I have comments inline... At least for the Tranzeo Unit :) D. Ryan Spott rsp...@cspott.com
On Dec 13, 2008, at 10:35 AM, Travis Johnson wrote: > Hi, > > We received our Vecima "trial" kit (one AP and five CPE) on Thursday > afternoon. We have not yet put it on a tower, as there were several > issues with their software on the AP... but here's some info thus far: > > The base station is quite large. It measures approximately 14 inches > tall x 8 inches wide x 6 inches thick. It weighs about 25 pounds > (seriously). It has an RJ-45 ethernet connector and an N-male > connector on the bottom. (I was lead to believe they had omni, 90 > degree, 120 degree and connectorized versions, and I requested the > 120 unit, but instead got this with an LMR jumper and an MTI 120 > antenna). > > We began by getting into the AP and making some "normal" changes > (downlink was set to 50%, so we changed it to 70%). Also the center > frequency was set to 3.410 so we changed that to 3.650. We also > changed to 7mhz channel size. We then applied and rebooted... and > then we could no longer get into the "radio" configuration page > (where we had just made all those changes). So we did a factory > reset and tried again. Same thing. We opened a trouble ticket with > Vecima the next morning, and they were able to reproduce the problem > in their lab. Then about 3 hours later, another tech called back and > told us we needed to upgrade the firmware (even though the first > tech said we were running the latest). We upgraded and that fixed > the problem... but then we had a new problem. The "Allowed MAC > address" file somehow got corrupted... so they had to SSH into the > base station and fix that file. (By the way, this AP is just running > Linux 2.6.14 kernel). We were now able to make a connection to one > of the CPE (after setting up the service classifiers, service flows, > and adding a service flow to this MAC address). Making a link on our > test bench (10 feet away), we had a -55ish signal... however, the > ping times and speeds were terrible (2000ms and at the most 2Mbps). > I am thinking it was because this is running OFDM and in close > proximity, the signals bounce all over. Last, all three techs that I > talked to at Vecima asked "Do you have an NMS (network management > server)?" and I had to continually say "no" and then they would say > "oh... I don't know how to do this manually". One of the reasons we > were testing this solution is that it did not require their NMS to > function... however, even their tech support is pretty limited if > you don't have it. Their NMS server is about $5,000 (but a single > server will support an entire network, with unlimited AP's and CPE). > > On to the CPE: This is one of the worst designs of a CPE that I have > ever seen. Eh, it's OK. Back when I started (3 years ago) it was a heck-of-a-lot better than the other inexpensive CPE that was out. It also passes my wife "will a woman allow that on the house" test. One of the CPE (not Tranzeo) that I looked at actually had a "place duct tape here" line in their instructions! > The entire unit is made by Tranzeo and looks just like their normal > 2.4 CPE. It has the bar of lights on the top showing Power, LAN, > RSSI, etc. The mounting bracket is the "L" bracket that bolts to the > back and has a U-bolt and clamp to hook to the pipe. Yes, all of their CPE is like this. They make one design and really stick to it. The picture you have on the left shows the old design. The new one has a set of screws holding it together. I like this newer design a little better. > The biggest problem is how the ethernet cable connects. It has the > white cover plate that goes over the RJ-45 connector that has to be > bolted to the back of the radio... the problem is, the pass-thru > connector is not big enough to allow an already crimped RJ-45 cable > to pass thru... meaning, you have to run the cable thru the white > plastic thing, then crimp it, then plug it in, and then screw the > nuts down holding the white cover. I totally agree, this is a TOTAL pain in the A$$. How much more would it cost for a decent pass through connector.. uh.. pennies at volume. Get with it Tranzeo! Even the telcos have figured this out with regard to FIOS connections and the glands they go through. > If you ever have to replace the radio with something different, you > have to cut the cable and then re-crimp. Tranzeo says (fictitiously) "Well, why would you want to replace that with anything but Tranzeo?" *sigh* > Also, I can guarantee that water is going to get into the RJ-45 as > it is on the back of the radio and the water will always be trying > to get into the white cover and then will just "flow" right into the > RJ-45. I have attached a picture that is 99% the same as this unit > (except this unit is smaller than the picture). Oh! you have the old SL2 looking module. Hopefully they have made that into a smooth cover. Here in the Pacific NW that texture just attracts moss. > The other issue is the PoE injector that comes with the unit. This > is the worst PoE that I have ever seen. I don't understand why they > can't use a grounded PoE that doesn't require a separate ground > wire. Use the ground built into the electrical wiring that is > already there (like the PacWireless PoE units). Attached is a > picture of the PoE that was supplied. Here here! and the markings are white on white raised lettering (PC and CPE).. After telling 3 grandmas that they had just zapped their motherboards by plugging the wrong end into their computer after they unplugged wires to tidy things up and I have moved to permanent marker markings that say "NO! and "YES" with a stern warning about cooking ethernet ports if they ever use the NO! port. I would LOVE to see a POE/power brick all in one unit that plugs into the wall outlet with a ground. Imagine just having a wall wart with 2 ethernet cables coming into it. If you put a retaining screw in it to hold it into the wall.. wow.. how easy would that be.. Something like the one on the left side of this picture: <http://www.sdepot.com/images/pagemaster/all_ps.jpg > > > I will be testing the speeds and range this Monday (assuming the > weather is better... we got 6" of snow and 40MPH winds last night). > I will post more results as I have them. At this point, I am not > really impressed with a $4,000 AP that's just running Linux. While I like the fact that they have harnessed the power of this software, I don't love being charged an arm and a leg for 99.99% of the dev work being done by volunteers outside the company. ryan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
