Wireless ISP/ITSP for Coperate clients, Help.

[Umar]

Hello,

I have just knowledge about connecting my laptop to wireless AP and nothing more about wireless connectivity like frequencies, bands, channels, antenna’s etc..; I need help in purchasing UBNT wireless equipments for my project.

An ISP and also ITSP (Internet Telephony Service Provider) headquarter and gateway located at center of a city, it has currently 30 clients running in Radius of 10km and expected more 10-15 clients in Radius of 15km, Currently they are connected to each other by local DSL provider, we want to switch each client on wireless, we want each connected to Main AP hooked up at roof of headquarter, each client requires bandwidth given below:-

Minimum Transfer: 256Kbps
Maximum Transfer: 2Mb

Minumum Receive: 512Kbps
Maximum Receive: 3Mb

Average Each Client Requirement:-

Avg. Transfer: 512Kbps
Avg. Receive: 512Kbps

We are ready to hookup bullets (or something else suggested) and external antennas at each client-side.

For above scenario I have some questions to ask, and will be thankful for answers

1) What will be the best AP which can fulfill above requirements and with which antenna type?
2) A Single AP hooked up at headquarters is enough or we have to hookup more AP’s at headquarter?
3) For example if AP antenna’s front side is pointed at south side, then will It cover only south side or all sides 380 Degrees ?
4) What tools are available to determine that line of sight is clear to AP.
5) If line of sight is not clear then what options do we have to connect client to AP.
6) What tools are available to check standing at client site that if we are under coverage of AP, and how we can check statistics of signals of AP if they are sufficient or not?
7) In Point to Multi Point Mode can a wireless devices like Laptops connect to AP?, if yes then how long a indoor-wireless-device go far from AP? And how we can extend range of AP for indoor-wireless-devices?
8 ) At maximum range of 50km what will be latency in between AP and client end? Latency depends on what conditions?
9) Which antenna manufacturer/provider you suggest/recommend?

Can you please give me some brief information about antenna, specifications, and which specifications must be kept in mind while choosing antenna

Thanks in Advance.
Umar.

[mlomaster]

All information given below is right if you have clear line of sight, other words, you can see base station antenna from client location. For given distances base station have to be at height of 20-30 meters and client equipment 7-10 from ground.

We use for this kind of setup Nanostation5.

They have internal sector antennas (30grad). Possible, that you need less than 12 of them :). But check price of sector antennas. Maybe sector with bullet will do better.

For long distance use lowest data rate, set manually. In this case 6Mbps. This give you 3Mbps of real life channel at maximum distance. In any case we use manually selected vertical or horizontal polarization. Base station and client equipment have another important tuning feature: Distance. This could be found in ADVANCED settings. For best performance, all devices in same segment: base station and client device have to be adjusted for same distance.
http://eliomil.ee/images/02.JPG

And, of cource clients from 5km distance and 50km distance could not be connected to the same base station!

Bullets could be used with some 12db ring antennas. Then you need less of base station equipment.

Client side have to see base station with signal level with minimum of 84db
http://eliomil.ee/images/01.JPG
Client side have to be configured as well with minimum rate - 6Mbps manually.
As client side hardware you should try "nanostaions", if signal is weak, instead of adding an external antenna, use "bullets" with directional 23db antennas.

Some people write books about how this all works. :D

Antennas to buy? Search them from suppliers close to your location.
For us is www.wifi-stock.com

Anyway, project that you described is hard one.

Good luck!