On a volume of 1, I can get a 5 GHz CPE for $185. IIRC, 100 unit quantities
were $140. I can configure 2 CPE for a PtP. I can have an AP that has 4
radios for about $800, plus cables and antenna.
I can configure 5, 10, 20, or 40 MHz per radio, two radios are required for
full duplex operation. The 70+ megabits is with 40 MHz. With the full
duplex operation I can configure the same frequency for all transmitting on
a given tower, allowing for major frequency reuse. I agree that this route
isn't as spectrally efficient as Orthogon or... I forget the new guys...
Exalt? The XR5 radio has 23 dbm at 54 meg and 28 dbm at 6 meg. It also
ranges from -74 to -94 for receive sensitivity. That radio has been
certified with a 31.4 db antenna.
I haven't tried, but I'd imagine putting a similar channel size would result
in a similar number of collocated APs, though I don't know. MT is different
than generic 802.11 in that it has the N-Streme protocol, solving many (if
not all) problems with using 802.11 in WISP applications as well as allowing
for a much higher throughput. Star-OS has a similar feature. Everything
else 802.11 is plain vanilla.
I have nothing wrong with every radio being MT. You can use 900, 2.4, and 5
GHz (not 5.4) with any antenna (as long as the gain is under the certified
gain for that radio), allowing for any combination you could want. The
exceptions to this that I know of are Orthogon's spatial diversity and any
sort of MIMO, beam steering, etc. You can put as many cards as you want on
a given PC based Mikrotik system.
I am unsure of the innerworkings of the QoS. I do know that I can
prioritize what goes into and out of each interface independent of any other
interface.
I would imagine that if it was certified with 32 radios, you could use 1
radio and be fine, though I am not fully aware of those specifics. I would
assume that you could have both setups certified, and could then add the
second radio to the first, making it the second certified system.
Star-OS is the only system that I know of that has anywhere near the feature
set of Mikrotik. What features is it missing? They could already be
incorporated or slated for 3.0, which is in beta as we speak.
-----
Mike Hammett
Intelligent Computing Solutions
http://www.ics-il.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Liotta" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] MT Babble
Mike Hammett wrote:
Speed, features, reduced points of failure, price.
If I can setup two complete and separate MT systems for less than the
other guys can... Heck, could probably even setup a wireless ring using
different bands for each link for less than the other guys. Even the
greatest gear will lose out to basic redundancy.
Can you give me some idea what the cost is? Last time I looked the cost of
MT was similar to other vendors.
Speed. I can setup a full duplex link that can do in excess of 70
megabits with a single set of gear. I can increase that in 70 megabit
increments as tower space (for additional antenna) and available spectrum
allow, all having a single Ethernet cable handoff.
What kind of channel space, receive sensitivity, and power output do you
have in such a configuration?
With proper RF engineering, I can have sectors deployed that can provide
10 megs plus to each user. When your system can do 70 megs plus, you can
fit a lot more customers with higher speeds. He who can scale wins. The
more bigger pipes you sell, the cheaper your bandwidth becomes. When
your bandwidth is cheaper, not only can you pass this along to your
customer, but you can also profit more. I can have multiple customers on
a sector that each can consume more bandwidth than a Canopy AP could only
dream of supplying.
Canopy certainly has the least amount of available bandwidth among the
available systems. However, when it comes to scale, I haven't seen a
single vendor who could colocate more APs at one location than Canopy. In
this case though, I would think comparing MT to another 802.11-based radio
would make more sense. Can't those radios do 10Mbps plus to each user?
In an AP application all electronics are in one system. I don't need to
have a bunch of patch cords and a switch and a router and a {etc} sitting
on a tower. All coax runs into one box that hosts the AP. All sector to
sector to backhaul to backhaul communications are internal, allowing for
greater flexibility in traffic control and uptime (reduced failures).
I agree it is nice not to have a ton of components. However, the above
would seem to require every radio at the site to be MT or you would still
need to have separate components.
When I implement a QoS feature or a firewall or a {etc} I can do so
directly on the inbound interface, before it has gone completely through
the AP, through a switch, and into a router. The AP is the router.
Does the QoS feature actually prioritize the radio? Obviously, people who
use a separate route/switch can apply QoS, but it doesn't affect the
radio. The radios we use allow prioritization on the radio itself, which
is very useful.
When I need to add another wireless interface to a system (AP, backhaul,
CPE, etc.), I can just add a mPCI, antenna, and cables. This is an even
cheaper route than a new MT system, which is cheaper than just about
anything else you could do. Again, all of the above advantages also
apply here.
That certainly is nice, but is that going to work in the future when the
system is certified? I didn't think you could have a certified system
where it is possible to add additional radio cards at a later date.
MT (and I believe Star-OS) can do everything. It is far easier\cheaper
to get an MT system certified (which would only require a firmware that
was restricted to US band options) than it is to have Motorola or Trango
or Alvarion completely overhaul their entire lines to have the same
abilities.
I don't agree MT can do everything since it is missing several key
features we require. However, I do agree that the vendors you mention
above don't have the anywhere near the features of MT, nor do I think they
want to. What about the other 802.11-based radios though?
-Matt
--
WISPA Wireless List: [email protected]
Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
--
WISPA Wireless List: [email protected]
Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
