Wireless bridge

Thu Jun 18 14:23:39 UTC 2009

Pair of Ubuquiti power station 2 or 5 bridges, 5 would be preferable,
under $200 per end.

http://www.ubnt.com/downloads/ps5_datasheet.pdf

Peter Boone wrote:
> Hi NANOG,
> 
> I'm looking for some equipment recommendations for a wireless bridge between
> two locations approximately 500-800 meters apart. The current setup for this
> company has been extremely unstable and slow. I don't have a lot of
> experience in this area so I was hoping someone could give me a few
> pointers.
> 
> Currently, both locations are using Linksys WRT54GL's flashed with DD-WRT
> firmware (Yes, 802.11g. All extra bells and whistles are disabled in the
> firmware. They were set up for WDS so other wireless clients could connect
> to the same access point, with varying degrees of success. Not very
> important). They are connected to SmartAnt 2300-2500 MHz 14 dBi directional
> antenna mounted on the roof (extended pretty high for perfect line of
> sight). I'm not sure when they got these antenna exactly but I'm told it was
> when WiFi was very new. The network is very small so both locations share
> the same subnet (192.168.1.0/24).
> 
> They have gone through numerous Linksys access points over the years. The
> wireless settings are tweaked as best as possible, and we have found the
> connection to be most stable when the TX is limited to 6-9 Mbps.
> 
> We have explored other options as well. An internet connection at each
> location + VPN is out due to very slow upstream speeds (the buildings are in
> an industrial area, ADSL is the only option.) The max they offer on regular
> business accounts is 800 kbps up. T1 lines are even slower and even more
> expensive. They won't offer us any other solutions such as fibre. We have
> considered running fibre/coax but there is too much construction activity
> and other property in the way.
> 
> I'm looking into RouterBOARD right now, considering a RB433AH and R52H
> wireless card, but I'm not sure this will actually solve the problem. It's
> difficult to determine if the issue is with the antennas or access points
> (for example, after a good thunderstorm, the wireless link will be down for
> at least 12 hours, but will fix itself eventually. Resetting either access
> point will keep the link down for at least 30 minutes. Using an airgun on
> the access points tends to make them more reliable, even if they are clean
> and dust free. From the admin interface, each access point will report
> seeing a very good and strong signal from the other, yet they refuse to
> communicate until they feel like it a few hours later.)
> 
> Any suggestions welcome. I'm sure you can tell cost is a bit of a factor
> here but it will be easy for me to justify a higher price if I'm confident
> it will be effective.
> 
> While I'm at it, I've been reading along on the list for over a year now;
> thanks everyone for sharing your real world experiences :)
> 
> Peter
> 
> 