Marlborough Wi-Fi

Initial project

During 2002 whilst working for 1Call, I had set up several long distance (at the time) links for local businesses spanning from one to six kilometers using a variety of gear. This started off being quite experimental as IEEE 802.11b wireless gear was still very new to the market and incredibly expensive. As such, detailed information on the possibilities of such equipment was sparsely available.

I was discussing the projects with Russ, a local mate of mine, when we decided it would be a great idea to create a wireless network between our houses so we could share files and play games without the slow speed and high latency of local ADSL broadband connections.

We started out in late 2002 with two D-Link DWL-900AP+ access points and Hills 19dBi parabolic grid antennas. At the time these access points offered the best bang for buck, boasting 22Mbps performance, bridging support and a relatively high 19dBm transmitter output. We were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get these two units forming a fast and reliable bridge over 2km across town with no line of sight.

Armed with little knowledge or experience, we set out to see what this gear was indeed capable of. Here’s some photos of the very first attempts by Russ and myself to create a ‘long-distance’ wireless network across Blenheim.