Travis, You've never had the pleasure of dealing with Tranzeo's ethernet connector? They insist this is the most waterproof / weatherproof way they've found. Even so, it is a pain in the rear, I agree.
Looking forward to seeing more test results. Thanks for doing the product beta test and development for us :) Randy Travis Johnson wrote: > 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 server 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 > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- Randy Cosby Vice President InfoWest, Inc work: 435-773-6071 email: rco...@infowest.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/randycosby -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
