Hi Clint- There's another certification involved. Not just Part 15 for intentional radiators, which is what the radio cards have to follow. The one I am talking about is a different part of Part 15: Computing Devices. The one where things are classified as Class A or B computing devices. Mikrotik hasn't even had their boards tested or certified under this part. Maybe they have a loophole in that they don't actually sell it in a case. But whoever puts it in that case needs to have it tested if they are selling it.
It is really no different than something that happened back in the 80's. Remember when everyone and his brother was making PC clones? There were flip top cases and uncertified boards. The seller/integrators of these were being shut down and fined right and left. Their equipment was also confiscated. Let's imagine that the oscillator of your little uncertified routerboard puts out a nice spur on 121.5 or 243.0 MHz. (the aviation distress frequencies) and the FAA tracks you down. Yes, the FAA. The FCC doesn't control those frequencies. You can be "in a heap o trouble, boy". I'm sure the same old people will attack me and say the rules don't apply to them, bla-bla-bla, but we as an industry need to learn that the rules DO apply to us and be familiar with what we can and can't do. I don't like it any better than rest of you, but we can't make our own rules because we don't! Clint- You're right about the flexibility of DDWRT. I am impressed with it. They did a hell of a better job than Linksys did and obviously Linksys knows it, since they created an "L" version that appears to be aimed right at the experimenters. Travis could keep the wireless off and probably be within certification. I think that the recommendation to him is pretty much the same from all of us: Put a portal between the existing wireless and the network. There are a lot of portals out there. Ralph -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Clint Ricker Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 6:46 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] hotspot Certification wouldn't matter on this; he's not looking to use any wireless functions on the product. It's a straight Ethernet based solution. DD-WRT may be controversial as a wireless solution, but it makes a pretty good router for a $50 device (IPTables, OSPF/BGP/RIP, PPTP VPN, IPSec VPN, Radius support, more). Wireless is only one portion of DD-WRT and can be turned off. There are also some commercial ones that keep the nice embeded aspects for a few hundred. -- Clint Ricker Kentnis Technologies 800.783.5753 On 3/29/07, Doug Ratcliffe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Then why doesn't Mikrotik GET their boards FCC certified? I know it's cheap > but if 1000 of us WISPs spend $5k each to certify it, vs MT spending $5k > once and charging an extra 5 bucks, I'd rather do that. > > Annoying to say the least. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ralph" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "'WISPA General List'" <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 5:22 PM > Subject: RE: [WISPA] hotspot > > > > You can buy a portal from Valuepoint or any of the other manufacturers of > > them. > > > > You can use a PC running Mikrotik. Pay 40 bucks for the hotspot license. > > > > You can use a PC running Chillispot. > > > > Then, connect their existing Linksys APs. > > > > That way you are using a certified motherboard (a PC) and already > certified > > access points. > > > > Stay away from Mikrotik Routerboard (neither the board nor the radios are > > Part 15 certified in that configuration). > > > > Stay away from DDWRT firmware in a Linksys unless Linksys (or the DDWRT > > developers) can show you that using firmware other than with which the > unit > > was certified using allows it to still maintain certification. You'll > > probably find out you get blank stares when you try. The DDWRT firmware > > allows you to adjust the power far beyond that which was approved. > > > > Ralph > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > > Behalf Of Travis Johnson > > Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 12:29 PM > > To: WISPA General List; [email protected] > > Subject: [WISPA] hotspot > > > > Hi, > > > > We have been contacted by a hotel that would like us to install some > > type of access control on their wireless service. Currently they have 6 > > or 8 Linksys AP's connected via ethernet back to their main switch. > > Their Cisco router is providing DHCP. The problem is they have a lot of > > people using their service "around" the hotel area (parking lot, > > businesses next door, etc.) and so they would like to have just a very > > basic authentication system (username / password). > > > > Any suggestions for something inexpensive? Something that would also act > > more like a bridge (two ethernets) so we could just plug and play? > > > > thanks, > > > > Travis > > Microserv .org/pipermail/wireless/ -- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
