I will probably get yelled at for wanting to reject the newest greatest and use the obsolete, but is it possible to use the old wireless packages with the Mantbox ax 15s?
The reason I’m asking this is that we just bought some, because the Mantbox 15s and Mantbox 19s we would normally used are of course discontinued and no longer available. I work for a WISP, and we used them to connect client CPE’s.
It seems the new ax is not at all geared for WISP use, but rather for something like terrain coverage etc. (I might be wrong)
The setup is a complete pain, maybe if you use CAPSMAN it will be another matter, but all our AP’s have unique settings.
There are also a lot of small irritations, for example the lack of radio name display in the registration table, no longer able to do a quick mac-ping from the registration table etc that makes our life more difficult, but I guess we can learn to cope with that.
The biggest problem I have though is that seemingly you are now no longer able to use manual TX power mode. I know everyone will probably squeal that you are supposed to stick to regulatory domain anyway, and for short range applications thats OK, but we also do links to clients up to 20km away. Most of our clients are in rural settings, and we are the only affordable communication source. Also we operate partly in the SKA (Square Kilometre Array radio telescope) zone, and we need a permit from the Astronomy Management Authority for avery single radio transmitter in this zone. A lot of our links have been given a permit to operate at settings that would violate normal EIRP regulations, but are acceptable for the SKA.
Under the standard restrictions I cannot see how you can provide usable links to clients up to 20KM from a highsite. It is simply not economically feasible to use a PTP link for every client, or to build a new highsite for ever 2-3 clients.
I guess for now we would have to use Mant15s with Baseboxes, but I need to install a new sector on a highsite on Monday, and there is no way to get new equipment before then, our nearest supplier is 400km away. There is a client 16km away that I would have been able to connect fine with the old Mantboxes, but now I’m not sure that we will be able to provide a good enough connection.
Is there any way in wich I could either get more output power with the equipment as is, or a way to get it to work with older packages?
Also am I completely wrong in assuming this equipment is not very suitable for WISP use, or should we just learn to live with the new Wifi?
I’m really worried that everything we’ve used will be discontinued soon, and the replacements will not be suitable for our application.
Some things we found really usefull here in the quiet rural ares were for example were the LHG XL2 and SXT2GHnD, and now there is nothing to replace them with. Also the SXT sq5 HP were really usefull, actually our suppliers said they were best sellers, but also gone now.
I know its not probably not economical to manufacture products that the rest of the world dont need, but it seems wireless product are ever more geared toward faster speeds and shorter distances. But why do short wireless links if you can use fibre connections that will always beat wireless?
For me it is the areas with limited infrastructure that benefit the most from wireless links, but that is also where you need longer distances.
But enough complaints from me, any suggestions to help with my problem will be really appreciated.
Thanks