Industry Forums > Wireless Service Providers > Trango $149 CPE amazing discovery

Trango $149 CPE amazing discovery

reply to lutful
Oh my Gosh.....You get what you pay for folks. Outdoor "OFDM ready" is an absolute joke when it's based on "G". Great find Radialink!

reply to lutful
People who are using them seem to say they work well. They have a significant advantage over other vendors since you can fit way more users per AP and the price is right.

I just can't believe it's a regular 802.11b device w/ a convertor.

reply to lutful
uscomputing the answer to your question is that it is and it isn't.

It operates very similiar to the original WaveIP equipment that was an 802.11b PHY and a propietary MAC in order. The Trango device would be the same to talk to the 5830 AP which uses a different MAC.

As to the OFDM upgrade, it has been stated for some time now that the Atlas product uses an 802.11 PHY with a proprietary MAC.

As to the "convertor" many products out there modulate at an intermediate frequency and then either up or downvert as needed.

A few examples are Axxcellera, Aperto, Alvarion,Ubiquiti cards (SR9). It appears we can add Trango to this list now.

As to the quality of the convertor, while Trango had some quality people there back in the 80s (they predate the concept of wireless broadband by quite some time with their wireless video equipment)
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CCNA, Comtrain Certified Tower Climber

reply to lutful
Good or bad? That depends how you look at it. I'd argue that if a company can find a clever way to use less expensive technology to make a more feature rich capable product thats a good thing. Clever engineering.

Buying the newest chipset also means paying a higher price. Trango's goal with Atlas Fox was to get a $149 proce. It has not been found that the method they took has sacrificed anything as far as the end result.

I agree that there is a flag, on how well it will work when upgraded to OFDM. For example will the converter work well on OFDM as well? We'll ahve to see. But I see no reason to pass judgement without seeing what the results end up being.

Lastly, There is nothing wrong with the chipset used by the Linksys. What you are paying for when you buy a Radio is not primarilly the chipset. Trango uses their own priority MAC, and that is where the value is. They are also a manufacurer, with state of the art manufacturing facilities, to make a radio designed for outdoor longevity (enviromental conditions), unlike comodity Linksys type product, that from my experience have lock ups about once a month. Those aren't the kind of problems that you ahve with Trango quality gear.

The points you are making is like saying any computer that uses an INtel Processor is a good one. Or that anyone that uses an AMD is bad. There is a lot more to it than that. There are hundreds of components and factors that go into what makes a good and bad computers at its complete stage. Its no different for Wireless readios.

I think the M5580 needs to be valuated for what it has accomplished today. If we hypothetically pretend that the M5580 would not be usable at OFDM and just evaluated it as a radio today for DSSS, what would our evaluation be. A stunning success! An outdoor radio that integrates into Trangos legendary MAC platform, for only $150. I can care less what chipset is used, when that can be accomplished.

With that said, its not all about price. I would have been willing to pay more for the newest state of the art chip to be used.

Tom DeReggi

reply to cmaenginsb
Your initial comments were fair from a technical perspective.
However, I don't appreciate your cheap shot at the end.

Trango has nothing but top notch personel on staff. They are doing their best to put the best people they can find in places where they are needed, and feel they are accomplishing that. Most importantly they are involving and listening to their customers, to constantly improve to meet their expectations.

Maybe you do get what you pay for. But I can tell you, I'm getting a heck of a bargain right now.

What I hate seeing is people that make something out to be more than it is. IF you are shopping for VW bugs, you don't compare them to Mazzarattis. The Fox line is a cost competitive model. Thats what it is supposed to be. Its what the industry has asked for. Don;t try and elevate it to a $1000 CPE radio,thats not what it was designed to be. It a radio that is designed to be Good Enough for its purpose.

Remember they have a whole WIMax product comming down the pike that is likely going to be the high end product. Or maybe the answer is jsut to lobby for Trango to release a higher grade product as another option.

My 2 cents.

reply to lutful
Have you analyzed what is in the Atlas PtP?
Picture of insides on FCC site.
It is also a Prism (connexent)chipset, however ,I thought it was the newer model that was 5.8G natively?
It would be interesting to know your perspective.
I've seen Atlas not like high power levels as much as other radio models. Wondering if the Freq converter design has something to do with it?

I really like Atheros shipset. But its funny peoples are knocking PRism today. I've heard many times, how people have said the Prism Chipset has been the best on the market, 200W model outperforming 400 watt Atheros versions.
I'm not passing judgement on the chipsets, I'm just saying, which is it? It can;t be good one day and bad the next.

reply to lutful
Not so sure I would call this an amazing discovery since many radios out there have an 802.11 chip within. But beyond the chipset, trango radios have very little to do with 802.11.

Regarding filtering and potential to knock off other radios, Trango added a much better power amplifier to allow less distortion at higher powers (reduces adjacent channel interference as well), we added a transmit filter to reduce out of band interference to other users, improved filtering (there are 2 RF filters on the receive side). And of course the firmware which was a complete redesign - It does not use anything related to 802.11 except for the RF packet structure. The system works just like all of Trango's other products in that instead of a contention based 802.11 protocol, it works with a adaptive/dynamic (SmartPolling) AP.

The radio works very well as many users will attest and your doomsday scenario simply is not valid.

Well we don't really lurk here.. but somebody did bring this posting to our attention and we thought it was worth a response.. Going forward we'll try to contribute more often.

I agree Superdog, that is a good answer and I am glad to hear it!

Too often there are differing suggestions on what to do about a problem and I don't know who is correct or that much about the background of the poster. I would like to think that when a representative of a manufacturer makes a suggestion that it is mostly or entirely correct.

Trango - I am sure that it would be worth your while to participate to the extent that you can afford us your time.

reply to lutful
I'll third that opinion Superdog!

Honest vendors are GREATLY appreciated in here and there input is valued!!!

Well since Trango is on the form now. Explain to me or all of use the reason's why Trango pulled back and sale straight to the public and not going through distributors anymore. This is a concern to me why a company has done this.

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..Well since Trango is on the form now. Explain to me or all of use the reason's why Trango pulled back and sale straight to the public and not going through distributors anymore. This is a concern to me why a company has done this.

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There are some good resellers out there.. but its important to look at what value a reseller really brings to the table. Especially in this business when you consider the fact that most WISPs are more than capable of making informed buying decisions without the aid of a reseller sales person... and you certainly don't need their help for technical support. One nice thing about having resellers is that on occassion when one reseller was out of stock, another reseller may have stock.. but now that we have gone back to the direct model I can assure you we are working very hard to ensure we have stock on all products at all times.

As many of you know Trango got its start as a Direct-Sales company and we have simply gone back to what we know works best for all concerned which is direct one-on-one customer contact and service.

And of course, keep in mind that if we still sold through resellers I can assure you there would be no way we could offer a $149 CPE

Trango

Where can I purchase one (1) of these for $149.00?

Rich

There are other places but »www.trangobroadband.com/

I have looked everywhere, even Trango's web site and I cannot find where I can purchase 1 for $149.00. I see them listed for $197.00.

Am I missing something?

Rich

You are correct... I thought I saw it there at $149 last week, but looking now »www.trangobroadband.com/store/Pr···580M-FSU It is $197.... Mayhaps I need more beer ?