Network Segment?

I do some volunteer work for a division of a local public safety group (read non-profit, public safety = little to no funds for extras)





They currently have a very decent network, cat6 all around, windows server, some software applications, broadband internet, 9 workstations or so.. nothing fancy.. but it gets them by. Anyways, on to the question.





There is a second building, due to location cable/dsl internet is not an option ($2K+ for the local company to run), the building I'm in, is literally the last one on the cable line. So, they want to run a network segment between buildings.. underground in pvc tubing or something similar... but the distance is at least 300', which is near the 328' limit of a segment..





How do switches play into boosting signals if the distance is longer.. or do I really need a network repeater.. one to go out, and one on the other side to go back.. just one.. just switches... the cable room would be a good 50' alone to the outside... any suggestions?

Network Segment?
Fibre optics.





Run fibre optic lines between the buildings (perferably buried) and then use converters on both ends to convert them to ethernet for the networks on both sides.





It's expensive, but its perfect for building to building networks.
Reply:I would add at least one reapeter becaues of the noise that could be picked up along the way. Im not sure if you thought about wirless but here is a good Idea.





802.11n June 2009[3]


(est.) 2.4 GHz


5 GHz 74 Mbit/s 248 Mbit/s


indoor~70 Meters


Outdoor ~250 Meters (more than enough for what you need)





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11
Reply:If your organization can afford fiber optic cabling and appropriate connecting networking hardware, it's the best solution.


--300-400 feet is well within the typical 6000 foot distance that multi-mode fiber can work on a link.


--electrical isolation. This seems unimportant until you have electrical problems or a lightning strike in one building, and the path to ground is through your underground link and your networking equipment.





Another option is coaxial cable, though it's quite old-school. 10-base-2 on ancient thicknet or RG-58 thinnet can run 200 meters. However, electrical grounding of one end is important to avoid the electrical ground problems mentioned above.





While all unshielded twisted pair solutions (10-base-T, 100-base-T, 1000-base-T) all give 100 meters as the operational radius, you can push it beyond the limit, such as a link between two routers or two switches. The pitfalls are


--possible signal degradation problems over extended distance


--possible signal delay problems due to excessive distance that will cause poor performance - excessive signal collisions and re-transmissions.





A final option is a point-to-point radio link using wireless ethernet bridges and directional antennas. This also gives the electrical isolation and no hassle with right-of-way for burying cable, but has the disadvantages of unpredictable performance and subject to weather and other interferences. But given the relatively short distance, I believe this may be your easiest option.
Reply:Well, the switches play into making the distance longer if you were to "daisy chain" them. The distance between 2 switches would be 100m. If you added another switch to the last switch, technically you have expanded the distance to 200m. You get the drift?





Of course, since you are going underground, a switch wouldn't help much here unless you want to bury the switch in a modified pvc tubing to fit it. The only viable solution would be to use fiber optic cable. They can run from 550m to 10km, depending on the type. I would say to purchase two low end switches that have a fiber optic uplink port. Don't go out and buy a 48 port switch with a fiber optic uplink port. Try to find one that is maybe like 8 or 16 ports with a fiber optic uplink port. The fewer ports will make it cost less.