Allrighty, I figured that since this game is the main reason I'm attempting to enhance my internet connection I thought I would ask you all for a little help. First let me explain the setup I have in mind: I need to run a network connection between two homes, roughly about 600 feet apart. Thats the biggest problem right off the bat, maximum distance for a single piece of cat5 cable to retain its signal strength is about 90 meters (roughly 295 feet), and again it wouldn't be so difficult if I could just put a simple switch in the middle of the run, however I don't know how I'm going to get power between the two homes, because the space between is just desert. Wireless isn't an option because I have a really tight budget so I can't afford anything powerful enough to go the 600ft distance to the house in question.
Now my question for you all is, do you have any suggestions? or does anyone know where (preferably not ebay) I could get my hands on some cheap ethernet cable in bulk or already terminated? I couldn't care less there. Or does anyone know where I could get a couple of cheap wireless switches (because if I can setup a couple of wireless switches I can run a segment of maybe 100ft or less of cat5 from each house to the switches which will cut down on the length of cable I need by quite a bit)?
Thanks in advance for anyone who offers up some suggestions or advice.
Don't really know where your based, although I'm guessing the US in which case I can't really be much help since I'm in the UK. When I get into work on Monday I'll try and track down a couple of our suppliers and see if they are in the US as well.
The alternative I can suggest is google's shopping site - Froogle.
Update time (I do live in the US Jeffers, Southern California's Mojave Desert to be exact...hence the satellite internet), I've found a place that'll rig me up a couple of custom ethernet cables, not as cheap as I'd like it to be, but in this case I'd really rather not do it myself, as I don't have a good crimping set and I don't feel like using a pair of pliers on a job that needs to last for awhile. I've decided to go with an all wire strategy and get two segments of 295 feet each, and stick a switch in the middle of the run. Still haven't figured out how to get power to the switch but thats a minimal issue.
I do still have a question though, I would feel a lot more comfortable if I could stretch the cable out to 300 feet a piece I know cat5 is still fine at that length, but signal degredation isn't something I even want to risk because its going to be my main net connection. What I'm wondering is if anyone knows just what the chance of signal degredation would be if I stretched the cables out to 300 feet per segment instead of 295 (I realize its not a big margin of difference, but better safe than sorry).
Thats going beyond me to be honest, might make a huge difference, might only make a tiny difference. Tried to see if I could find something on google, but nothing seemed to pop up.
Its all right, I think I'm pretty well off for now. I solved the getting power to the switch issue (going to hook it up to a solar cell, one thing we have in abundance here in the desert is sun), so as soon as all my parts come in I'll be up and running, hopefully.
Fiber isn't really an option for me for a couple of reasons. Main one being price, I'm kind of on a tight budget (my wife doesn't exactly like the idea of me spending the money I'm spending now just to play MxO) and fiber is just much to expensive. The other reason is because this is basically a semi-temporary solution, eventually as soon as one of the larger carriers comes to town I'll be signing up with them, hopefully Verizon. Currently they stretch their DSL network about halfway to where I live, so I'm hoping within the next couple of years it'll be available in my area. So I don't want to dump a bunch of money into top quality optical line for a solution that is supposed to be temporary.
Something just occured to me as I was writing this...I'm doing this whole process pretty much soley to play MxO...I must be addicted.
There isn't a good/cheap/efficient way to bridge a gap of ~200 meters, with the exception of a few ways that may have legal implications.
The best method would be a very-low-power 2-Meter packet radio with VPN across the bridge for security. You'd likely need a license for transmission at both stations (an amateur radio license to do so in the USA), so this may be harder to accomplish than it's worth.
Another method would require some decent engineering and mathematical skills, but is possible without licenses or super-expensive equipment. It'd require two 802.11n base stations that allow bridging, then have parabolic reflectors (dishes) at both ends to reduce noise and improve distance. (802.11n has a normal omni-directional line-of-sight radius of ~125 meters)
I read a story about someone using a small wok to make a parabolic reflector, which apparently works really well. Good luck if you choose to do this, though.
Wow....well as much as I'd kill my own mother to get something like that, again I have to cry poor house and at 7k a pop thats a little out of my price range especially considering that I'm really only going through this mess to be able to play MxO, technically my satellite functions fine for everything else I do online...but I've got to have my MxO I went a year without it...now I gotta get that goodness in me. Still...very very cool.
Hmm...you make a good point, perhaps it would be beneficial if I becamse obsessed with obtaining one of these...bet I could turn it into some kind of optical death ray....I could be the next Nikola Tesla mwaha...haha...hahahahaha
