Wireless Bridges | The Secret Weapon for Backup Internet Connectivity šŸš€

Ronald BartelsRonald Bartels
3 min read

When your Internet goes down, whatā€™s your backup plan? If you donā€™t have one, youā€™re rolling the dice with your businessā€™s productivity. Enter wireless bridgesā€”an insanely cost-effective way to add an alternative path for Internet access.

And let me tell youā€”I set one up, and slap my ass and call me Sally, but it worked like a charm! šŸŒŸšŸ’Ŗ


šŸŒ‰ What is a Wireless Bridge?

A wireless bridge is a device that allows you to wirelessly extend a network connection between two locations. Think of it as a virtual cable through the airā€”a point-to-point link that connects two buildings, businesses, or even your house to a neighbourā€™s Internet connection.

It works like this:

šŸ“” Device A is installed at Location 1 (your office/home)
šŸ“” Device B is installed at Location 2 (your neighbourā€™s office, a business partner, or another location with an Internet feed)
šŸ”— A high-speed wireless link is created between the two

Boom! Instant backup Internet without running any expensive fibre or trenching cables.


šŸ› ļø How to Deploy a Wireless Bridge

Outdoor wireless bridges are ridiculously easy to set up. I personally used the Reyee 5GHz AC 10dBi 60Ā° Pre-Paired Kit | RG-EST310 V2, but there are other great options from MikroTik and Ubiquiti (UBNT) that work just as well.

šŸ“ Deployment Steps:

1ļøāƒ£ Find a location with clear line-of-sight between the two points. Trees and buildings = bad news.
2ļøāƒ£ Mount the devicesā€”theyā€™re usually PoE-powered, meaning you only need to run one cable to them.
3ļøāƒ£ Align them properlyā€”most have signal strength indicators to fine-tune placement.
4ļøāƒ£ Plug it in and let it ripā€”many of these kits come pre-paired, meaning they work out of the box with minimal setup.

Result? A rock-solid Internet backup link that you can use in an SD-WAN solution like Fusionā€™s.


šŸŸ¢ Why Wireless Bridges Make Sense for SD-WAN

If youā€™re running Fusionā€™s SD-WAN, having a wireless bridge as an alternative link is a no-brainer. Hereā€™s why:

āœ… Diverse Path Connectivity ā€“ Your primary ISP goes down? No worries, the wireless bridge kicks in.
āœ… Different Network Operator ā€“ If your neighbour or business partner has a different ISP, you now have provider redundancy.
āœ… Cost-Effective ā€“ No need to trench fibre or pay for expensive failover links.
āœ… Instant Failover ā€“ Fusion SD-WAN can automatically switch to the wireless bridge if packet loss or latency is detected.

And the best part? It just works. Perfect uptime. No headaches.


šŸŽÆ Wrapping Up with the Bottom Line

If youā€™re relying on a single Internet link, youā€™re just waiting for a disaster. A wireless bridge is an incredibly cheap, easy, and reliable way to add a backup connectionā€”especially when combined with Fusionā€™s SD-WAN for seamless failover.

I set one up, and I swear on my biltong, it hasnā€™t skipped a beat. šŸ„©šŸ’Æ

šŸ‘‰ Pro tip: If you have a friendly neighbour or a trusted business nearby with a different ISP, set up a wireless bridge and never suffer an Internet outage again. šŸš€

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Ronald Bartels
Ronald Bartels

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