I can say for the Tranzeo weather proofing rj45 setup is ok.. I haven't had any
problems with it seeping water. We have been using these for 4 years (note
I am knocking on wood right now) :)
Thomas P Galla
t...@bluegrass.net
BluegrassNet
Voice (502) 589.INET [4638]
Fax 502-315-0581
321 East Breckinridge St
Louisville KY 40203
-Original Message-
From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf
Of Travis Johnson
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2008 1:36 PM
To: WISPA General List
Subject: [WISPA] Vecima 3.65
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 se
rver 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
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