Remote buildings often need to be connected with network access so building can share computer internet, VoIP phones, paging systems, security cameras, building access control, and more. This could be done with buried network cable or fiber optic cable but wireless bridges can provide the same reliability and speed and a fraction of the cost.
In this example site from Google Earth, there is a number of buildings and we'll connect five of them with NanoStation wireless bridges. NanoStations are the economic choice for a small number of buildings that are all common long direction. If buildings are more spread out or there are more buildings then a omni-directional antenna should be added to make the deployment more flexible.
The NanoStation M5 antennas have 45 degree beam width. This is important because all receiving antennas must be with-in that 45 degrees and be line-of-sight. Line-of-sight means that no other barriers such as building, trees or other solid objects are not in the way of the antennas. Signal strength is significantly impacted when antennas are outside of the beamwidth or are not line-of-sight. This means that the network will be slower and less reliable.
A single antenna is declared the "Access Point" All other antennas are "Stations" The "Access Point" antenna is the one that has a clear line-of-sight of all other antennas and has all other antennas with-in its beamwidth. In our example, this is Antenna "A". All other antennas should point towards this one and be configured in "Station" mode.
Your internet connection can be connected to any other antenna. For this example, internet is coming in a Antenna "E". Your firewall must be placed at this location to connect the internet to your site network. We always recommend PFSense firewalls for their value and ability to provide advanced networking configurations.
To find out how to configure individual antennas, visit our Ubiquiti playlist on our YouTube channel.
When you need to order PFSense or the wireless bridges, visit our Online Store at http://www.BuyPhonesOnline.ca/bridges
