.

We went over options (stringing a cable that far was right out) and with the current wireless equipment we use just couldn’t come up with a plan that would get a wireless signal that far without stringing up all sorts of equipment between the two houses, along with power sources, etc.

Flash forward a few weeks…

The entire farm (100ish acres) has WiFi access.  Out on a tractor in the back 40 and need to check the weather?  No problem!  Fire up the laptop and check weather.com for the latest report.

Down in the pecan orchard and need to fire off a quick email?  No problem!

What we found was an absolutely amazing device called the Nano Station 2 by an outfit called Ubiquiti.  This is in effect a Wireless Access Point that reports to have a 15 Kilometer (over 9 miles!) effective range.

Power is provided via an Ethernet cable to the unit (Power Over Ethernet), so there is no need to string AC power where the device will be placed.

The device works flawlessly, and has enabled coverage over an area previously considered impossible to cover by residential-grade equipment.

We’ve ordered several more of the devices and will be testing in the Dallas area to see what kind of coverage we get in an area saturated by existing wireless traffic.

Oh, and the best thing about the device?  The cost!  MSRP on the unit is only $79.

More to come as we test.

**UPDATE**

We received the units late Thursday afternoon and have had a chance to play with them today.

Here is what we’ve learned:

The units work in pairs – i.e., One unit is set up as a Wireless Access Point, and the 2nd unit, which can be located quite some distance away, is set up as the receiving unit.

The receiving unit can then be wired into a switch or directly into a computer for access to the network.

The BIG lesson we learned is these units *must* have line of sight in order to work.  To utilize them in a city environment you would need to mount both units on a tower or fairly high pole in order to make it over any buildings between points a and b.

We also tested one unit as a standalone WAP (Wireless Access Point) and found that while the coverage was considerably better than our existing Linksys WRT54GL units, the antenna is directional.  We have not tested yet with an omnidirectional antenna hooked up to the device.

Summary:
The devices are absolutely amazing, and in the right conditions (large open spaces with no line of sight issues, or units mounted up in the air) they can provide a VERY cost-effective solution for expanding your network.

Daniel Scurlock
Scurlock Systems and Associates LLC
www.scurlocksystems.com
972.633.1111