Trenching is impractical
A road, railway, river, car park or third-party land sits between the two buildings, and excavation is either prohibitively expensive or won't be permitted.
Service · Point to point links
Point to point wireless links — connect buildings without digging.
Microwave and laser bridges, plus point-to-point copper and fibre, connecting buildings, yards and remote sites across the North West and UK-wide. Where trenching is too expensive, too slow or simply not possible, a wireless bridge does the same job in days rather than months.
When you need one
The problem is almost always the ground in between.
Linking a remote building to the main network sounds simple until you price the route. Trenching across a yard, a car park, a public highway or a third party's land brings excavation costs, reinstatement, wayleave negotiations and lead times measured in months — assuming permission is granted at all.
A point to point link removes the ground from the equation. If the two points can see each other, they can be connected. We've been delivering these over copper, fibre, laser and microwave across the UK for many years, using market-leading equipment on both licensed and licence-exempt bands.
The programme won't wait
A carrier circuit to a second site carries a 45–90 day lead time. A bridge can be surveyed, installed and commissioned in a fraction of that.
The site is temporary
Construction compounds, seasonal operations and short-lease units rarely justify permanent civils. A bridge can be recovered and redeployed.
The technologies
Four ways to bridge the gap.
There's no single right answer — the technology follows the distance, the line of sight, the bandwidth you need and how much interference the local environment carries. We survey first and specify afterwards.
Licensed & licence-exempt radio
The workhorse. Reliable over long distances and tolerant of weather. Licensed bands give you a protected, interference-free channel; licence-exempt is quicker and cheaper to deploy.
Free-space optics
Very high bandwidth over shorter hops, with no radio spectrum involved at all — so no licensing and no interference from neighbouring links.
Point-to-point fibre
Where a duct route already exists or civils are viable, direct fibre remains the most robust option. Spliced, tested and OTDR certified.
Extended copper links
For short inter-building runs within the copper distance limit, a direct point-to-point copper link is often the simplest and cheapest answer.
Point-to-point
Point-to-multipoint
Line of sight
Non line of sight
Licensed bands
Ofcom guidance
How it compares
Bridge, trench or carrier circuit?
A wireless bridge is usually the cheapest of the three, and it's resilient enough to carry data, voice and video as a primary link rather than just a backup. Here's the honest comparison.
| Wireless bridge | Trenched fibre | Carrier circuit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical lead time | Days | Weeks to months | 45–90 days |
| Upfront cost | Low | High — civils dominate | Low, but ongoing rental |
| Ongoing cost | None beyond maintenance | None | Monthly, indefinitely |
| Needs wayleaves | No | Usually | Handled by carrier |
| Recoverable | Yes — redeploy elsewhere | No | N/A |
| Main constraint | Needs line of sight | Cost and permission | Availability at the address |
How we deliver
Free survey first, install second.
We use path-profiling software to establish whether line of sight genuinely exists between two points before anyone visits site. That tells us what's achievable, which manufacturers suit the hop and what the realistic throughput will be — all before you've committed to anything.
01
Desktop survey
Free path profile between the two points — terrain, obstructions and achievable throughput, modelled before we travel.
02
Site visit
Mounting positions, structural fixings, power and cable routes confirmed on both ends of the link.
03
Specify
Equipment, frequency band and licensing selected for the distance, bandwidth and local RF conditions.
04
Install & align
Mounted, aligned and commissioned — most single links are up and passing traffic the same day.
05
Test & handover
Throughput and link-budget results recorded, with as-built documentation for your IT team.
FAQs
Point to point links, answered.
Not sure whether a bridge will work at your site? Send us the two postcodes and we'll run the path profile for free.
Do I need line of sight between the two buildings?
For most links, yes — a clear optical path gives the best performance and reliability. That said, some microwave equipment operating in lower frequency bands can work in near line-of-sight or partially obstructed conditions, at the cost of some throughput. The desktop survey tells us which category your link falls into before anyone commits to anything.
How far can a point to point link reach?
It depends entirely on the technology and the conditions. Short inter-building hops of a few hundred metres are straightforward. Longer links across several kilometres are achievable with the right equipment, mounting height and frequency band. Laser links deliver very high bandwidth but over shorter distances than microwave. The path profile gives you a realistic figure for your specific route rather than a brochure maximum.
Is a wireless bridge reliable enough to be the primary link?
Yes. A properly specified and installed link is highly resilient and routinely carries data, voice and video as a primary connection rather than a backup. Where the site genuinely can't tolerate any downtime, we can design in a secondary path or a diverse-route failover.
Does weather affect the link?
Heavy rain attenuates higher-frequency microwave, and dense fog affects laser links. This is accounted for at design stage through the link budget and fade margin — we specify with local conditions in mind so the link holds up in bad weather rather than only on a clear day. Hybrid microwave-and-laser installations are an option where availability is critical.
Do I need an Ofcom licence?
Not always. Licence-exempt bands need no licence and are quicker and cheaper to deploy, but the spectrum is shared, so performance can be affected by neighbouring links in busy areas. Licensed bands cost more and require an Ofcom licence, but give you a protected channel with guaranteed interference-free operation. We'll advise which is right for the site and handle the licensing where it's needed.
How quickly can it be installed?
Days rather than months. Once the survey is complete and equipment is on site, most single links are mounted, aligned and passing traffic within a day. Compare that with a carrier circuit at 45–90 days or trenched fibre where civils and wayleaves can run considerably longer.
Can you link more than two buildings?
Yes — point-to-multipoint uses a single base station to serve several remote locations, which is usually more economical than running separate links to each. It suits multi-building campuses, distributed yards and sites with several outbuildings on the same network.
What happens if we move site?
The equipment is recoverable and can be redeployed at a new location, which is a real advantage over trenched fibre. It's one of the reasons bridges suit temporary sites, short leases and construction compounds.
Explore more
Related services.
A point to point link is usually one part of a wider site network. These are the services it most often sits alongside.
Fibre Optics →
Where a duct route exists or civils are viable, spliced and OTDR-certified fibre remains the most robust option.
Structured Cabling →
The cabling at both ends of the link — cabinet, patching and distribution into each building.
Enterprise Wi-Fi →
Coverage inside the remote building once the link is live, surveyed and tuned to the space.
Free offsite survey
Send us two postcodes and we'll tell you if it will work.
No cost, no site visit needed to start. We'll run the path profile and come back with whether line of sight exists, what throughput is realistic and what it would take to deliver.