Linksys CPE for Wireless ISP's

[sploit]

Hi everybody, I called Linksys today.

Currently they make the WET11 that can adapt to external antenna's if the customer isnt close enough to your Tower, and thus makes a multi-computer CPE for under $220 (Compared to YDI at 300+)

Currently though, this solution requires you to run LMR cable into the house, which is big.

Now I talked to linksys about making a CPE for us that would be a Power Over Ethernet Direction Antenna Ethernet to Wireless Bridge adaptor (Basically a CPE).

They told me they need ammo for the request, and to email as much as possible the requests for such a product to sales@linksys.com

Everynody, we need a low cost Ethernet CPE sollution, and I know linksys can help. They have helped many companies with products (Their specialty line) they just need enough voices.

You know we all need it! Write an email people!

[David L. Vrablic]

You do know that the WET11's are POE capable don't you ?.
All it takes is to solder two jumpers across the provided places and it is ready to be powered from the other end of your Cat 5.
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I have been trying to get them to make available firmware for their ADSL Gateway box.. (BEFDSR41W) that turns the thing around.
Right now it is only an AP mode box.
If they made it infrastructure it would be a great "set top box".
The sad part is they allready did this for Ricohet with a model desig. of BEFDSR41W-RN.
This link tells it all.
http://www.ricochet.com/LinksysRicochetRouter.aspx

I just wish I could get my hands on the FW,
I would take the chance and load it on one that I bought for testing.

The only problem is that would bite the hand that feeds us
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I have come to the conclusion that I only want full featured radios at the customers site.
I am trying to see if I can get the following below $250.00

A computer board. (Can be single slot use 2 slot riser if needed))
A DOM
64 M memory
A firmware Lic
A radio (Most likely WPCI to save adapter cost)
An enclosure (One for indoor desktop) (one for outdoor POE install)
Some kind of power supply:
Either AC in the enclosure for local use. Or Dc to DC converter for POE.

I am getting so close but I have to wait until Version 2 comes out for the new CPE release. Then I can see how things shake out.

[bairdc]

We went the WET11 route for a while around November of last year. Here are my thoughts...

1. You can actually turn the WET11 into an outdoor solution. On the WET11 setups we have deployed, we bought a $25 pelican 1150 case (looks like a miniature suitcase, but is weatherproof). We used D-Link POE units to power them. These run about $35. Then we use a standard RP-SMA pigtail to connect from the WET11 to the antenna. Voila!!! Instant outdoor CPE minus antenna. Total cost is under $200 if you're not counting the time involved in putting one of these units together.

2. The WET11 really isn't a very scalable choice for CPE because it lacks RTS/CTS. It's okay if you only use it on lightly loaded POPs.

3. Smartbridges are a much better solution IMHO. WET11s were never intended for WISP use (hence the omission of RTS/CTS). SBs are targetted toward our industry. The Airbridge is functionally the same as a WET11, except that it does support RTS/CTS, has a site survey utility, and is FCC certified with a number of antennas. There is an indoor version of the airbridge, and an outdoor one as well. The indoor unit is $150 and comes with POE (you could drop one of these in a pelican case, and it would probably cost less than the WET11 setup I mentioned above). The outdoor unit is $239, and also comes with POE. The outdoor units have much greater temperature range specs than the indoor units. We've gone to using SBs entirely on our network now. We've still got some WET11s but are replacing them with SBs on the busier POPs.

4. Linksys doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to support. Trust me, when you call them for support, they're going to treat you as if you know nothing (as a consumer-level product, that is the case with most of their customers).

Craig

[sploit]

Can you make a list of what products you use for the smart bridge?
Post below man! Thx! :D

[bairdc]

Sure. We primarily use two Smartbridge CPE products:

1. Airbridge Outdoor. This is about a 5"x5"x1.5" NEMA box that contains the 60 mw radio. It includes mounting hardware to mount it to a pole, but we usually just bolt it directly to the antenna mounting bracket. It has an 8 inch cat 5 pigtail hanging out of it that terminates in a waterproof RJ-45 connector. It has an N-female connector on the bottom to connect to your antenna. We get our PacWireless grids now with N-male connectors, and just screw the antenna pigtail right onto the smartbridge. It comes with a POE unit called a "powershot". The cost is $239 from Electrocomm. Here's a link to a picture of the unit:

http://www.smartbridges.com/new/products/product_images/aBo.jpg

2. Airbridge Total. This is a cool little unit. It's the same product as the Airbridge Outdoor, but has a built-in 13 dB panel antenna. The box is a little bigger than the Airbridge Outdoor. It's about 7"x7"x2.5" These come with mounting brackets that will either mount it to a pole, or you can mount it to a wall. These are $289 from Ecomm. The built-in antenna is a little on the weak side. We normally only use these if we're within about a mile of the POP. Here's a picture of that one:

http://www.smartbridges.com/new/products/product_images/aBT.jpg

Hope this helps.

Craig

[sploit]

Now are these bridges? Or can they be configured to run on infrastructure as a client?

Because bridges require two IP's, like the WET11, I have to dynamically assign 1 IP to the Mac address of the WET11 and then manually configure a static on the customers Router.

If this was like a YDI etherant alternative, that would be badass!

[bairdc]

They work just like the WET11 does. IMHO, this is a good thing. The bridge itself has an IP address. However, it's only used for management of the bridge. It has no other function. You can leave it set to the default value if you want, but then you won't be able to get into the bridge remotely to change anything, look at its signal levels, do firmware upgrades, etc. The bridge will still work, however, regardless of what you set the IP to.

You can configure the bridge to either obtain its IP via DHCP, or you can statically assign it. I prefer to statically assign addresses to both my WET11s and SBs, rather than do DHCP. Again, with both the WET11 and the SB, the IP address you assign it is solely for the purpose of managing the unit. It has no other function.

One cool thing with the SBs is that they have SNMP built in. That means that you can set up something like MRTG to graph your individual clients' traffic. obviously, this couldn't be done without an IP assigned to the unit.

Obviously, you do still have to put an IP on the client computer(s) as well. I do this via DHCP.

One more neat feature of both the SBs and the WET11 (sorry to switch gears, but I forgot to mention this before) is the ability to connect multiple clients to them. That means that you can connect more than one customer computer, via a hub or switch, without the need for a router. I think the WET11 supports 50 machines, while the SB will do 64. I still usually install routers for customers who need multiple machines connected, but this does give you some added flexibility, and it has come in very handy on a couple of our installs, where a simple router wouldn't have done the trick.

Craig