PCInformatio
join:2004-01-12
Chandler, AZ
| [Equipment] Mesh for apartment complex
I am planning on using Meraki Pro outdoor units to create the wireless network for a small apartment complex.
Because of the layout of the 3 story buildings, it may take 10 access points to make it work properly.
Is the Meraki products the best choice? At a couple hundred bucks per unit, it certainly makes the budget healthy.
Any thoughts?
Thanks |
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viperm
Carpe Diem
Premium
join:2002-07-09
Winchester, CA | wireless proffesionals DONT use meraki to setup hotspots or wireless systems for apartmets.. |
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PCInformatio
join:2004-01-12
Chandler, AZ
| said by viperm  :wireless proffesionals DONT use meraki to setup hotspots or wireless systems for apartmets.. Is that because of the age of the company or their equipment? |
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viperm
Carpe Diem
Premium
join:2002-07-09
Winchester, CA
edit:
May 6th, @06:22PM
| reply to PCInformatio
The equipment is just not what I would call a proffesional / business class system.
If it were me I would put together some mikrotik routerboard systems.
Mesh is so overated and is about useless in real world enviroments it underperforms.
Focus on building AP / Hotspots being fed by canopy, trango or even 5.2, 5.8 wireless cards on the routerboards. You will have better performance,control and be MUCH happier in the long run!
--
ComTrain Certified Tower Climber. American Tower Certified approved contractor. Wireless consultants. |
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John Galt
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Oceanside, OR
| said by viperm :Mesh is so overated and is about useless in real world enviroments it underperforms. Actually, implemented with a multi-radio per mesh AP system it works well.
But yes, single radio mesh = NG.
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A is A |
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viperm
Carpe Diem
Premium
join:2002-07-09
Winchester, CA
| reply to PCInformatio
Sorry John thatsh what I should have said single radio no good multi radio is much better one radio to feed customers and the other to pull in bandwidth from the next (mesh) node.
If your going to do a dual radio system might as well save money then going with an expensive Tropos solution and do it with an AP and backhaul radio ro dual radio Mikrotik.
Tropos stuff last I checked for a single radio unit was cost around $4k dual radios were about $1k more. For that I could build 3-4 Mikrotik systems do hundreds more things then Tropos could and still have some money left for lunch
--
ComTrain Certified Tower Climber. American Tower Certified approved contractor. Wireless consultants. |
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tomdchi
Premium
join:2007-03-08
Starkville, MS
| reply to PCInformatio
If you want to go with mesh then look at open mesh at »open-mesh.com. I have a few of their units to test with and they work quite well. The software is in the final stages of testing and they have worked a deal with wifi-cpa.com to provide billing services.
The units they have are the same that meraki uses for their indoor unit and are made by accton. There is no outdoor unit yet but I just made one myself using a outdoor enclosure from hyperlink tech.
If you have any questions about it let me know.
Tom |
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dongato17
VIP
join:2000-07-28
Atlanta, GA | reply to viperm
Well there is at least 1 lower cost, dual radio mesh device that I am aware of. 
-Hal |
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John Galt
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Oceanside, OR
| reply to viperm
You might check out Wilibox mesh products:
»www.wilibox.com/products/wili-mesh
Although somewhat more expensive than Meraki-class products, they are far more robust and offer a better client experience.
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A is A |
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joshg409
join:2005-05-03
Ottumwa, IA
| reply to tomdchi
Tom,
Have you worked with the open-mesh.com guys? The guy who owns the wifi-cpa.com site lives in the same town as me and we have talked about feasibility of the Accton units to provide mesh for Hotels and MDU's. We are to get together to test the units on the apartments that we service, but I have the same issues mentioned above, one radio for backhaul and AP. My thoughts are to backhaul to the building using my existing infrastructure and use the Accton units as the AP's at least that way the single radio is only backhauling traffic to the roof. I also spoke to the OEM for the Accton units in the US about getting better pricing than the open-mesh.com guys. |
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Jerm
join:2000-04-10
Richland, WA | Does the new Nanostation 2/5 have mesh? I thought it did, anyone tried it? |
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tomdchi
Premium
join:2007-03-08
Starkville, MS
| reply to joshg409
I guess you could say that I am part of the test group that is allowing my nodes to update with the latest test firmware. I have been sending in reports to on how well it works and may use these for my tenants in the near future.
Its funny you mention hotels, I am looking into that as well. I think you are right with the backhaul to the location->router->gateway mesh unit. I would also think that multiple gateway nodes would help a lot.
