sherwood

If you're going WRT54G I'd lean towards using tomato, it's a little more streamlined and a tad bit more efficient.

I'm not a big fan of the RTNC utilized with these devices, they're more for the home-brew audience. The Ubiquiti NS is more of a pro device that's self-contained and has pretty good support, IT should also easily tap it's 10/100 port (which is pretty damn fast, imho)

H-Accord-22

I thought about the cheapest option is to get two WRT54G, Flash them with DD-WRT and Custom Parabolas but I'm afraid that they won't be efficient for HD streaming, that's why I'm leaning toward the next gen, which is the WRT160NL and do the same. However, they are running on 2.4ghz and can very well be interfered.

Sherwood - How should I setup the Nanostation M5? Pretty much all it does is a Bridge with Hi-Gain, 5Ghz Freq? I'd still need a Wireless N router and/or a GbE Switch @ my parent house for them to get the max speed via wireless?

That seems like the best bet since it won't be interfered by any other 2.4ghz signals and can establish 150+Mbps bandwith, which is more than suffice for HD Multimedia Streaming.

Please advise,

Thanks,
Kevin

sherwood

You'd want to buy two to connect the houses with two nanostations, which will act in a way as a "dumb" bridge. Doing things this way will ensure that the devices aren't overly taxed as well (which can happen if you overuse the 54G)

In the houses you'd need to connect the NS's to routers/switches of your choice, I'd try to keep them at 2.4GHz to stay out the NS's way, they can be gigabit or not, it's really up to what you need where. HD material should be okay on a 10/100, but in the heavier use household you may want a Gig backbone.

It's going to cost a little, but it's going to be a lot cheaper than some of the alternatives, and I'm almost positive this will work with little to no extra bulk-ness. They even have a suction/screw mount for window and permanent mounting if you want, POE means no local wall-warts (you just need to get the CAT-5 there). I've used a few of Ubiquiti's products before, it can take a little while to get things up and running but the hardware works. I'm not sure on AirOS but it seems pretty stable and offers things like a constant ping that will restart the device if it can't ping (useful in this case, so you don't always have to goto your parents house).

H-Accord-22

Awesome, since it's PoE, does it matter how long the Ethernet Cable is since the Cat5E awg are pretty thin?

Also, this is safe to mount indoor right on the sidewall of the house, correct? I also assume that it's directional so I'd have to really aim them properly at each other?

Thanks again.

sherwood

These aren't entirely directional, they def will need to be pointed at each other but it shouldn't be rocket science getting them to be good. The distance for power is a factor in longer runs, but if you're going to just be running it up the side of a house I don't see the limitation presenting itself.

Placing this in the best-line-of-sight would probably be to it's advantage, it's high-heat rated to 70C attic mounting *may* be an option for you (as long as the attics are vented in the summer, even if they aren't you'd probably get away with it). The Nano is also available, though not through MC right now (I haven't had any problems with them, so I stick with them, the and at about 12 inches can you really complain about size anyway?)

My personal choice would be externally mounting them, but that's just because I like to show off.