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satseeker1
join:2005-11-08
Spain
| Is there such a thing as a perfect wireless network ?
It is a year since I installed our first customer,and it feels like 10,a year ago I thought a WISP was a new kind of chocolate bar,sorry Candy bar,vendors in Spain told me it was easy to run a WISP and how they were wrong,they promptly sold me their wares and dived for cover !
Now with 278 fixed Broadband clients,231 VOIP accounts, 7 POPs, and three Public (Sputnik) Hotspots and 2 Internet Cafes a frustrating but rewarding year has passed,when I say rewarding I dont mean financial,somehow pinging your outposts and getting constant 5ms is rewarding and you quickly forget the predawn stints fighting the time outs trying to change channel on your remote backhauls and APs.
An excellent (as always) post by Tim regarding level of conduct on this Forum has prompted this post.
I initially purchased all singing and dancing dual APs for our first POP costing 800 bucks each,when they hit 30 clients they failed,they were replaced after about two months with a cheap Proxim unit as a temporary measure (as my Dad used to say "Son there is nothing so permanent as the temporary" This twin access point now has 70 clients between the two radios and has never given problems and continues to give good performance,this Orinoco is an indoor unit mounted in a box on our roof ! At the same time we were short of CPEs and as a "temporary" measure installed some sample indoor Sparklan radios in boxes with external antennas,these are still working fine with not one complaint,using 200 dollar CPEs has resulted in percentage whise more RMAs !
I personally feel happier using more expensive gear, and from instict only feel more secure using expensive gear,there is a lot of psycology in this business,the same as my wife would buy a Luis Vitton bag for 600 bucks when to me the fake at 25 bucks looks the same,but as she says "what will the fake look like in a year"
I have noticied as an avid reader but seldom poster some personal wars developing,some subtle and amusing,some a little more barbed, the fellows doing this are all extremely intelligent and gifted people,however at times you can now read certain posts and almost guess who will reply with a negative ! however all, with their posts at sometime have helped me immensely over the past year in this business , which I now know isnt for the faint hearted !
Thus ends my two pesetas worth ! | |
ghmorris9
join:2006-05-14
Minden, ON
| Interesting. I feel much the same.
When we started out, there was a lot of pressure to buy something like an Alvarion hopper so we could be a "real" WISP. Thank the Lord we didn't or I wouldn't be here now writing this. The economics would never have worked.
Instead, we put up a few StarOS access point with a Redline PtP link in between.
We had to move off StarOS because RIP didn't work in those days. Instead we moved to MikroTik around four years ago.
I remember vividly rebooting one AP every 20 minutes at minus 20*C one Christmas eve. Needed a climb onto the roof to get at it. This happened after an emergency upgrade that didn't work very well.
MT sorted out their problems and have generally gotten better every month we use them.
Our sweet spot is now about five hundred bux for an AP with antennas on top of that, and for that I get three 2.4/5.x radios plus a 900 radio. Mix and match to suit.
We try to stay away from potential junk on the CPE side as it costs too much in annoyed customers, support calls and recovery attempts. So that means for us MT RB112s in Rootennas, HighGain something or other including the new cheap stuff, or possibly Tranzeo in 900 if it checks out well.
I will spend $180 for a real high quality 2.4 or 5.x CPE in quantity, or up to about $350 for a really good 900 CPE. Really good means lots of antenna gain, supports Nstrem polling and works like the Energizer Bunny as in it just runs and runs.
With the kind of geography we work within, we would really like to do some self-provisioning. The new cheap HighGain looks like it might be a really good fit there with the high-ish power and wide beam antenna. Should de-skill the install to the point that I can work with local computer stores to set up customers.
But we ain't there yet as far as the perfect network goes...
George | |
binary1000
Premium
join:2005-10-04
White Lake, MI
| reply to satseeker1
said by satseeker1  :'my wife would buy a Luis Vitton bag for 600 bucks' and 'when I say rewarding I dont mean financial' Hmmmmm, the two don't go together!
Sounds like you are doing very well satseeker1 and it sounds like your wife is wise and classy!
I very much enjoy reading about everyone's history. There is a lot to learn from all this experience. Thanks! | |
Rahail
join:2005-12-21
Troy, MI | Ture  This give small wisp or start up people lots of Streanth | |
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