Many types of businesses that include motels, hotels, resorts, airports, trade shows and retail provide WiFi Internet access for the public. The list of businesses is very long. Many remote rural communities have no access to the Internet and so WiFi Internet access connected to a satellite Internet service has become very popular for residents of communities.

Building a WiFi network for a community is very different to installing a WiFi network in an office building or an apartment building or even a home. A WiFi network installed in a home requires only one wireless router that can provide a WiFi signal throughout the building. An apartment building will have an Ethernet or fiber cable installed to each apartment and connected to a central location called an equipment closet. Each apartment will have a WiFi wireless router that provides Internet access. A large office area requires an installation where a ceiling mounted wireless access point is installed for each area of a large open plan office. Each wireless access point is connected back to a wiring closet using Ethernet cable. Each wireless access point is powered over the Ethernet cable (power over Ethernet - PoE).

Planning a WiFi network installation for the residents of a community

A community WiFi network requires initial preparation to determine the design of the WiFi network. There are several characteristics for a community WiFi network that are not found in the examples listed previously. The process of gathering the information to prepare the network design is called the SITE SURVEY and requires visiting the location to obtain many of the items of information listed below.

• Ensure that the community is aware of the performance and distance limitations of all types of WiFi network products.
• Understand what the community members expect of the WiFi service, plan what is possible with the technology and advise.
• The WiFi network is provided outdoors, where obstacles such as trees and buildings will block the WiFi signal, get a plan of the location and note all the obstacles on the plan.
• Identify on the plan where to position one or more wireless access points for the maximum area of coverage around the wireless access point.
• Identify where it is necessary to extend the WiFi connection distance when a connection is required outside the range of a wireless access point.
• Identify if WiFi connections will be provided to community member mobile devices, or also to the homes of community members.
• If the WiFi Internet service is to be provided inside home then note the equipment that must be installed in each home.
• Specify the methods that will be used to share the Internet service and the accounting for the use of the service.
• Specify the methods that will protect the service from misuse.
• Estimate the expected volume of Internet data required by the community so that the correct ISP bandwidth and data requirements are contracted.
• If it is not possible to obtain the ISP bandwidth and data requirements then prepare a policy to share the available services with the people that want to use it.

The Site Survey is the process that is required to provide answers to these questions listed above. Please check out our previous article here. The list is not complete as each installation will have issues that are unique to that location. The network installation can only be planned when the site survey is completed.

Technical design considerations

WiFi networks that provide public Internet Hotspot access are designed with two types of WiFi configurations; one or both of the configurations are required, depending on the size of the coverage area.

• A point to multi-point wireless connection, this is the WiFi hotspot that mobile devices can connect to.
• A point to point wireless connection (called a wireless bridge) to provide a wireless connection over a longer distance to a remote point-to-multi-point wireless connection.
• The point to multi-point network requires a wireless access point antenna at a central location so that several user WiFi devices (mobile phones, laptops, etc.) can connect to the point to multi-point antenna. The wireless access point antenna radiates in all directions, this is called an omni-directional antenna. Sometimes an antenna is used that has a limited arc or radiation, of 90 degrees or 120 degrees. A wireless router in a home is a point to multi-point network and several devices can connect to the wireless router at the same time.

The point-to-point network has only two points; a transmitter wireless access point and a receiver wireless unit. The receiver is sometimes called a ‘client premises equipment’ (CPE). The antennas are highly directional because the wireless connection is only between the two points. Because the antennas are highly directional the point-to-point link can connect over several Km providing that there is a clear line of sight between the two antennas without obstructions.

The first consideration when planning a point to multi-point WiFi network for a community is the distance of communication. Listed below are some very important points to note when designing a WiFi network for an outdoor installation to connect a community.

• WiFi transmission is low power that is regulated by the FCC, which means that the range or distance to a user device is short.
• The transmission distance depends on the device that is connecting to the WiFi antenna; some devices have poor WiFi performance while other devices have better WiFi performance.
• The transmission distance also depends on the type of antenna used by the wireless access point; an omni-directional antenna will cover a short distance with 360 degrees around the antenna, a directional antenna will cover a longer distance but only in one direction.
• There must be a direct line of sight between the WiFi antenna and the user device; any obstacle in the path between the WiFi antenna and the user device will block the WiFi signal, the obstacle can be a building or tree.

The SITE SURVEY process

The site survey can be prepared in four stages. After completion the data obtained is used to design the WiFi network infrastructure that the business will use to provide WiFi Internet for guests, visitors, residents and travelers; collectively called users.

