Disabling 802.3 Link on SM

So if I disable the 802.3 Link via loggin onto the SM through the AP (via LUID Select) and later retrieve the radio from the customer's house.

How do I log back onto the radio to turn the 802.3 Link back on (Enable) when I'm at the office or at another customer's location to re-deploy the radio?


you will need to use the default plug and reset the unit back to defaults and change what you need, or try and get it register back up with the AP and try through the RF side.

I as well just turn the internet speed down to about 5kbps. Most of the time surfing just doesn't work at all, but some customers said a web page will show up, sometimes... It is real funny though...

That’s what I was afraid of … how do I get a default plug?

It will probably be easier to just get it to reregister with the old SM – I didn’t realize that disabling the Ethernet port (turning off the 802.3 Link) would prevent me from direct-connecting to the SM later :frowning:

Thanks,
gregg

That's what I was afraid of ... how do I get a default plug?

Ummm... check the user guide. Super easy to make one - jumper pins 4 and 6 of the timing port (with a connector and a piece of wire).
I didn't realize that disabling the Ethernet port (turning off the 802.3 Link) would prevent me from direct-connecting to the SM later

Hmmmm... what did you think disabling the Ethernet port would do? Again, check the user guide. :D


Aaron

Turning off the 802 link only disables the ability for the customer to connect to the SM and has no bearing on the RF link. I have no idea why you are having problems with this.

My only guess is that you need to make sure that the radio is configured to come up in operational mode before you disable the 802 link. Also, don’t use pulic IP’s in the SM’s - the web interface will lock up. If you have a radio you think you should be able to get to, try telnetting to it and reboot it.

The best part is, we haven’t been able to contact them and they haven’t called us… even with us sending 4-5 invoices and late dues to them.

So we drive out to their house on Saturday to see whats up… and we get the excuse “Oh, it hasn’t worked right from Day 1 and we’ve called dozens of times with no answer”.

So I check their usage… about 23 gig used over the course of 3.5 months. Niceee.

But, I do like the idea of giving them only 2-3k/s. That’s just plain mean =P


I don’t have much tolerance for people who play that kind of game - they are full of it and you know it. I’d call the NOC right then standing in the driveway, have them log into the AP and look at re-reg’s, SM’s uptime and Ethernet stats, usage, tech support history, etc. If they were lying to me I would not let them know it, I would just explain that poor connections on the network affect other users so it’s company policy that a connection that does not work correctly has to be removed and all of the customers’ payments refunded.

Watch how fast that conversation changes when they realize you just called their bluff. “Um, um, well, uh, maybe it hasn’t been so bad, uh, is thre anything you can do , uh, uh, there’s no other options, uh, uh”

Yeah, that’s what I thought sucker. At this point you can require that they pay all past due amounts (or some negotiated amount) and then your team will look at how to improve the connection.

If they really were having problems and not getting taken care of, then you can be a hero by taking care if it, and crediting the account. That will generate alot of good will. Of course if they really were calling and you are not answering the phone, then you have other problems to take care of.

Of course they may just let you pull it anyway in which case you get rid of a deadbeat customer.

Choking the connection rates is a double edge sword. It will in fact piss them off and you can get a little satisfaction from that (I would). The problem is that they will bad-mouth you about how is slower than dialup, blay, blah. The bad word isn’t worth it. I try not to let my inner-child cost my adult self money :slight_smile:

we had a major problem with people paying on time… always pushing the limits… although they always pay… it messes up our cash flow…

like Jerry disabling the ethernet link works fine. Never had an issue with it… and we do about 20/30 a month. Re-enable when they cough up…

we have a strict 14 day policy for normal users… business customers we are give some room to…

we just tell them that our accounts software automatically disables the links if the account is in arrears and there is nothing we can do…

if you decrease the bandwidth too low… you may have issues getting back into the SM

I find that most of the customers get used to bad habits… because we try to be nice to them… it just back fires…

We recently had a residential customer who was not paying and not returning phone calls. An hour after I disabled the Ethernet link his son called asking for tech support - his Internet was not working. I laughed. A week later we pulled the gear and two weeks after that they called and wanted a reinstall - we did it after a cash deposit.

