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HiyaImMe
join:2014-07-30
Jonesboro, AR

HiyaImMe

Member

[Equipment] Cambium 5.4ghz signal strength

I'm a customer of a WISP, not a WISP. Posted in Wireless Users Chat but didn't get a reply, and it's been 5 days now. So I'm posting here.

I'm just curious, how good of a signal is this? Signal seems low to me, but I don't have any real background in WISP.

Equipment is a Cambium 5.4ghz ePMP 1000 SM. Speeds are pretty good tho. I've seen speeds hit over 40mb/s each way before. 2 miles, perfect LoS to the tower.

Operating Frequency 5495 MHz
Operating Channel Bandwidth 20 MHz
Transmitter Output Power 14 dBm
Downlink RSSI -74 dBm
Downlink SNR 23 dB
Uplink MCS MCS 14
Downlink MCS MCS 12

DFS Status Not Available
Link Quality (Uplink) 86 %
Link Capacity (Uplink) 90 %

Inssomniak
The Glitch
Premium Member
join:2005-04-06
Cayuga, ON

Inssomniak

Premium Member

Those numbers seem good to me.
HiyaImMe
join:2014-07-30
Jonesboro, AR

2 edits

HiyaImMe

Member

Ok. That's good to know.

The reason I asked is because before I had a 2.4ghz radio, and it's RSSI was -56 dBm.

The difference is, jitter on the 2.4ghz was around 3ms. On the 5.4ghz it's alot higher... Averaging between 10 to 30ms. Also, we have had a couple outages on the 5.4ghz, which we did not have on the 2.4. Making me wonder if it was a low signal issue.

The guy that is handling my upgrade to the 5.4ghz is currently away, so I'll be discussing it with him when he returns.
jimbouse
join:2011-10-01
Bryan, TX

jimbouse

Member

Based on your description it seems you do not have a clear line of sight. You likely have foliage obstruction since 2.4Ghz will tolerate foliage much better than 5Ghz.

Without knowing more, it sounds sub-optimal.
HiyaImMe
join:2014-07-30
Jonesboro, AR

HiyaImMe

Member

I really don't see any foliage between me and the tower. Take a look at the attached Google Street views. My radio is about ~15ft off the ground, and I really do not see it going through anything. First image is just a screenshot of street view, second is where i put a black line to make the tower more visible.

Thanks for the replies.

viperm
Carpe Diem
Premium Member
join:2002-07-09
Winchester, CA

viperm to HiyaImMe

Premium Member

to HiyaImMe
Are the just using the antenna or an antenna with a dish as well? Me personally I like to see my customers on other manufacturer gear more in the mid to high 60's on avg.

Now keep in mind the ePMP just came out not to long ago I would venture to guess there is noise in the area tha may be just as strong and stronger then the signal you are getting which would cause loss of service if your trying to fight noise.

The stock radio has a wider beam width then would be on a a radio attached to a reflector dish which would amplify your signal more as well as narrow the beam reducing greatly the amount of noise your radio sees.

What we don't see is how well the tower sees your radio signal keep in mind the tower is MUCH higher then your property and is even more susceptible to noise since it sees a whole lot more then your house. If the tower is having a hard time hearing your radio and or other customer radios then you will have issues like you are describing..
HiyaImMe
join:2014-07-30
Jonesboro, AR

HiyaImMe

Member

I do have a dish on my end.

Although we're a rural area, the tower is in a commercial zone with 3 factories literally next door to it. Could that be some of the interference?
said by viperm:

What we don't see is how well the tower sees your radio signal keep in mind the tower is MUCH higher then your property and is even more susceptible to noise since it sees a whole lot more then your house. If the tower is having a hard time hearing your radio and or other customer radios then you will have issues like you are describing..

Had not thought about it that way. Although I'm the only one on this AP and it's their only 5ghz AP. Other customers are on 900 and 2.4.

Also, something else: We had a small thunderstorm come through the area last night. When it started to get cloudy the radio disconnected and has stayed out even though the storm is long gone. At first I thought lightning strike perhaps, but my neighbor's 900mhz, which is on the same tower, is fine.
HiyaImMe

HiyaImMe

Member

Another question: Could the speed being "too high" cause it to be unstable?

For example, if the radio is set to 30mb x 30mb, and is unstable, could it potentially be more stable if it was set to 10mb x 10mb? Or does that not matter, and it'll simply get "the best it can get" up to the max speed it's set to?
wirelessdog
join:2008-07-15
Queen Anne, MD

wirelessdog to HiyaImMe

Member

to HiyaImMe
Seems like these are questions you should be asking your WISP.
HiyaImMe
join:2014-07-30
Jonesboro, AR

HiyaImMe

Member

No, I'm providing the information of my tests and letting them make the decision of what needs to be done. Hate for someone that doesn't know what they're talking about to start trying to do someone else's job - I'd never do that.

I work in IT as a network administrator (LAN - not wireless) and am genuinely interested in the wireless technology WISPs use. But as an update, he got back to me today and tweaked some settings.

New signals:

Operating Frequency 5495 MHz
Operating Channel Bandwidth 20 MHz
Transmitter Output Power 14 dBm
Country United States
Subscriber Module Priority Normal
Network Mode Bridge
Downlink RSSI -69 dBm
Downlink SNR 27 dB
Uplink MCS MCS 15
Downlink MCS MCS 15

Link Quality (Uplink) 80 %
Link Capacity (Uplink) 80 %

How are these in comparison?

We had a few rain showers today, and with the new signals it never dropped -- not once.

viperm
Carpe Diem
Premium Member
join:2002-07-09
Winchester, CA

viperm

Premium Member

Looks like he changed channels. Seems like noise issuesto me from outside looking in.
wirelessdog
join:2008-07-15
Queen Anne, MD

wirelessdog

Member

said by viperm:

Looks like he changed channels.

