On Tue, 2009-03-03 at 09:30 -0500, Josh Luthman wrote: > Is there a reason why they were disconntinued since they were so > great? I didn't get into Mikrotik early enough to get to use these.
Hmm. I'm not sure how to address this without sounding like I'm on the attack. The RB230 (200 series, really) had a really good power supply. It was true 802.3af compliant. The trouble with this good power supply, is that it was expensive to manufacture. Shortly after MT came out with the 200 series boards, PC Engines began making the WRAP board. WRAP may have come first or about the same time, I really can't remember for sure. Either way, the WRAP board was more cheaply made and didn't have even close to the stability on the temperature extremes (either hot OR cold). In spite of this, the WISP Community "spoke" to MT with their money. They said (effectively) "We don't want to pay more for something even if it is better." The reason for the demise of the 230 board is a direct result of the "race to the bottom" of the pricing model. Paying less money for an equivalent product isn't a bad thing. In fact, that is what drives our free market economy. The trouble with what happened with the RB 200 series is that there simply wasn't, and still isn't, an "equivalent" product available. RB230 had much better ethernet ports, a better power supply and was VERY stable at the extremes of the temperature range (partly due to the better power supply). The difference of about $30-40 per AP was enough to drive the 200 series out of business, though. Another issues was that the PCMCIA radio cards were a bit more expensive. It's true that the PC Card format offered more value, but WISPs failed to see that fact, too. These radios, like the rb230, were very stable, though temperature issues were problematic with some of them. It is those 2 issues that were the "main causes" for the end of production of the rb200 series type of routerboard. The processor that was in the RB200 series is no longer available and once supply dried up for that processor, MT decided to join in the race to the cheapest solution without regard to quality. It is (in my opionion) not particularly good that price is the only factor that determines the success of a device in the marketplace. I should note, too, that my answer to your question is based on my observations of events only, and I am not speaking "for Mikrotik". I don't know if my observation is accurate or not, but it is most certainly feasible. :-) -- ******************************************************************** * Butch Evans * Professional Network Consultation* * http://www.butchevans.com/ * Network Engineering * * http://www.wispa.org/ * WISPA Board Member * * http://blog.butchevans.com/ * Wired or Wireless Networks * ******************************************************************** _______________________________________________ Mikrotik mailing list Mikrotik@mail.butchevans.com http://www.butchevans.com/mailman/listinfo/mikrotik Visit http://blog.butchevans.com/ for tutorials related to Mikrotik RouterOS
