3Com Outdoor Bridge 3CRWEASYG73-US

[iolair]

I recently purchased two 3CRWEASYG73-US to replace two 3CRWEASY96A units that had been working until a week ago. The two older 3CRWEASY96A have taken several power and lightning hits, and were needing to be replaced, as they were failing intermittently. The two buildings I am connecting are 1/2 mile apart. I have installed the new antennas, but can not get them to communicate. I can ping each antenna from its respective LAN, but can not ping the remote LAN in either direction. I am getting an RSSI of 163, which 3Com's documentation says is good. So, it looks like the two antennas see each other, but will not pass packets, except maybe hello packets. I left most of the settings at default, but have tried all the possible distance, speed, and channel options with no luck. Any ideas and thoughts are appreciated.

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT

 

[iolair]

The rain finally came through and wiped out this connection. Does anyone know if there will ever be a reliable wireless building to building device? Thanks.

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT

 

[dput]

We have had good luck with Proxim wireless bridges. Been running them for 5 years. We replaced one of our bridges with an Exalt Unit. So far (5 months) it has also worked well. Finally we run some Cisco bridging using 1200 AP's and those have been reliable. I strongly believe that to have this technology work reliably, you need to have knowledgeable, qualified people doing the installation and maintenance. We bring in outside people.

Dan

 

[iolair]

Ah - that must be it. I've been trying to do it myself. I wonder if I could get training on it, or if this is something like the telephone system - only insiders can get that info. Thanks for the feedback. I'm assuming weather doesn't really affect what you're doing?

Thanks.

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT

 

[TreyJ]

Proxim works well. Motorola Canopy units work well also. We have both solutions running, although the Proxim gear is rebranded Western Multiplex.

Check out Tessco's website. They have many different brands of wireless gear for different needs.

 

[dput]

Weather does not affect our equipment.

Dan

 

[iolair]

Thanks. Do either of you know if the length of cable to the antenna would have any effect on the transmission?

Iolair

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT

 

[dput]

Yes, the longer the run, the thicker the cable must be.

Dan

 

[iolair]

Okay, I'm using Cat5 for the run, should it be maybe shielded Cat5E or something else? Thanks.

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT

 

[wirelesspro]

Proxim and Motorola products are both excellent. For a lower cost option you cannot beat the Repeatit devices. We have used them extensively for customers for a number of years. I am not sure if they are available in the US, if not we have also used the Tranzeo client/ap devices very successfully.

JR

Jeremy Rollinson
Wireless LAN Source Ltd.

http://www.wlansource.co.uk

 

[iolair]

Thanks again. I'm getting frustrated spending all my time on this one user, when others are waiting to be serviced. Thanks for all your help.

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT

 

[TreyJ]

I think your best bet would be the Motorola Canopy solution or even the new Cisco 11n bridges. They both run power over ethernet. You can use outdoor cat5 cable.

 

[iolair]

I will check on both of those. I have some Cisco experience, so that might be a good choice.

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT