Parent-Friendly Wireless Bridge To Span 500 Meters?

GonnaBRichYeahYeah! writes "My dad lives down a dirt road 500 meters off the main road. The cable company will not put cable down his lane for any less than the ridiculous sum of $10,000. And he cannot get phone line DSL since he is so far away from the central terminal, so he relied on painful 22k/sec dial-up for access to the Internet. He got sick of it and relies on Hughes satellite Internet, at $60/month, but he still has to be connected to a phone line to upload to the Internet. It's not a good solution, but better than dial-up. His friend lives on the corner of the main drag with his lane and has cable, thus hi-speed Internet. I suggested that he get a wireless access point, and put it at his friend's house and then get a wireless card for access. The problem is that no wireless routers go that far (max range of -N is 200 feet) and WiMax is too complex for a 70-year old man. Any suggestions from Slashdot crowd would be helpful." Plenty of people make wireless links over longer distances, but often they're not suited for people who want simplicity and reliability. What's the best out there right now?

Re:Consider the do it yourself way...

[Anonymous Coward]

Supplies:
Hoe (one per helper)

For 500 meters?!?

Christ on a cracker.. rent a ditch witch [ditchwitch.com]!

Re:Consider the do it yourself way...

[Anonymous Coward]

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. You don't run just normal RG6 cable 500 meters and you do not run the cable through the conduit as you are laying it. You run the cable through after the PVC cement has cured. You can't just dig a trench down the side of the road in a public Utility Easement.

Cell Phone Internet

[Anonymous Coward]

What about getting one of those 3G-type cards that blackberry/iphone owners have? That seems to be a pretty good solution to this problem.

Re:Consider the do it yourself way...

[avronius]

I agree that digging this ditch 'the old fashioned way' would take a large amount of time.

If it were me, I'd probably bring in a contractor to do it.

If you do consider this route, get local utilities to locate underground services for you - so that you don't accidentally dig up power/water. You shouldn't - we're talking a foot and a half, but...

this may work...

[Wornstrom]

maybe a verizon broadband access card [vzw.com]? they sell it in usb format too... 5GB monthly cap is kinda small though so it might not suit your needs.

Re:Legislation?

[iroll]

Reeally? If you build a cabin in the woods, the gov't has to come dig you a well? Something tells me you haven't looked into this local legislation as deeply as you think you have.

Where I live, if you don't live in town, you pay the electric company to plant poles to deliver the power. You pay the well digger to dig you a well. And you pay the telephone company to string some line along those electric co. poles. If you don't like the above, you sit in the dark and use an outhouse.

Run a string through it as well

[bigtrike]

When you're running conduit, it makes sense to run a string through it at the same time. That way you can pull another cable (and another string) through later if needed.

Re:Do it like Cox.

[wal9001]

But finding where it's broken on a 500m cable is a pain in the ass. If you don't mind the initial investment, conduit does have benefits in the long run. Nobody wants to be replacing a long cable like that every few years, it's just another little thing to worry about.

Re:Consider the do it yourself way...

[cjb658]

One assumption you are all making is that he owns all 500 meters of the land between his place and his friend's place.

If you want to go the wireless route, I've had good luck with the antenna "amplifier" I built from this site. [freeantennas.com]

Re:Consider the do it yourself way...

[Chris Mattern]

Uh huh. Then there's the little matter of getting the right-of-way. I don't imagine that all that 500 meters is on their property.