Point to Point

[ComputerDave]

This is way out of my comfort zone, meaning it's not usually the type of work I do. I have a relative who has built a metal building on his property, and would like to use a point-to-point system. 235 feet distance, light of sight. They are on fiber, which may make a difference. I'm hoping for something plug-and-play? I'm sorry for my ignorance on the subject.

 

[mmerry]

Ubiquiti has P2P or TP Link Omada. Most of the major players have a P2P option. Are you currently in a particular vendor ecosystem?

 

[ComputerDave]

Are you currently in a particular vendor ecosystem?

I am not.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I do lots of these...have done some over a mile away, even over 6 miles across ocean to an island.

My favorite network hardware brand is Ubiquiti
I do lots and LOTS of Unifi networks...gateways, switches, access points, quite a few clients with points to points ...some with multiple point to points creating a "campus area network"

My favorite current device....the UBB.

Building-to-Building Bridge - Ubiquiti Store

A 60 GHz wireless point-to-point bridge.

store.ui.com

This is adopted and managed in the same Unifi controller that you run the Unifi gateway, switche(s), and AP(s) in....so it's nice and easy. Since we manage a couple of hundred Unifi sites..it's nice having as much in the same multi tenant portal as possible.

Now...the UBB does have a higher cost, but it's preconfigured out of the box...you purchase them in pairs...pre-paired at the factory. So setup is...literally...mere minutes.

Ubiquiti does sell older products, in a different family....LTE....which are managed in a different controller, kind of an older clunky controller...UISP (used to be UNMS).

Ubiquiti Store

Rethinking IT

store.ui.com

And...you can still find their legacy stuff here...

Ubiquiti Store

Rethinking IT

store.ui.com

Some of them under a hundred bucks a pop. So...while cheaper than the UBB....it takes a bit of time to configure them (especially the learning curve for your first few times)...and...you have to manage them through a separate webUI interface. Think about this also for ongoing maintenance...time is money! So your charge for "preparing equipment" goes up a few hours. Now...the cost of a "pair" of old airMax radios...is about the same as a UBB kit.

IMO, like mmerry mentioned above, do you already have a preferred network product? It makes sense to use their products...since you're already familiar with them, and probably already have a centralized multi tenant management portal.

 

[thecomputerguy]

This may give you some inspiration ... I used older products to get this done because the B2B Bridge was out of stock at the time and 130Mbps at the pool was absolutely plenty enough.

https://www.technibble.com/forums/threads/project-pictures.91335/

It seems confusing but it really isn't once you dig into it.

 

[HCHTech]

@thecomputerguy , I might have asked this the first time you posted this install, but what do you have the receiver p2p unit at the poolhouse connected to? Is it a switch with a separate AP, directly to an AP, or something else?

 

[thecomputerguy]

@thecomputerguy , I might have asked this the first time you posted this install, but what do you have the receiver p2p unit at the poolhouse connected to? Is it a switch with a separate AP, directly to an AP, or something else?

So in this box with the flex conduit, we have two standard Ubiquiti POE injectors

One of these (https://store.ui.com/us/en/category...instant-802-3af-outdoor-gigabit-poe-converter) because the Nanobeam 5AC can only run off 24v so the 48v POE injector needs to be converted to 24v

Thankfully there was power nearby for the POE injectors. I think we put a surge protector in the box too because we only had one available outlet at the pool.

So it goes

POE OUT -> 48v to 24v Adapter -> Nanobeam In

Nanobeam OUT -> POE Network/Internet POE Injector -> POE OUT -> U6 Mesh (Which is Outdoor rated)

I chose to use POE injectors over a switch because all the Ubiquiti stuff runs hot and I didn't want to cook a switch in that waterproof box. I wanted to keep it as simple and as dumb as possible. Injectors are cheap and easy to replace if needed.

The setup has run flawlessly since August of 2024 with no outages. I would imagine at some point I might have to replace the U6 mesh as it gets beat up by weather even though it's outdoor rated and we applied silicone to every exposed area outside of the flex conduit.

 

[Diggs]

My favorite current device....the UBB.

Ouch!!! Those things are expensive. I've always stuck to the LiteBeam 5AC even though I don't need their long range (15 km).

airMAX LiteBeam 5AC - Ubiquiti Store

Ultra-lightweight design with proprietary airMAX ac chipset and dedicated management WiFi for easy UISP mobile app support and fast setup.

store.ui.com

 

[NETWizz]

For 235 feet, why not extend the fiber?

 

[thecomputerguy]

For 235 feet, why not extend the fiber?

Trenching is a PITA?

 

[DRPCNZ]

Trenching is a PITA?

Aint that the truth

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Ouch!!! Those things are expensive. I've always stuck to the LiteBeam 5AC even though I don't need their long range (15 km).

airMAX LiteBeam 5AC - Ubiquiti Store

Ultra-lightweight design with proprietary airMAX ac chipset and dedicated management WiFi for easy UISP mobile app support and fast setup.

store.ui.com

Yup I've used those, and the nanos, and the locos, prisms, scaling up to the airFiber AF5U (big boy)
But the time savings with the UBBs nearly washes off the added cost. It takes a bit to set those up...I can do them quite quickly too...
And then ongoing maintance and support of the UBBs..easily done in the clients Unifi site manager....icing on the cake!

 

[NETWizz]

Trenching is easy... I email a company I have that does it, get a quote, sign off on it, send it to my purchasing group at work, they cut a PO for $100k to $200k and presto done.

 

[thecomputerguy]

Trenching is easy... I email a company I have that does it, get a quote, sign off on it, send it to my purchasing group at work, they cut a PO for $100k to $200k and presto done.

 

[ComputerDave]

For 235 feet, why not extend the fiber?

Yeah, I know. Difficult client.

 

[thecomputerguy]

Yeah, I know. Difficult client.

TBH ... If you can get someone to do it for relatively cheap .... that might be the best option since the distance is so short.

Or if you want to really cheap out grab a shovel and trench a Cat6 Cable ... get some outdoor rated, gel filled Cat6 and bury that sucker in the dirt or if you are feeling spicy throw it in some PVC conduit.

 

[timeshifter]

I'm nervous that a buried copper wire would fry switches and other things on both ends if lightning hit nearby? Legit fear? Putting a run of pre terminated fiber sounds like a better plan? I've never done it or had it done but I've mentioned it to clients a few times in discussions.

 

[britechguy]

Legit fear?

Sans a direct hit, no. The insulation on any wire rated for burial should have no problem at all doing its function for anything other than a direct (or very, very, very close) hit.

Also, and I can't say for sure because I don't know where you are, you need to be realistic about how probable that is. There are some places where lightning strikes are relatively common and others where they're rare. And since lightning is always looking for ground, and buried wire that's insulated is not really a prime target for that purpose . . .

 

[thecomputerguy]

I'm nervous that a buried copper wire would fry switches and other things on both ends if lightning hit nearby? Legit fear? Putting a run of pre terminated fiber sounds like a better plan? I've never done it or had it done but I've mentioned it to clients a few times in discussions.

I mean if you cheap out and just direct bury the thing and it fries a $50-$100 switch after a few years ... who cares.

 

[timeshifter]

In the application, I’m thinking about is a large home that will have about five access points on the main house, ubiquity cameras, and other things plugged into the network in a nice rack in an attic space that’s insulated. They have a carriage house where they’ll have other things like cameras and Wi-Fi access points and possibly other things. So the switch in the main house won’t be a $100 switch and there’ll be a lot of other equipment in the rack