A newbie question regarding 900 AP
I have an p10 900 mhz behind a ADSL modem in bridged mode that points to a SM 5kms away plugged into the WAN port of my router. The ADSL modem indicates a line speed of 8000/384 with very low attenuation. I have set the downlink data to 90% and currently getting up to 4140 kbs download speed.
Knowing too well that the 900AP has a max sustained throughput of around this speed, Is there any other fine tuning - re burst rates etc - that I can do to max out the throughput to this one (and only) SM?
Or have I hit the wall already?
Other info
AP side -65, 2 jitter, 1742 rssi (canopy version 8.2.2)
SM side -66, 7 (1 to 8) jitter, 1544 rssi (canopy version 7.2.9)
Also I’m considering placing the router between the AP and ADSL modem (ie before the radio link)- as every now and then it keeps dropping the ADSL connection (mostly in the mornings) - I’m assuming this is due to radio interference EVEN though the re-reg count is still 0 between the AP and SM - Am I’m assuming correctly that it still could drop the internet connection even though the SM has not re-reg’ed?
Not that I really know what I’m looking for - there doesn’t seem to be any thing in the stats of the AP to indicate major dropouts, packet loss etc. Next time it does this I will try and do a spectrum analysis.
Any ideas, suggestions etc would be helpful.
I suppose the only way (albeit time consuming) is to actually go and pu tthe router at the modem.
LOS to SM from AP - country topography - spectrum analysis didn’t pick up anything noisy (floor? of ~ -90)
Sorry - long winded/multiple questions
Cheers
Paul
You have certainly hit the limit on 900 MHz. The burst bucket is just another parameter for the QoS traffic throttling.
One thing you will want to look into is getting those radios up to the same software level. Many of us here strongly recommend running 9.0 or 9.3. Having mismatched software versions, certainly when it’s a major release like you have, will cause performance issues.
Placing the router before you hit the radio is a very good idea. Seeing as your ADSL has more bandwidth than your wireless link it would be wise to firewall all the junk out so it never fills up the 900 MHz pipe.
The AP and SM have lots of ways to tell if there is a link issue. I don’t believe you have mentioned the “Session Uptime” counter (AP-side only). However before a link gets so bad as to completely drop you should see a lot of re-regs. It sounds to me like it is your ADSL that’s having the issue. If it’s any good it should have a telnet interface so you can see what’s up.
I have tried to install CNUT1.1 but it hangs when nmake.exe runs (tried on Vista 64 bit and XP pro 32bit)- I must have the wrong Java version? (I have the latest) or perl version (also the latest)?
Thanks for your advice salad
Im also using VIOP - I have set up my router for QoS (Very basic though - thinking of upgrading) is there anything I could do on the canopy side to improve VIOP?
Thanks again
Paul
edit: - I will take your advice and place the router before the AP! - I assume this will eliminate the task of addressing the VOIP QoS setup on the canopy side?
Also I have got the updates from the Motorola site 8.2.4 to 9.3 (PTP 100 series) and Cnut version 3.11 -I am trying to wade through the help files (don’t want to brick these units!) - do I need to update the AP first (from 8.2.2 straight to 9.3?) using cnut 3.11 or the Sm from 7.2.9 straight to 9.3 using Cnut 3.11?
I would upgrade the SM first. From 7.2.9 -> 7.3.6 -> 8.2.2 Using CNUT 2.2. Then using Cnut 3.11 upgrade the SM to 9.3 and then the AP to 9.3. Shouldn’t have any issues at all. I’ve never bricked a radio and I’ve been managing a 600+ SM network since 7.2.9.
You can get the older software from here: http://apogeewireless.com/spoton/rflockup.htm
Thanks for that
I have just finished updating to 9.3 - Did it incrementally, did the SM (since I am on the SM side) until it matched the AP - Then did each upgrade SM then AP then went to the next version - Good practice I suppose. Once the AP got to 9.0 it stopped transmitting so I had to go on site and re-set the frequency then finished the upgrade. While I was there I installed the router as well. Did a speed test while I was there through the router - was only getting 4500kbs (adsl modem line test was still 8124/384 attenuation 7 and 1) - Dlink DGL4100 router - I’m wondering if there is a setting wrong in the router? Should of taken the modem out of bridged mode and check that I suppose.
speedtest.net reported 4000/125 from the sm side - I might have to dial back the downlink back from 90%
Anyways - success - lets hope you don’t hear from me for a while!
Thanks and regards
Paul
4.4Mbit is pretty close to what you can expect real world with a Canopy 900 running at 100% efficiency. If you have any packet loss (you can test your link efficiency from the web interface under tools) you will be losing some throughput. You’ll also have to adjust your downlink% if you want to increase your uplink throughput.
The max distance parameter on the AP will have some effect on available bandwidth. Only set that as high as you have to (ie if you’re only going 1 mile, don’t set the AP to 20 miles - you’re losing bandwidth due to the extra guard time it adds to the Canopy frames) - you should be able to squeeze a little bit extra out of the link. If you want to max out your ADSL you’re going to have to go with a different frequency band in the Canopy line - 2.4 or 5.x.
You could also look at doing a link with a pair of Mikrotiks if you want to save a little money. There are plenty of resources out there that can help you configure the link for what you need.
Thanks - I have set the max range to 6 mile - the SM is 2.78 mile from the AP - I remembered reading somewhere to doulble the distance if using 2X rate.
The ADSL Modem connection hasn’t dropped out since I last rebooted the router (which also solved the upload speed issue by re entering the QoS settings) ~24 hours ago - Im still assuming the dropouts was an ISP problem.
speedtest.net has me at ~70-80 ping, 4250/307 - Can’t complain about that! More reliable and cheaper/faster than Telstra’s NextG.
Might hold off getting faster Canopy/Mikrotiks - the tel line which is being used will be moving in 6 - 8 months (friends moving house) so Ill wait to see what line speed we get then.
Cheers
Paul
Not sure on that max range spec you read - I’m not finding anything in my old Canopy docs about it but maybe someone else can chime in if I’m missing something. I know I’ve never come across it and I’ve got a handful of customers right at the borderline of my APs range limits.
In any event, glad to hear it is working well!