Hello, I have several wireless AP and clients, they are connected on 5 and 2.4ghz band, obviously, since their distance is variable, I have very variable signal strenghts, from -50 to -85dbm; now I am asking to the members of this forum one question: what is the minimum signal for you to consider a link GOOD ( stable ) or not?
is -83dbm on 5ghz acceptable ( around 25km link distance) ? Yes I know, with a CM9 I am running often at 18 Mbit and the traffic flowing into the link is about a dsl connection ( around 4Mbit ) so it will be sufficient but in case of rain? I think it is marginal, what do you think, please post your experience.
many thanks
Alessandro - Italy
although >-80 is “workable” … you should always aim to get the lowest rssi possible (duh) I suppose anything “above” or equal to -75 would be great, even excellent.
As for your 25 km link … what type of antennas are you using because -83 is real terrible in my books and perhaps can be improved. From the looks of things I doubt you have a good enough fade margin to withstand brief periods of heavy rain, etc.
Also when dealing with a ptmp scenario you should always try to eliminate the hidden node issue by ensuring that all clients can connect with an acceptable signal ( as noted above ) it either involves using a high gain antenna (preferred) or a higher powered (be warned) radio. And another useful thing would be to keep everyone at the same eirp / or in some cases rssi (although a bit impractal, it helps ), that would clean things up a great deal.
Regards.