This week I will be testing how well monowall will work with all of this as you would need some sort of control with a install such as a hotel.
If your ok with it pm me with what prices/quantities you got from the oem. I could go in with you on a large order.
Tom |
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schaps
Premium
join:2004-01-15
Saint Paul, MN
| said by tomdchi :... If your ok with it pm me with what prices/quantities you got from the oem. I could go in with you on a large order. Tom I hope you'd give Mike @ open-mesh a chance to give you a quantity price break. A possibly important factor is that the units come from him pre-flashed with Robin and then auto-update to the latest firmware upon first plug-in to network. If Open-Mesh is what you plan on using, that could save you a lot of time. |
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tomdchi
Premium
join:2007-03-08
Starkville, MS | it actually didn't occur to me to ask him but your right. It would be easier if they are pre-flashed. I will check.
Thanks
Tom |
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WiFi35
join:2008-06-03
Chicago, IL
| reply to PCInformatio
You should take a look at the new Ruckus Wireless ZoneFlex 2942-OT for G or 7942-OT for N. I work for a WiFi distributor and the ease of use and performance make it a great offering for SMB's and for small deployments. What's unique about Ruckus is their High Gain directional antenna system which was designed to work well in indoor environments. It works much better than traditional omni attennas and with their unique antenna they boast that it reduces the amount of AP's you need, thus saving you money. It allows meshing and is much less prone to interference than other vendors as it's intelligent enough to find other AP's, adapt to interference and power up to fight rogue AP's. Nextwave has a similar technology but it was designed for outdoor use. I'd recommend checking out the Ruckus website. We've worked with Cisco and Aruba primarily but this might be a good fit for a smaller apartment type project. Ruckus comes from the enterprise space providing IPTV over WiFi. We've yet to deploy this but have a few large opportunities in the works and are in the process of demoing their gear. |
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iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Fredericksburg, TX
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| Well let us know whether it works, what prices you're looking at, how well it works, etc.
Also, does anyone know how much the Accton open-mesh routers are Tx power wise, and how much they could be augmented? 28 mW? 70? More? I know they can have 7 dB antennae added but what else? Thinking of going to my city's council with the idea of a muni wifi network (crazy I know) and want to make sure the routers would jump a signalfrom one house to the next...that's all that should be needed if my diabolical plan works  |
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WiFi35
join:2008-06-03
Chicago, IL
| I think you may run into issues with indoor routers for public Wi-Fi especially if they're on private property. There would be too many hops and latency and if someone doesn't pay their electric bills it may take down part of the network. In our experience it's hard to rely on other individuals to support a municipal wide effort like this and provide the reliability people expect for them to use the Wi-Fi network consistently. For Municipal Wi-Fi to be reliable and offer good coverage you need to look at outdoor Wi-Fi access points with redundency and sufficient backhauls with line of sight.
The Ruckus equipment is pretty affordable. The N's are about the cost of most other G solutions. The G's are about half of others and that's comparing to higher end solutions. |
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coloradowisp
join:2004-09-08
Denver, CO
| How about 3 radio mesh for about $600?
Not trying to sell anything, been a long time lurker! I'm kinda wondering why more people don't install mesh, other than the fact tropos is $4k each. 
Eric |
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Killler Maxxx
@rr.com
| said by coloradowisp :How about 3 radio mesh for about $600? Did you have a particular model in mind or are you asking ? |
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yellowaj
@comcast.net
| reply to PCInformatio
I have used the meraki and open-mesh units and have been quite pleased with the results. open-mesh is equivalent to the meraki indoor-60mW so it isnt as powerful as the outdoor-or any high priced units for that matter.
Yes, meraki and open-mesh are not used by professionals, but they were never designed to be used by WISP professionals, they were designed to build easy and cheap networks so anyone could do it by themself.
I have been using ubiquiti (ubnt.com) nanostations in a ptmp backhaul to feed either the meraki outdoor or open-mesh (depends on the application) with bandwidth. Then I charge almost nothing for the service-so when the network encounters problems-clients are less likely to complain-they are more afraid that I will stop letting them use the inexpensive service.
If you buy "professional" equipment you will have to charge "professional" prices, and in most markets there are already ISP companies providing that service. I completely agree with viperm-professional equipment is better, will last longer and be more reliable, however for the average entrepreneur looking to set-up a quick and easy WISP-go for a fast ROI.
I really like »www.diy-wirelessisp.com (looks like they are still adding content) because they are catering to individuals wanting to start a truly easy and cheap WISP. |
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