At 6/18/2010 05:49 PM, Chuck Profito wrote: >Look at one of our vendor members, higher cost than roll your own, but >everything in one box, server, radius, etc., etc. It may prove to be a >lower cost for a difficult start up and difficult area, leading to better >customer satisfaction and word of mouth advertising, faster ROI and >penetration. > http://www.bluemesh.net
This doesn't look too much unlike what we had in mind, hardware-wise; we would have a vendor (who might be a WISPA member; it might go to bid) configure the boxes to our spec. Bluemesh seems to be using Ubiquiti rather than Microtik routers, and I like its 117v feed (since we'll probably mount a lot of these on power poles). Frankly UBNT and MT companies seem to be competing quite directly on a lot of these products, so it's not a big deal which one to use. UBNT is running OpenWRT Kamikaze code, while MT has their own RouterOS. It's not clear if Bluemesh is basing its system on Kamikaze or something else. Indeed there's a dearth of information on the Bluemesh site to say what it can do. Not even a flyer on the radios, their power, etc. At this point we're wide open to suggestions. Bear in mind that we are not looking for an IP solution, but for a Layer 1 or Layer 2 mesh. (SkyPilot is layer 1, with Ethernet at the edges. Perfect except for frequency agility. An it ain't cheap.) So tell me more... >-----Original Message----- >From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On >Behalf Of Fred R. Goldstein >Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 1:23 PM >To: [email protected] >Subject: [WISPA] MicroTik HWMPplus mesh? > >First off, I'd like to say hello to the list. Mike Hammett pointed >me at it a couple of weeks ago, after I posted a wireless-related >question (wireless in the trees) at isp-clec, and he reposted it >here. This list is a lot more active... I've been reading the past >few months archives and it's really quite informative. > >I'm a consultant working with competitive service providers all over >the place. I don't run a WISP but some clients do. I am working now >with a startup that wants to serve some "unserved" (no cable or DSL, >just long-loop POTS/dial-up) remote territory which is about to get >middle mile service to the nearest "city" (year-round pop. <10,000, >but it's big for the area) thanks to a stimulus grant. > >The unserved "last mile" area covers a strip about 5 to 30 miles from >the backbone point. It's the RF environment from hell: Heavily >wooded and hilly. The most valuable strip of land is a long narrow >beachfront strip a block or so wide, with a palisade (steep wooded >hill) blocking it from the rest of the area. Plus it's convex >(curves out into the big lake) so your line of sight within the >beachside strip is very small. So in most places on the waterfront >there's not even cellular service, since the cell sites are over the >rim. No WISP is crazy enough to go there. My clients and I, >however, are unusually crazy... why else would we be in the >communications business? > >Given that environment, there only way to get to most of the >subscribers is via multiple hops. We'd come down to the beach in at >least two points near the ends, maybe in the middle too, and build >microwave rings. > >I don't see how this could work with any of the canned mesh >solutions. Most, like SkyPilot, only mesh at 5.8 Ghz, and there are >some paths that are just too woody for that to work. Some of the >subscriber access sites may need 900 too. I think each RF path and >local-coverage cell will have to be engineered to local conditions. > >What looks to be the most flexible approach might be to use the >MicroTik Routerboard multi-radio mPCI systems. Then we can use >off-the-shelf 5.8 GHz cards and PtP antennas for the clear paths, and >plug in the Ubiquiti XR9 or similar high-power 900 radio for tree >blasting. User access would probably be sectorized at whatever band works. > >MicroTik says they have a meshing protocol, HWMPplus, that provides >Layer 2 (this is critical; we're not building a Layer 3 network, and >with this many hops, latency and loss are critical) dynamic meshing, >essentially applying a routing protocol (smarter than bridge STPs) >among nodes. I can't find any documentation for it on line, though, >and a distributor I've been talking to has never tried or sold >it. So does anyone on the list have any experience with the HWMPplus >mesh? Or any other suggestions? Thanks! > > -- Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/ +1 617 795 2701 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
