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PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 8:24 pm

Is it possible to use a Pc/Router with wireless card and use it as basestation?
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:17 pm

Is it possible to use a Pc/Router with wireless card and use it as basestation?
Sure
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:20 pm

I guess a Pc could manage more and more clients than a base station
Correct?
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 10:01 pm

Wrong, it's more a limitation of wireless in general.
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 10:05 pm

Could you explain?
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 10:27 pm

Using PCs as routers/base stations - this is the origin, where RouterOS comes from. There were times, when the only possibility to use RouterOS was to install it on a x86 PC. Later came RouterBoards.

Using a powerful PC with RouterOS makes sense when you want to do a lot of queueing or firewalling.
A PC won't help you with wireless efficiency - the wireless protocols are the limitation and they stay the same, no matter what platform you use. Especially when it comes to pure 802.11.
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 10:49 pm

I thought pc because I am afraid that base stations could not manage 250 customers for each sectorial antenna (for example)
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 10:52 pm

A PC won't manage so many clients too.
I guess you should use more sectors, narrow angle sectors.
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 10:56 pm

What do you suggest for 200-250customers for each Ap?
8- 45degrees
6- 60degrees
I actually use 4-90degrees

I was doubtful about adding more APs due to Rf noise and self interferences because 5ghz channels are not all free, many of them are already used
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Fri Oct 31, 2014 11:12 pm

You want to connect 250 clients to one sector or to one tower (with many sectors)?

I would suggest 8 sectors. 250/8~=30 customers per radio interface. That's possible, with NV2 can be quite efficient.
I once managed a tower with 8 sectors + 5 point-to-point links to other towers. The spectrum was also occupied (by other ISP's), but the radios worked properly. I used a couple of RB433's and a RB800 with typical 802.11a 100mW cards.
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Sat Nov 01, 2014 8:19 pm

You want to connect 250 clients to one sector or to one tower (with many sectors)?

I would suggest 8 sectors. 250/8~=30 customers per radio interface. That's possible, with NV2 can be quite efficient.
I once managed a tower with 8 sectors + 5 point-to-point links to other towers. The spectrum was also occupied (by other ISP's), but the radios worked properly. I used a couple of RB433's and a RB800 with typical 802.11a 100mW cards.
Do you suggest this number (30) due to your experience? Why would happen if I add more customers?
for example 40 customers is too high?
thanks again
 
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Re: PC - Router as basestation

Sat Nov 01, 2014 11:30 pm

Some people here claim to have ~70 customers using NV2 on radios like NetMetal. And I guess it's possible in a carefully and professionaly maintained network, but I have never acheived that much.

I have observed problems when having more than 30 clients on one interface, but the signal parameters varied a lot (some clients were received at -50 dBm, and some at -80). It was hard to expect anything extraordinary.

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