Nope
wirelessdog

1 recommendation

wirelessdog to HiyaImMe

Member

to HiyaImMe
said by HiyaImMe:

No, I'm providing the information of my tests

What tests? Have you asked them if the outage was isolated to you? What makes you think you were the only one? Ping times will be higher in the ePMP than the PMP100 line. You haven't even really stated their is any problem but you are trying to gather information from people who can only speculate what the issue is. Nobody here, including you, can see what the settings are - things like antenna gain, power and so on. There are tools that can be used like Spectrum Analysis that you have access to if you can login to the equipment. Nobody here can do that - including you.

Work with your ISP instead of gathering speculation and trying to tell them how to fix something. Anything you gather is is pure conjecture.

viperm
Carpe Diem
Premium Member
join:2002-07-09
Winchester, CA

viperm to wirelessdog

Premium Member

to wirelessdog
I am seeing things I thought the original post said 5490 maybe I was not earing my glasses haha
HiyaImMe
join:2014-07-30
Jonesboro, AR

HiyaImMe to wirelessdog

Member

to wirelessdog
Seriously!? I'm not even going to bother to reply to over half of your post. I came here to learn. I stated that in my 2nd or 3rd post.

I never asked "what's causing it", "does my WISP know what he's doing", "is there an issue", etc.

My WISP is going to fix it, I trust that.

I was trying to learn more about the new equipment my WISP is using but that's clearly not going to happen with people like you here.

Instead of asking questions such as "X is wrong, help me fix it". I was asking questions I had thought about but couldn't find an answer to on Google-
-Minimum real-world RSSI and SNR for ePMP 5.4
-If it's likely for factories to interfere.
-Would clouds/light rain knock out a weak 5.4 signal?
-Would lowering speeds from 30x30 to 10x10 or so, reduce ping and jitter?

Thanks to Inssomniak, jimbouse, and viperm for the replies. I appreciate them.
wirelessdog
join:2008-07-15
Queen Anne, MD

wirelessdog

Member

said by HiyaImMe:

Seriously!? I'm not even going to bother to reply to over half of your post.

You need to refer to the forum rules here:

»Posting Rules - Wireless Service Providers

This is not a normal forum. You are wasting our time. If you have a specific question ask it. Otherwise don't expect anyone here to troubleshoot a non-existent issue to give you ammo to accuse your WISP of doing something wrong which is clearly where you are headed with your questions.

Inssomniak
The Glitch
Premium Member
join:2005-04-06
Cayuga, ON

Inssomniak to HiyaImMe

Premium Member

to HiyaImMe
said by HiyaImMe:

No, I'm providing the information of my tests and letting them make the decision of what needs to be done. Hate for someone that doesn't know what they're talking about to start trying to do someone else's job - I'd never do that.

I work in IT as a network administrator (LAN - not wireless) and am genuinely interested in the wireless technology WISPs use. But as an update, he got back to me today and tweaked some settings.

New signals:

Operating Frequency 5495 MHz
Operating Channel Bandwidth 20 MHz
Transmitter Output Power 14 dBm
Country United States
Subscriber Module Priority Normal
Network Mode Bridge
Downlink RSSI -69 dBm
Downlink SNR 27 dB
Uplink MCS MCS 15
Downlink MCS MCS 15

Link Quality (Uplink) 80 %
Link Capacity (Uplink) 80 %

How are these in comparison?

We had a few rain showers today, and with the new signals it never dropped -- not once.

SNR Is great. Modulations are at max/best MCS15 .. Can't ask for better. I have installs worse than that like SNR 10-15db and barely making MCS9-10 that still handle voip just fine with 30-40 days association to the AP.
HiyaImMe
join:2014-07-30
Jonesboro, AR

HiyaImMe

Member

Thanks for the reply, Inssomniak. Glad to hear the new signal levels are good!

Quick question, what are "Link Quality" and "Link Capacity" and should they be varying by as much as 50-60%? Just watching it, and they'll float back and forth. Capacity normally stays in the upper range (70-90%), but quality goes anywhere from 10% - 80%.

Inssomniak
The Glitch
Premium Member
join:2005-04-06
Cayuga, ON

Inssomniak

Premium Member

said by HiyaImMe:

Thanks for the reply, Inssomniak. Glad to hear the new signal levels are good!

Quick question, what are "Link Quality" and "Link Capacity" and should they be varying by as much as 50-60%? Just watching it, and they'll float back and forth. Capacity normally stays in the upper range (70-90%), but quality goes anywhere from 10% - 80%.

Im not a motorola/cambium guy so Im not sure, I know UBNT equipment has similar gauges, and will fluctuate depending on load, noise, signal, AP load, modulation etc..
raytaylor
join:2009-07-28

raytaylor to HiyaImMe

Member

to HiyaImMe
Those original settings seem perfect to me - especially if you are seeing 40 mbits in speed.
However his tweaking, has indeed resulted in an improvement in signal level - in fact going from -74 up to -69 has doubled the actual power coming in, hence the MCS rate has gone up.
Jitter will depend upon what other people attached to the AP transmitter are doing, as well as the rest of the network.

I must warn you like others have said, you are an annoying type of customer. I have a teenager connected to my network and 5 times a day he runs a speed test, and if it drops below 5mbits he calls and annoys me. Problem is he doesnt take into account others on the network in his house using a portion of their max 5mbit plan.
He is autistic though - have had to threaten to kick him off the network because of his excessive complaining wasting my time.

Most WISP's dont care about small things like jitter or ping, they care more about the actual data throughput.
HiyaImMe
join:2014-07-30
Jonesboro, AR

1 edit

HiyaImMe

Member

Post deleted.