900 MHz Non Line of Sight Link

... where 2.4 GHz and 5GHz failed

As you know, we like to test our gear in real-world situations. So when our new 12 dBi MIMO 900MHz antennas arrived we decided to put them to the test.

There is not much point in testing 900 MHz gear in clear Line of Sight (cLOS), so we found a suitable non Line of Sight (nLOS).

The results speak for themsleves - 900MHz worked where 2.4 and 5 GHz failed completely.

Click image to enlarge

Our nLOS test path: Distance: 500m Path: 2 brick walls (not shown), and 11 trees

Results: 5GHz: No connection with 2 x Nanostation M5 2.4GHz: No connection with 2 x Nanostation M2 900 MHz: 2.3 Mbps connection with 2 x RocketM900 and 2 x 12 dBi MIMO antennas

More UniFi Options

The big news this month is the expanded range of UniFi options. But first lets summarise the two main types of Ubiquiti software.

• AirOs. This is Ubiquiti's standard firmware for most of their products. It is ideal where you have one or more units; each with a different configuration. As an administrator, you can login to each unit with a web browser and configure as needed into a variety of modes including
  • AP (Access Point)
  • Station
  • WDS (for Point to Point links)
  • etc

The AirControl software can be used to manage a large number of AirOS devices.
 

• UniFi. This is Ubiquiti's newer software suite. It is ideal where you have a number of units; each with identical configurations and only used as APs. UniFi typically suits Schools, Companies, etc. As an administrator you can not login to the individual UniFi AP units. Instead - you define the configuration using the UniFi Controller software (Windows/MacOS/Linux) - and the Controler software makes sure all units use this common configuration.
  
  UniFi also supports WPA-Enterprise - where a large number of Username/Password pairs are accessed via a RADIUS server, multiple SSIDs, multiple VLANs, multiple authenication methods, Captive Portals, etc.

Until this month:

• AirOs only ran on AirOs hardware (Nanostations, PicoStations, etc), and
• UniFi only ran on the (indoor only) UniFi AP (UAP) 

But now ...

AirOs can be loaded in  to a UAP Applications: Indoor Ceiling or Wall mounted AP e.g. a Cafe or Office	UAP
UniFi can be loaded into an outdoor PicoM2HP (and maybe other Ubiquiti hardware soon) Applications: Outdoor UniFi e.g. Schools, companies, ...	PicoM2HP

 Contact Us for more information.

Tell us of Your Success

Do you have a WiFi success story you would like to share with other Freenet Antennas customers? If so email us the details and we might publish in our next newsletter.

 Zenien, a Perth based IT and CCTV Security organisation, recently successfully installed a CCTV system for a local council. Here is their report.

New Ubiquiti Firmware - V 5.3.2

Ubiquiti has just released V5.3.2 for use with their Wireless-N ("M") series products. Until now - we have not recommended any release since V5.2.1. We monitor the forums at Ubiquiti (including the Beta Test forum) and have seen too many posts like  Installed V5.x.x. All went bad .. reverting back to V5.2.1.

But now we are seeing posts like: 30 Units migrated to 5.3.2: Very significant increase in stability, CCQ calculations are much more accurate and much more stable.

Based on these reports - we are happy to recommend V5.3.2. Below are the release notes.

Download here

====================================================================
Version 5.3.2-Service Release (May 3, 2011)
----------------------------------------------

- New: AirRouter HP support
- New: Completely remove non 5.7-5.8 GHz frequency for US and Canada country code
- New: Auto Adjust to EIRP Limit replaces Remove Obey Regulatory Rules

Improvements/Change requests:

- Improvement: WPA/WPA2-TKIP security stability improvements in noisy environments
- Improvement: CCQ calculation
- Improvement: AirMax performance

Fixes:
- Fix: Possible memory corruption fix
- Fix: Return Channel Shifting for M900 and M365 products 
- Fix: Connectivity issues for some mobile devices
- Fix: Speed test and traffic shaper issue
- Fix: Invalid connection time (49,689 days) reporting issue  
- Fix: Send gratuitous ARP reply on bridge MAC change (when starting AirView)  
- Fix: MIC errors encountered in high interference case if aggregation is used
- Fix: PPPoE authentication doesn't work through STA bridge with some routers 
- Fix: Multicast routing does not work in SOHO-Router mode  

- GUI fix: Hide "Auto Adjust to EIRP Limit" checkbox for Compliance test country code 
- GUI fix: Disabling "Enable Installer EIRP Control" option, when "Auto Adjust to EIRP Limit" isn't enabled, allows to apply settings without any real changes 
- GUI fix: Change warning message, when turning off "Installer EIRP Control" 
- GUI fix: Under IE Stations list table header text should not be wrapped 
- GUI fix: Site Survey doesn't return scan results in 10 MHz channel width
- GUI fix: Enable Discovery checkbox is not intuitive under "AirControl", move under Service menu 
- GUI fix: Report allowed port range when configuring System services  
- GUI fix: Site survey does not always return scan results 
- GUI fix: Ad hoc device mode in Site survey returns symbols  
- GUI fix: Strange TX/RX values in throughput graphic under IE9 

- Fix: AirControl agent: Incorrect WLAN connection count reporting 
- Fix: AirControl agent: Invalid wlanUptime reporting 

Recommended Firmware

Each month we will update this table.