• Determine how the Internet connection will be provided. Maybe the local ISP can provide a fiber connection to the site. If there is no local ISP then consider a satellite service from Starlink (low earth orbit – LEO) or HughesNet (geo-stationary orbit). Remember that ISP's of any type will have a maximum data speed that they can provide and some ISP's will also impose a monthly data limit. It might be necessary to have two or more ISP connections and combine their services for higher throughput using a multi-WAN load balance router.
• Determine the technologies that will be used for the WiFi. All devices can connect to a 2.4GHz network. Newer devices can also connect to 5.8GHz networks. There are several WiFi standards that provide data connection speed, cost and performance alternatives. The older /n standard or WiFi 4 can connect 2.4GHz devices at up to 300Mb/s wireless speeds. A newer standard is /ax or WiFi6. This will connect devices on both 2.4 and 5.8 GHZ frequencies at up to 2Gb/s speeds. There is a significant cost difference between WiFi4 and WiFi6 technology. WiFi7 technology is available at a higher price however almost no devices at present can take advantage of a WiFi7 network. Most user devices have WiFi 4 capability; newer products have WiFi6 capability.
• Determine the location or locations at the site where WiFi should be provided for users. Plan for the limited WiFi equipment communication range and identify any obstruction that will block the path of the WiFi signal. For outdoor locations that have a lot of obstructions, such as trees, buildings, and vehicles etc. it is often advisable to designate a WiFi area where an installation is simple and low cost to provide a WiFi service. Guests (campers, RV’ers, etc) can go to the WiFi area to access the Internet connection. Often an attempt to provide WiFi over the whole area is a very high cost that cannot be recovered.
• Obtain a plan of the site, inside buildings and outdoor areas, and mark up the location of network equipment on the plan, the key points are
  • Location of the ISP connection and a wiring closed to install network equipment.
  • Identify the locations of the wireless access points on the plan and estimate the communication range of each wireless access point.
  • Plan the wiring that will connect the wireless access point back to the central wiring closet, remember that the maximum length of cat6 Ethernet cable is 100m (300ft), the length can be extended using a powered switch.
  • Where a wireless access point will be much further from the central wiring closet than the permitted Ethernet cable length consider an Ethernet over fiber cable connection or a wireless point to point connection.
  • Finally prepare a network schematic that the installation technician will follow to install the network infrastructure. 

WiFi network technical design rules

WiFi network technology has some basic rules that have to be followed when planning the network installation. Each rule is described in the sections that follow.

WiFi communication frequencies: WiFi can operate over either of two frequency bands that are shared between devices. The two frequency bands are 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz and do not need a license to operate the equipment. There is one restriction of WiFi operation; the transmission power must not exceed the value specified by the government authority; in the USA this authority is the FCC. The maximum transmission power value is low to minimize interference with other devices. Therefore the transmission distance to mobile devices has a short range of a few tens of meters.

WiFi wireless network configurations

There are two types of WiFi configurations, point-to-point, and point-to-multi-point.

The point to multi-point configuration is the most common configuration that is used to connect homes; this is also called fixed wireless access (FWA). The point to multi-point configuration often uses 5.8GHz wireless for higher data rates and less interference.

Each home has a wireless router that provides the WiFi connection for devices that will connect to the Internet. The devices can be mobile phones, laptops, tablets and desktop computers.  The wireless access point can be single band, 2.4GHz, or dual band, 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz. All devices with WiFi can connect to the 2.4GHz WiFi. Only newer devices can also connect to the 5.8GHz WiFi band. The 5.8GHz band can have much higher data speeds than the 2.4GHz band. The 2.4GHz band is more prone to interference than the 5.8GHz band because many other types of devices that are not WiFi, for example microwave ovens, use the 2.4GHz band. The next figure shows the point to multi-point WiFi configuration. 

The point-to-point WiFi configuration can connect two points over much longer distances than the point-to-multi-point configuration because the WiFi wireless products have highly directional antennas that point to each other and the quality of the WiFi wireless components is higher than those used in most mobile phones. The directional antennas minimize interference from other wireless transmissions. The 5.8GHz band is commonly used for point-to-point networks due to the high data speeds that are possible with this band. The 5.8GHz band also has fewer interference sources. When data speed is not an issue then the 2.4GHz band ca be used as the equipment has a lower cost. The next figure shows a point to point WiFi bridge connection.

Large networks are designed by combining point-to-point network components with point-to-multi-point network components. The combined configuration is called a wireless distribution network. The wireless distribution network can be extended over many Km and connect thousands of people. The limitation for expansion is that all point-to-point wireless connections must be line of sight. A wireless distribution network is shown in the next figure.

Communication distance: As stated previously, the WiFi transmission is low power, with limits set by governments to minimize interference. The distance that WiFi can communicate is short. WiFi was designed for use inside buildings where the distance between the wireless access point transmitter and the mobile WiFi device is a few meters. As WiFi technology has developed it can be used outdoors over longer distances. The actual distance depends on the device that is connecting to the WiFi antenna as devices have different WiFi antenna and power configurations. It is important to note that any building or tree will block the WiFi signal.  

The next diagram illustrates a point-to-multi-point network with typical communications distances to devices. 

The point-to-point network connection using WiFi products designed for this application with directional antennas is shown in the next figure. The important point to note is that the antennas must be installed on towers so that the antennas are above the trees. For a 2.4GHz link the center-line of the antennas must be 5.6 meters above the trees for every Km of distance. For a 5.8GHz link the center-line of the antennas must be 3 meters above the trees for every Km of distance. A 3Km link requires the antennas to be 9m above the tree tops. The point-to-point WiFi bridge characteristics are shown in the next figure.

Further information

The design of WiFi networks for public Internet service applications requires study to understand the depth and breadth of the subject, the reader is recommended to download the following free e-book, called How to Start a WISP Business, that provides much more information about the use of WiFi technology for public Internet networks. This book is available in English and Spanish.

https://guest-internet.com/pdfs/How_to_start_and_build_a_WISP_(ENGLISH)_J_Barker_2022.pdf

https://guest-internet.com/pdfs/How_to_start_and_build_a_WISP_(SPANISH)_J_Barker_2022.pdf

If you have questions about providing a WiFi service, please contact us via our email: info@wispzone.com and we will be very happy to help you.