I am looking at seeing how we can get the ePMP to deliver at least 10Mbps minimum to a few clients in PMP mode. We currently have a deployment in GPS Synch mode using the ePMP 1000 platform. Our current Downlink/Uplink ratio is set at 75/25.
However, we're not seeing very good upload speeds using the built-in Speed Test. MCS values are like averaging MCS11.
But we now need to reliably deliver an offer a package to a couple clients within 3 miles of the AP an upload speed of 10Mbps. Our downlinks are averaging around 25Mbps. But uplink always tend to be under 8Mbps. The CPEs are all basically ePMP Force 180.
Should we look at either using and replacing the ePMP 1000 with an ePMP 2000 AP either alone or with the Beam forming antenna?
You are missing some very important information, like current AP antenna gain, power budget of distant SMs, channel width, interference level, SNR ratios, number of clients... but even not knowing those parameters, I would suggest changing the distant Force 180s with Force 200s. That should upgrade the performance for sure; 3 miles is a bit too much for any 180s <-> sector link if you are looking for top performance (supposing the AP has a sector antenna!).
My apologies for not including those specific details. I gave my scenario to paint a picture of what I was looking to achieve. Not so much for solving our current deployment. I wanted to see if all things being equal basically, what would most likely be a better solution / deployment to always achieve high uploads speeds using the ePMP series. Those upload speeds should be at a minimum of 10Mbps, and possibly working or using the 75/25 ratio.
Our setup was to also show that we have some experience with the ePMP environment and that it is in a production environment. We do have some SMs that are getting well over 10Mbps, but those clients are extremely close to the AP. Our next plan was to see if we can get a >=10Mbps or greater within the 1-3mile radius from the AP. And, if so, what would be some of the options to achieve this. That is, ePMP 1000 GPS synch AP or the new ePMP 2000 AP or the ePMP 2000 AP with the Beamforming antenna.
So I was hoping that the Cambium community can share some real world experiences on similar deployments or something.
Once we start putting this new sector online and if we encounter any issues, we will then reach out to both Cambium and the Cambium community for further assistance as both we've found to always very helpful and solution oriented.
I hope that this helps in understanding why those specific details were left out.
Most of all, thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience to address my questions.
Can it be done ? Yes we do it constantly. 150x50 is the max you could push in theory with 75/25 split. But you quoted mcs11 for thw uplink. Depending on your link conditions, what you want can be done. But its completely based on your conditions, at 3 miles, a force 180 would be sitting low 60s, for us thats fine. Mcs15 both ways. In a city environment, bad idea. Change to f200. The key details are still missing, noise, link budgets, AP set etc.
Thank you so much for your reply and information here. This really helps and is so useful in understanding the merits of the ePMP 2000 and its real world deployment.
The results really look good and I am happy to see that you can acheive such good uplink and downlink rates and that it is being done by a WISP (small, medium).
Question, are the majority of your subscribers using the ePMP Force 180 as the CPE? In the snapshot, it looks like you have nothing really under 5 miles. So I guess you may only be using things like the ePMP Force 200 and the ePMP Force 110 units.
Also, what channel size are you using there? Are your channel sizes at 20Mhz?
Thank you very much for your input. I wasn't really trying to resolve our existing installation but merely wanted to see the merits of the ePMP 2000 in contrast to the ePMP 1000 AP based on other persons experiences. Our current setup was used as an idea for what we're seeing so far. Others may have the same experience and also would like to see some real world scenarios in use. Hence the reason for not paying such close attention to the other details you are asking for.
Using the Force 200 is what we were thinking. But using the basic ePMP 1000 AP (GPS version) doesn't seem to be giving us high uploads consistently across all our towers, not just this sector mentioned. With the introduction of the ePMP 2000 and it's SmartBeam Forming technology, it appears that this will at least provide the consistent upload speeds for which we are seeking in our particular application/client requirements. However, it doesn't rule out the ePMP 1000 AP for which we have in place already servicing that sector. If we can do it with our existing equipment and not change it over would be ideal. Likewise changing over to the ePMP 2000 and being disappointed on taking advantage of the new features would be really sad.
