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No... I've never had that experience... and I probably won't... it
seems really "cheap"... and having to re-crimp if you change radio type
makes it even worse. :( Travis Microserv Randy Cosby wrote: Travis, You've never had the pleasure of dealing with Tranzeo's ethernet connector? They insist this is the most waterproof / weatherproof way they've found. Even so, it is a pain in the rear, I agree.Looking forward to seeing more test results. Thanks for doing the product beta test and development for us :) Randy 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. 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. 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. If you ever have to replace the radio with something different, you have to cut the cable and then re-crimp. 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). 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. 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. Travis Microserv ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/ |
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