One last point of note. Have the manufacturers ever stopped to ponder why they do not sell alot of broadcast equipment? PRICE! Every one of you are more concerned with coming up with the next proprietary OS for your hardware, that the R&D costs skyrocket. I was pleased to see that ActionTec is one of the first to produce an open architecture AP running Linux. Someone finally got it.
We WISP's would rather spend retail money developing a Linux based solution than using some proprietary crap. Why? Because we can do diagnostics on something we know. Who has time to learn some new OS when you are trying to build a company? We also are tired of manufacturers giving us the "optimal conditions" specs on their equipment. I have not heard of one WISP that operates in the environments you test in. You shaould also know that we are not your typical WISP. We do R&D on developing products and solutions specifically for WISP's. We operate our own WISP. We use what we design in an actual "real world" environment. It's obvious that some manufacturers see the direction some of us are going with Linux, or your post wouldn't have landed on our list. To give you an example of our engineering style, we have a broadcast tower operating at 260ft. We acheive 6 mile ptmp links using an 8dbi smoke detector antenna at the client site WITHOUT an amp. We can get up to 14 miles using a 8dbi omni w/250mw amp. We have ptp links feeding repeater towers at 14 miles away getting the full 11mb with siganl levels around 51db, and SNR at 32 (both sides). Now, if your company or any other manufacturer and/or supplier can tell how we accomplish this, then they truly understand our space. To date, I have not found ONE that can even come close to figuring it out and that includes Agere! I must commend you for your tennacious spirit in defending your comany and the manufacturers in general. My opinions may never count for much, but someday just as Microsoft and others have learned, we have a new wonder drug. It's free and it's powerful. What is it? LINUX! Thomas Johnson CEO, Intechmedia Broadband (919)-639-7115 http://www.intechmedia.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Wey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Thomas Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 6:16 AM Subject: Re: Outdoor 802.11b to Ethernet Gateway / Brouter > > Also as a point of note, I can buy a PC104 board and > > load it with my Linux system I have running and do exactly as the > AirBridge > > does for about $300. And that's a RETAIL price for parts! > > And this includes the radio card, RF connection hardware for an antenna, a > NEMA > enclosure, mounting hardware, a POE power extractor with a voltage > regulator, > packaging and assembly labor costs? > > > With manufacturers getting volume and wholesale discount pricing, there > should be > > no reason for either a PTP or CPE device to retail over $300.00 COMPLETE. > > True enough generally speaking, but no single outdoor wireless unit is > selling in 100s of > thousands volume...OEMs combined. Indoor wireless like the Linksys > equipment? Sure. > > A good example of high cost may perhaps be amplifiers. Some go for around > $450.00, > which seem exorbident. Consider however, they are not selling these like > Bic lighters > and are trying to get some return on R&D, mfg'ing and marketing investment > before > the technology change renders them obsolete. 802.11g anyone? > > As popularity pics up, more OEMs will come to the game and competative > economics > will take over. Its no different than the high cost of color TVs back in > the early 60's > or, for that matter, PCs back in the 80's. The volume simply isn't there > yet. > > > It's just another excuse for companies to try and take advantage of > > unknowing WISP's and rape them on the cost of equipment and misinform them > > on how to design their system correctly. As long as they sell product, > > that's all they care about. > > One could say the same about WISP's taking advantage of unknowing customers > and > raping them for domain registering, bandwidth settings, and web hosting! > > An interesting debate no doubt and while I disagree on some issues, I do > appreciate > your feed back > > Regards, > R. Wey > DI Inc. > > ------------------------------------------------------- This sf.net email is sponsored by: OSDN - Tired of that same old cell phone? Get a new here for FREE! https://www.inphonic.com/r.asp?r=sourceforge1&refcode1=vs3390 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ leaf-user mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-user SR FAQ: http://leaf-project.org/pub/doc/docmanager/docid_1891.html
