Spectrum results - Is this any good?

[Sadiek]

Hello Team

I am busy testing the A5-14 and did some Spectrum tests on the A5 after I mounted it on the apex of our office about 5m from the ground. Can anyone just comment on the attached pics and let me know if this is any good. I also ran a survey test and have attached the results as well.

I would like to know if we can expect issue after we deploy as we are looking at servicing about 44 clients as a start which is within the 300m - 500m radius of our office.

We would like to provide a better service as the residence in the area has been complaining about poor performance and speeds from their current respective WISP.

We are also looking at using just Mimosa products.

Thank you guys in advance.

[William5]

Do you know how far away the Ubiquiti equipment is from you?

The noise isn’t horrible, especially if that Ubiquiti equipment is pretty close. Then again, you are going to fight with noise from that Ubiquiti equipment. You might want to have a chat with your competitors about maybe sharing spectrum so everyone isn’t stepping on each other’s toes, especially because you will be using equipment that has incompatible GPS timing w/ theirs.

I have ran Mimosa and Ubiquiti equipment on the same tower, luckily for me I was in control of all the equipment so I could channel plan to my hearts desire. Mimosa equipment has much better filtering and doesn’t make as much noise outside of the channel it is using compared to Ubiquiti equipment. (At least that is my experience and thoughts)

In your current situation, I wouldn’t recommend using the A5-14 for all 40 clients. While it will perform alright for a few customers and you are benefiting from not having to shoot very far, you will run into issues with finding channels that are clear for all your clients. Probably your best option would be a couple A5c combined with horn antennas. While the cost per AP will be higher, you will lessen the noise your APs are hearing and maximize the signals you are getting to/from your customers.

I would also recommend using the C5x combined with really high gained antenna, that will allow you to use really low TX powers so you minimize the noise you make while still keeping ~-40 dB signal strengths.

With that combo, you will be limiting your noise issues a lot and still have really high signal strengths. That will minimize the number of issues you will run into. That said, you will have to be really good about making sure you align your C5xs well. Play around with the Mimosa Link Planner tool a bit and check to make sure you can get within 3 dB of what is predicted, match your chains and you will maximize your MCS numbers which will really make your life easy.

[Sadiek]

@William5 … The SSID’s named

• All AP with Wembley or Wem in the name is about 460m away
• ErnestAP and Rylands is about 500m away
• Quds is about 1.6km away and
• www.comtel.co.za are all outside the 500m radius but not further then 1km

I am also using the C5x with a 25dBi antenna to test with the A5-14.

We are hoping to end up with 44 clients within a year or less then that, but we will start small. We are also looking at providing 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30Mbps download speed packages. Our supplier can supply us with a 100Mbps whitch is a PtP Broadband Layer 2 or Layer 3 Licensed Spectrum link.

You suggested we should look at the A5c… do we use that as is or should we add the N5-360 to get the 360degree affect.

I hope that answers your question.

Thank you for your valuable input.

[Christopher]

How can you say that doesn’t look bad? That spectrum looks horrible. I wouldn’t even waste my time personally. Put up some 60 Ghz gear or run fiber.

[Sadiek]

@Christopher… Thank you for your input. If fibre was an option we would have put all our clients on fibre but that is not an option as yet.

@DustinS… Hi Dustin, what is your views around this?

[William5]

I am taking into account that @Sadiek is using a 360 degree antenna. If the Ubiquiti equipment is not very close to him then yes, he is also going to run into issues because the Ubiquiti equipment is probably being run over EIRP limits.

That said, @Christopher, ya. 60 GHz isn’t a bad option. I have liked the Mikrotik equipment I have used so far, but Ignitenet hasn’t treated me wrong either.

[DustinS]

This is rough, but it’s doable. As long as your clients have C5x radios with 25dBi antennas, and you deploy within a close proximity, this will work ok. You need to maintain your SNR levels. 5170 and 5840 look to have a noise floor of -70dBm. As long as your clients are -45 or better, you should have little to no issues providing great service to your customerbase.

[William5]

The A5c doesn’t have an antenna built in, unlike the A5-14, you have to pair it with an antenna(s). You “could” use the A5c with the N5-360, that would give you more gain on the AP side, but I was talking about using the A5c with more directional antennas.

Here is a link to Double Radius and their stock of RF Element Horns: https://www.doubleradius.com/Manufacturers/Horn-Antennas/ I have really liked the Asymmetrical Horns I have used, but the symmetrical ones will work if your on a tight budget. The benefit of Horns is that they don’t pickup/make as much noise as compared to other antenna designs, effectively you will be minimizing the noise your AP is hearing.

I don’t think the A5c comes with cables, so you would have to order them as well. But that is only a couple extra bucks per AP.

So instead of 1 AP to cover all 40 odd clients you would have 2-3 to cover the clients depending on how wide of beam widths you used and how many directions from your Point of Presence you have to cover. I would go for as narrow as you can go so that you can minimize the external noise your AP hears, but that will increase your costs so it’s down to the cost/benefit analysis.

In summery: You should figure out where from your AP’s location you are expecting customers and what density they will have. From there I recommend using narrower beamed antennas (horns) to minimize the noise you are picking up and lower your customers per AP. This increases your costs, but will help to minimize your noise issues in the long run (thereby increasing the performance of your clients).

That or you go with 60 GHz, which has it’s own issues to deal with. (Significant Rain fade, low CPE to AP ratios, different manufactures, etc.)

[Sadiek]

@DustinS thank you for your input. We actually did a line of sight test at my brother house on Sunday which is about 310m from the MicroPop. Using a C5x with a 25Bi antenna and the G2 with the mobile app got a signal jumping between -53 to -43 for the duration we were on the roof.

I will do some more testing and call about the team if I need more assistance, Thank you all for your inputs.