On Nov 17, 2012, at 5:35 PM, Neil Laubenthal wrote:
>> $300 is a scary figure. Turns out, if you're not married to Apple gear, you >> can do everything you want with the following $75 box: >> >> http://routerboard.com/RB751G-2HnD > > I'm not necessarily married to Apple's gear but can't really swap out the > WiFi Ranger as the router out to the internet. Since I need to have multiple > possible inputs (wifi from the campground, a Verizon air card for cellular > internet, and potentially either a cable modem feed or ethernet feed from the > campground) I really need to use the WiFi Ranger as the router/failover > between various internet connections device. I didn't suggest replacing it. The MikroTik replaces your gig switch AND your Airport, doing the work of both, and lets your Ranger do the final routing. Yes, it's CAPABLE of being a router, in that it's designed for that, but it can be configured as anything you want. Right now, I have one running between my MBPro and the wall ethernet socket configured as a five-port switch. It's there as a smart switch -- I can log into it (it has its own IP address) and run speed tests to any other MikroTik in my network, trace and trigger on packets, graph thruput, and do any other network monitoring I please. MikroTiks are infinitely configurable. Any port can be a WAN or LAN port, a mirror port, or a switch. I have one running in the next room with two WAN ports, such that if the cheap WAN fails, it automatically switches to the costlier WAN. Finally, I would point out that the USB port is configurable as a WAN port to a 3G/4G modem -- but for this model MikroTik it wouldn't help you, since it has only one radio card, so you couldn't pick up camp wifi. A two-card MikroTIk could do the whole job for you: router, camp client, RV AP, switch, and divert to the USB cell modem if there is no camp signal. But I wouldn't suggest this since you already own the Ranger equipment. >> Five gigabit ports and a 802.11b/g/n radio (1W!) with internal antennas. >> Their simple configurator (Quick Set) will allow you to set it up as a >> standard SOHO router with one screen, but the product is really made so you >> can crawl under the canned stuff and set it up any way you like (in your >> case, as a switch box with builtin AP and no DHCP). > > I'm sure this router can be set up in bridge mode (otherwise I have to get > into double routing and a much more complicated network)…do you know if it > can be operated in bridge mode with the switch ports active at the same time? > If so, I could use it in 802.11n bridge mode for the wireless clients and > plug the wired clients directly into it. Sort of like the following diagram > (it looks kinda of cheesy in ascii. > > internet sources ----wifi ranger router with wireless off ----Mikrotiks in > bridge mode --wireless clients > > | > > | > > |----wired gigabit clients Yes, that's what I was suggesting. Bridge mode = switch mode. > I'll go see if I can find a manual for the router to see if it supports this; > but I have to admit I never plugged anything into the switch port of a > wireless point that was in bridge mode…I suppose the ports are still active > but have no idea really; it wasn't something I ever needed to try for a > client. Again, it looks to the Ranger exactly like plugging in a switch. If it handles a switch, it will handle this. > Back to the original question though; any idea how much of an improvement in > throughput I would see between the wireless and wired clients by going > gigabit instead of 100BaseT for the connections? Obviously it would be faster > since it's clearly limited by the 100BaseT ethernet currently but I don't > really know what the real world 802.11n throughput is like. The biggest improvement you'd see would be on wired connections, of course -- about ten times. Wireless improvement will be limited by the protocol's max speeds (http://tinyurl.com/5wpu8h). Figure on getting 3-4x the speed of g. >> If you like this idea but are daunted by the learning curve, I'll be happy >> to whip up the initial configuration file you need and email it to you. > > I may take you up on that but as long as I can web browse into the Mikrotk > then setting it up for bridge mode should be pretty simple (at least assuming > the ports are still active in that mode. Heck, maybe I'll order the router > and give it a try to see if it improves things if they have a decent return > policy. > > Thanks for the suggestions; I'll think on them a bit. -- Macs R We -- Personal Macintosh Service and Support in the Wickenburg and far Northwest Valley Areas. http://macsrwe.com _______________________________________________ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
