Comment by UI_at_80x24 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by UI_at_80x24 | Hacker News Reader

I'm disappointed in this article for several reasons. Ars used to be such a great tech/news site.

I would have much more interested if they had dug a trench, installed fiber, or hell UTP CAT5 or CAT6. [0] This wasn't a 'tricky' task, you are operating within spec of all network cabling released in the last 20+ years.

As another posted pointed out, 800m would have made for a more interesting story even if it was just buried fiber-optic cabling.

The other part that annoys me is that no foresight for the future was taken into consideration. Let's assume that there are no trees blocking the line-of-site between the two antennas. Will it remain clear and obstruction free for the next 10 years? What about 20? I have a cable conduit installed between my house and my garage. 30'ish feet. That conduit has not had a problem since 1985 when it was installed. The cabling was upgraded from intercom to phone to network CAT5. Being out in the elements will age your equipment.

Future proofing AKA How often do you want to climb up that ladder: Wireless tech has horrible shelf life and is quickly surpassed. Data needs are always increasing. The 1Gb/s switch I installed back in the 2000's can still handle the workload today, but the wireless AP I installed 5 years ago is buckling under the load that it can't accommodate.

This article is as impressive as telling us the story of how they might have upgraded their service from 1Mb/s DSL to 10Mb/s cable.

[0]For twisted-pair Ethernet, maximum cable length is 100 m (Cat-6A for 10GBASE-T, Cat-5e for 1000BASE-T or 100BASE-TX, Cat-3 for 10BASE-T).

I thought it was pretty interesting. It seems like you missed the point of the article, in fact it seems like the point was exactly the opposite.

> The good news is, with the right gear, you can connect your home to an outbuilding without either professional expertise or a ditch witch and a spool of burial-grade cable.

> Our goal in this exercise is not to geek out as hard as possible by mounting and aiming everything with millimeter precision. Instead, we're simply out to demonstrate that wirelessly connecting two buildings quickly, cheaply, and easily is possible for anyone. In fact, you can even enjoy more-than-acceptable results in the end.

> When you want to extend a network from one building to another, the best answer is almost always a cable—preferably a burial-grade cable, either Ethernet or fiber, laid in a conduit and buried several feet underground. But that's expensive. If all you need is good Internet access in a nearby pool house or barn, it's almost certainly overkill.

A low-effort, low-cost, low-commitment solution is sometimes all you need.

A couple of thoughts based on hard-learned experience:

1) Radios do have a relatively short life, even with proper carrier grade STP cabling and surge protectors. ESD damage from t-storms will inevitably take its toll on them. Usually though, either you can get them replaced under warranty, or at least get a better/faster replacement (although you have to upgrade both ends).

2) It's not a good idea to run any kind of wires between buildings that have separate electrical systems / different ground potential (an outbuilding with a sub panel is fine). I've seen differences in ground potential of 12-15V or more measured between the drain/ground wire and the building ground (this can also varies daily based on the moisture levels around the buildings). Ethernet does use differential signaling, so it's "mostly ok" if you're under 100m. But again the bigger issue is that ESD from t-storms will cause damage to switches (even STP cable grounded at one end) with long runs of ethernet. YMMV with a metal conduit, or with proper surge protection where the cable enters the building. You'll also need (expensive!) carrier grade shielded twisted pair with the drain wire and UV resistant if it's in the sun as well as shielded ethernet jacks for each end (well, you should probably only ground one end).

3) TBH, Fiber is where it's for building to building if you can do it. Most decent switches these days have one or more SFP ports and you can get a pair of Gigibit SFP transceivers for ~$15. Multimode fiber is pretty cheap too -- you can get custom lengths, armored etc. the hard part is the trenching/conduit! But if you're going to go to the trouble of digging a trench and running conduit then put fiber in it, don't bother with ethernet!

A $100 wifi link with off the shelf equipment sounds more interesting to me (and applicable to my life) than a $1000 trench with fiber.

Why are Americans allergic to aerial cable runs? Fiber and Ethernet are low/no voltage and don't need to be buried to comply with the electrical code.

I can't speak for all Americans, but in the two cases when I've set up a Wifi link:

#1 - I don't really want an aerial cable running through my back yard, plus it'd have to be pretty high to give enough clearance for the septic pumping truck.

#2 - running cable between the 10th and 13th floor of buildings across the street from each other would require permission from both building owners, and maybe a permit from the city too. While a wifi link just sits in the windows on each side.

Many parts of America are subject to Tornados, Hurricanes, or snowstorms.

Then why are cable companies and the telcos stringing their fiber and coax in the air on telephone poles? They don't do it for the last mike but they do it elsewhere to save money.

I still have fiber above ground running through my yard. ATT doesn't bury it, they just run it above ground and wait for a 3rd party contractor to come by and bury it later. Mines been above ground for 6 months now

Far outside my area of expertise but as I understand it when running something between two structures that may have different electrical systems it’s always best to go optical (fiber). Not only is it more future proof, you get electrical isolation built in to deal with potential grounding issues/surges/shorts and any other weird things that can get introduced with buried cables.

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