Wireless Dilemma at Newton's House?

netean asks: "Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire, Uk (Birth place and Family Home of Sir Isaac Newton) has an interesting problem that may also be facing many historic buildings around the world. 4 Buildings less than 100 metres/yards apart. All are built from stone or brick and they need to be networked together, somehow. Ideally wireless looks the least disruptive and best option, but it is a Grade 1 listed building and that means no external antennae or high gain aerials are allowed anywhere visible. So will any wireless solution ever work in such situations?"

"The alternative approach just seems silly:

Proposed: Add another 128k ISDN line and 2 ordinary phone lines in one building (for office use) install 2 phone lines in another building (for other use) and continue using the existing 128k line in another building (used for free public internet access) - the network option would come from using the Internet and a VPN (the 4th building wouldn't be connected in this scenario). Hard line (cabled) ethernet cannot be used as it will be both be too expensive and involve digging underground which is not allowed.

Being a charity, The National Trust (the owners) aren't going to invest in some experimental wireless kit that might not work. But surely someone out there in the Slashdot community can help to ensure that it will. It must be possible, surely?"

Carrier Pigeons

[sapped]

When will people get it into their heads! This is a historical site.

Use the correct solution for the problem, people!

Strap packets to the legs of carrier pigeons and get them to transmit the information between the buildings.

--

Employing incompetence: $35/h
Fixing the resulting mistakes: $1000's
Employing me: Priceless [geocities.com]

Perfect Solution

[athakur999]

This sounds like a job for RF1149 [faqs.org].

No need for antennas, just an open window.

a Newtonian Answer

[Astrorunner]

IP Over Apples Falling From Trees. I'd have to look up the RFC -- I don't have it handy.

The logical answer

[BMonger]

Measure the distance between the buildings. Let's just work with two buildings here in this example.

You have house A and house B. They are 100 feet apart from each other. Now we know that the average width of a midget is about 2 feet give or take. I don't know about UK labor laws but in the US 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week is your typical.

Soooo... we're gonna need 50 midgets to go between the buildings providing they stand shoulder to shoulder. If you want to cut down on costs have them extend their arms and hire the ones with the widest armspan. But we'll stick with 50 midgets for one shift.
Well we need them there 24 hours a day so we'll need three shifts so 150 midgets. Then you have weekends and vacation, sick time, and other stuff so maybe hire two more shifts worth. Then you can just run straight cable through the sleeves of their shirts.

If class A buildings aren't allowed to have midgets you can dress them up as lawn gnomes and get them taxidermied. It's cheaper that way too. You only need one shift and maybe need to replace them once a year or so.

The best part is, people will come to see Newtons house and to see the midgets too!

Oh those clever cell phone towers!

[BlueJay465]

I know! I know! You know how in some major cities they use cell phone towers that are disguised as (yuk yuk) evergreen trees? why not do the same technique with bricks!

Go get the local high school drama club to make up some mock bricks out of styrofoam that carrier waves can easily pass through. All they really require is a weekly paint job to keep them looking authentic since they would need to stand up to the elements...


...ok, ok I give up! stop hitting me!...

Re:Perfect Solution

[garcia]

better have bird diapers otherwise you are going to have a "shitty" network connection ;-)

Re:Carrier Pigeons

[maroberts]

Be a good test for RFC1149 [ietf.org] and RFC2549 [ietf.org]!!

Re:DSL?

[Verizon Guy]

Yeah, this guy [qx.net] needs internet access. Uh-huh. For what, lawn tractor upgrades?

Re:Lasers...

[drycht]

I don't think it is that necissary to respond to this ridiculous response, but the idea is that if there is fog you can see the laser beams. That is why robot attack dogs are less effective in fog.

(you know: rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, fog beats robotic attack dog)