ePMP 1000 with Force 200 AP mode

Hello,

We purchased an ePMP 1000 with a Force 200 with the thought that we could provide wifi to multiple clients about 2000ft away.

The main issue is that I'm unable to get the Force 200 to broadcast the SSID.  

I found the updated firmware and have loaded that.  so know i'm at ver 5.3.2

I believe my problem is that the Force 200 is 5 GHz but wifi 2.4GHz

basic settings are active.  I have factory defaulted the unit.

Radio mode is set to Access Point, Driver Mode is set to Standard Wifi

SSID is set to "TestSSID", MAx Registration is set to 120, Max Range is set to 3, Channel Brandwidth is set to 40MHz

Hi John,

use a 20 mhz channel, and make sure its centered on a common wifi channel.   these units are meant to use wifi as a temporary feature to migrate other platforms to the epmp access platform, thats not natively wifi.    not advisable to run them this way.   the epmp connectorized and integrated radios can be re-flashed with the cnpilot firmware and will run MUCH better. 

5ghz is commonly used for wifi, but not all devices support it, or all 5ghz bands.  the narrow beam of the force 200 makes it a less than ideal choice to give wifi coverage over a given area unless its very narrow straight line.    its a great radio, but its designed to make a very tight pencil beam traveling from point a to point b.   its also able to reach ERIP powers that can damage devices in close proximity to it (ie older cellphones).  

here are the purpose-built wifi products:

https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/products/wifi/cnpilot-e700-enterprise-outdoor/

https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/products/wifi/outdoor-wi-fi/

https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/products/wifi/cnpilot-e500-enterprise-outdoor/

you can also reflash these products to be purpose-built wifi gear:

https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/products/epmp/connectorized-radio/  

if you go thise route, you'll need to pick a sector antenna as well.  you can purchase dual pol sectors and use 2 of these radios, 1 for 5ghz, and 1 for 2.4 ghz. 

the 2000 foot part, thats a problem for wifi.  it's not impossible, but the problem is them talking back to you. generally, 2000 feet is too far.   a high gain sector with a radio tx power set to 15 to 18db will give you the best real-world result for that.    

an AP that can talk really loud can still show full signal, but the device can't talk back

example:

a cell phone with a 2db antenna, and 15db tx power, gives you a total of 17db ERIP VS a powerful radio like the force 200 that can tx at 30db, plus 25db gain can land at 55db erip (this isn't legal usually, and can damage devices close to it)   

in this real world example, you've ended up with a device, the cell phone who can hear the force200 at -60, while the force 200 hears it at neg 88 (unusable)  but the phone will you should you full bars (if you get it to show up on the device)

a better match will be a sector antenna and connectorized radio with a lowered tx power to more match your devices so when the device indicates low signal, that will be similar to your uplink power as well.   

2000 feet is usually not reliable or quick unless there is no noise or directional higher gain antennas being used.   even with a solid sector, and the 1000 radios re-flashed, in most situations you'll have a poor experience to most devices. 

Thanks for the great responce.

I know about a few of thouse issues with the cell phone not being able to respond back.

cnpilot - what would i gain by loading this firmware?  and would it be the cnPilot-R200P_4.4-R7_201809070815.bin that works with my Force 200?

I changed it to 20MHz, It still doesn't show up on me phone.


@johne5 wrote:

Thanks for the great responce.

I know about a few of thouse issues with the cell phone not being able to respond back.

cnpilot - what would i gain by loading this firmware?  and would it be the cnPilot-R200P_4.4-R7_201809070815.bin that works with my Force 200?

the cnpilot firmware for the epmp1000 radio can be loaded only on the 1000 connectorized radios, and the interated CPE.  no other devices. 

the force 200 cannot be loaded with that firmware.  its not the right tool for the job in this case.   

that firmware is purpose written for wifi,  the wifi option in the Force series, and standard epmp firmware is ment as a transistary tool and lacks a lot of wifi features you will likely find usful in the pilot software.  like forced roaming,  airtime fairness etc.       the TDD mode in the force series is where 99% of the development time is spent, standard wifi likely won't expand its feature sets anytime soon. 

2 things on the frequncy. you'll need to lookup the standward wifi channels.  those radios are able to use standard and non standard.  2nd lookup your phone and make sure it can read 5ghz.  many 2 to 3 year old and older models cannot. 

@5825 @ 20 mhz would be a standard defined channel where as 5820 may not work for most devices even though they are both an option for you.    

here is the list. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

u-nii-3 is the most commonly supported. 

I changed it to 20MHz, It still doesn't show up on me phone.

as a caution, for testing while your near the dish, use a negative tx power, like -5 db.