Well....a couple of notes... I personally would use an all ODU version because it makes servicing a breeze and also swapping out a bad radio quick and simple. No guessing about is it the indoor unit, is it the outdoor unit, is it the interface cable??? Get an all ODU like the Dragonwave Horizon and you run CAT5 and you're done. If you get a cable issue you either can't log in or see no handshake with your switch/router or..If one of the POE lines are bad your radio will continue to reboot. Troubleshoot the radio on the ground with a patch cable and you rule out your cabling system.
Like was mentioned elsewhere here if you are concerned with theft you can lock the radios in place. This can be done by putting a security screw in place of the grounding screw and use a cable assembly to lock it up. If the theft concern is that high you should probably consider another location. With weather being a concern you could always install a second parallel link on the same antenna using a DPRM mount. Then if one link fails the other could be engaged to carry the traffic. I do not see this link really working (high 9's reliability) without 4' antennas. That of course leads to new mounting issues. At 6 Ghz. you are looking at 6' minimum dishes. Figure 600-800 lbs per antenna with mount not to say the least about cost, shipping and installation. I personally like Dragonwave for 2 reasons. 1 - The service facility is in this part of the hemisphere which allows me to get equipment overnight in emergencies. 2 - One year advanced replacement is only $500/year per radio. Allows me to sleep easily. This does not mean I do not like Ceragon. They are just doing some growing pains things at the moment and most of the stuff is serviced overseas unless it is an interface or something simple. Dragonwave support is very responsive though you do have to leave your name with a service and they call you back. I have installed more than 45 Dragonwave links in the past 2 years and have only had 2 failures. There are other options but history, price or delivery will kill them as an option. And stay away from equipment that does switching for you. Do all your control external to the radio. Bob Paolo Di Francesco wrote: > Dear All, > > we are considering to move to licensed frequencies for back hauling and > therefore some hints would be really appreciated. We are looking at 2 > main manufacturers (Ceragon/Dragonwave) so the problem is "which one > fits better for our needs"? > > Just to summarize: > > a) links are around 20-25 miles > b) antennas: the smaller the better > c) robustness is very important > d) average life: 3 years > > >From what I have read in the data sheets I have done the following > considerations: > > 1) Dragonwave Horizon is nice but only if your site is well protected > from "sabotage and stealing". The "all outdoor" approach is nice but it > has the drawback that if somebody takes the whole unit they will have a > brand new unit working. With the IDU/ODU approach they will have only > half of the "banknote", so after the first or second time, they will not > spend time having something useless. > 2) Dragonwave Horizon can be a problem if you don't use fiber from the > unit down to your switch. In few words, we have sites with huge amount > or EM fields, so even using shielded cables (e.g. Belden 1300A) we get > only few ethernet megabits. So we should use fiber to go up the tower, > but maybe be IDU/ODU approach is more robust (comments welcome). > 3) All outdoor means that when you have to re-use the devices somewhere > else, you have to buy a whole new thing instead of just swapping the ODU. > 4) In any case the (all outdoor or IDU/ODU) when the tower is frozen > (and when I mean frozen I mean a whole block of ice) then it does not > change much, you have to wait the better season to work on that. > 5) Performances look more or less the same. > 6) I don't know much about prices, I have looked on some website, I am > still exploring this aspect > 7) Is anybody using the software-switch capabilities on this devices or > just using them as transparent bridges for your router/switch? Do you > need to reset them often? > > Comments are welcome. > > Am I missing some other good brand? > > Thank you. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
