I am looking for some advice about accessing internet service and making it available on a network using minimal resources.
Here is the situation. I work for most of the year in a third world country. When I am here I stay in a small compound consisting of two buildings each with 35 rooms (ie: 70 rooms total. They are like two small hotels). The buildings are separated by about 15 meters. There are about 30 to 40 people here at any given time.
We have no internet access at the compound. There are only two telephone lines coming into the compound and the company which runs the compound is unwilling to rent more lines and a switchboard system for the rooms due to the high expense. Therefore, dial-up internet access is not a possibility.
However, the company does have an office about 18 km away (11 miles) at which they have high speed internet service.
There are technical problems as I see it, these are:
1) How do we connect a server at the compound to high speed internet service, at minimal cost? 2) How do we make the internet accessible to the people living here from the server.I have little knowledge about communications technology but I have got a few ideas from talking with a few people.
Possible Solutions to Problem 1):
a) It seems like it may be possible to connect a server at the compound with the server at the office. But I don't know how to do this. I have thought of a "leased line" using one of the two telephone lines to the compound and connecting it to the server at the office. To me it seems like this might be the most feasible solution. However, I am concerned that this may not give us enough bandwidth for say, 15 people using it at once.
b) Perhaps another possibility is a radio frequency communications system between the office and the compound (ie: wireless over a long distance). However, this sounds like it might be expensive.
c) I am aware that there are satellite systems to connect to the internet. But again I am concerned that, with only one satellite receiver, the bandwidth wouldn't be high enough.
Possible Solutions to Problem 2):
As I see it there are four possible solutions to this problem.
a) We could use a wireless system for the two buildings from a single server. The people living here would then simply need to have wireless capability on computers in their rooms to connect to the server. However, the buildings are made of concrete. So I am concerned that the signals may not penetrate into the rooms. Also, I am wondering if these systems can transmit far enough to cover two separate buildings with only one server.
b) All the rooms are wired with telephone lines (although they aren't connected to external lines). So it seems possible that these could be connected to a single server for both buildings. But the questions I have are, will the bandwidth be high enough through telephone lines? Also, how do we get the lines from the building without the server over to the other building? Do the lines need to be run individually or should we install a router or something in one building and a single cable from the router to the server in the other building? The buildings are a bit old also (about 35 years), so how do we know if the lines are still in good condition.
c) All of the rooms are wired with coaxial cable television lines (also not used). So, as with the telephone lines it seems possible that these could be used to connect to a single server for both buildings. My questions are the same as with the using the telephone lines but also, do we need some special hardware to transmit to each room using a coaxial line?
d) Last possible solution, probably the most expensive, is to wire each room with new cabling. With this possible solution I wonder, as with the telephone lines and coaxial cable, if we can do this with a single server in one building or if we should be installing a router in the other building and a single cable from the router to the server.
Any advice on this problem and the possible solutions I have mentioned would be greatly appreciated by the 100 or so people who stay here and the staff that work here.
-Jonathan Klein