We have a lot of commercial customers (gas and oil field companies) that can take up to 90 days to pay. The local telco (Telus) has some gear on one of our towers - they waffled for almost 9 months before paying the yearly lease. The next year is due in November, should be fun getting that out of them.

if you decrease the bandwidth too low… you may have issues getting back into the SM

That should not be the case no matter how low you set the bandwidth. The badwidth limits on the radio are only the rates that data will be passed at - you will still be able to get into the radio from the RF side and wired side.


Aaron

actually yes you do have to have it setup in operational mode for sure but if there computer is turned off for a long time the sm will go idle and will not let you in.

Example: just 2 days ago i put in a sm for a customer and it was a questionable link so i had to move it about 200 feet to his barn. And then i got like a 1350 rssi and a 3 jitter with -76.

So i decided to go with it but before i burry 200 foot of line or hang it i decided to plug it up in the barn and monitor it for a few days.

So with no computer hooked up i set it to power up in aim mode and left when i got home i logged into it just fine. but like the next day it just says idle and i can see his mac so i know its him.

so what i am trying to say with no ethernet activity it will go idle anyways after a while and not let you in even through luid. so just tell them to power cycle the sm and access it i guess.

with no ethernet activity it will go idle anyways after a while and not let you in even through luid

The only time the radio should go idle (I assume you mean it shows Idle in the Sessions page of the AP) is if it is not registered. I have a test radio that I have done nothing with but has been powered up with no Ethernet connection for 94 days - I can still access it via the LUID and I imagine I will be able to plug into that cable and access it as well.

All of that said, I don't set my radios up to "power up in aiming mode with no 802.3 link", but I thought that only lasted for 15 minutes and then it went into operational mode. :?: I could be wrong about this...


Aaron

you are correct about 15mins and also correct about units not going into idle state if there is no activity or if the ethernet is disabled or unplugged…

we do it all the time

well mine is 900 that shouldn’t make a difference i don’t guess but it does seem to happen to me i must have something wrong then somewhere.

and yes you are right about the 15 min but i don’t always have 15 min when i have them cycle the power i like to do it quick lol

just disable all traffic using the advanced network config, tick off all options on the packet fileters and the client will not be able to send traffic out of the radio.

Why do it the hard way, this way the radio will almost always come back up, other times the client usually gets pist off and unplugs it. Still it does save truck rolls.

Why is this so complicated?

Set the radio for Power up in Operation mode, turn off the 802 link, save, reboot. When it reboots it will re-register but the radio will not pass traffic.

Keep it simple and standard.

Since we use a linux router for all the clients, I have a web server configured to answer on port 81. It only serves one page, and that same page is the ErrorDocument. I block their traffic in the FORWARD table, and on the incoming side I port forward any port 80 traffic to the port 81 webserver on the router. The end result is that the customer can’t pass any traffic, but instead of them thinking that something is broken, they get this page no matter where they try to go with a web browser:



That way they know instantly what the problem is and we have had very good luck getting payment with this locking mechanism. We also have a page specific to TOS violations, although I haven’t had to use it yet.

Another benefit is this doesn’t require the radio to be rebooted. Instant on and off with a quick script.

thats cool…

I am working on a similar solution but not keen on deploying extra kit on customer site…

There’s nothing extra at the client site, just the canopy radio. This is all done on the (linux) router between the canopy network and the rest of my infrastructure. I’ll be glad to help if you have any specific questions about my particular implementation.

When I mentioned the linux router for all the clients, I meant at the head-end. One router for my the whole canopy network. I see now reading my previous post how that could be misread. Sorry for the ambiguity.

mmm… now that sounds interesting…

I will pm you