Anyone have Fixed Wireless?
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@MikeSmithsBrain said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
How would you rate it vs. Fiber?
Not good at all compared to a solid wired connection (fiber, copper, whatever). You're adding a lot of complexity and getting a poorer result. Also adding to the list of devices in the chain, which increases your chances of failure.
If you absolutely have to use it, go for it. It does work, and pretty well these days.
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@Dashrender I think he is referring to using it with an ISP, not building to building.
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@wrx7m said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
@Dashrender I think he is referring to using it with an ISP, not building to building.
If that's the case - then I wouldn't do it either. While you really don't have any additional points of failure than you had before, as the OP mentions, the potential to blame that wireless link and not the ISP is just to high. If you control both sides of the link, then you can see for yourself what the throughput is, what latency over the link is, etc. But if the ISP has one side and you the other, you have no eyes inside (granted you don't with fiber either, but again I point to the mention in the OP).
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We have it at one location and it has its issues now and again but as a solution for bad ADSL i.e under 512k it's a good solution but I would never say it's a option long term.
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@hobbit666 said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
We have it at one location and it has its issues now and again but as a solution for bad ADSL i.e under 512k it's a good solution but I would never say it's a option long term.
I wonder what made it so bad. You can get amazing fixed wireless. There is fixed wireless behind most fiber implementations.
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@scottalanmiller said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
@hobbit666 said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
We have it at one location and it has its issues now and again but as a solution for bad ADSL i.e under 512k it's a good solution but I would never say it's a option long term.
I wonder what made it so bad. You can get amazing fixed wireless. There is fixed wireless behind most fiber implementations.
Wireless is much easier to do poorly than wired.
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We have our own fixed wireless, pair of Ubiquiti AirFibre 24's connecting 2 buildings about 1/2 mile apart, on towers @50ft. So far even during electrical storms we have had NO issues with dropped packets or sync loss, even with tower sway in the winds. Now, our past winter was not as snowy as a normal winter so I am not sure yet how it will behave when we get one of our infamous lake effect storms but so far absolutely no issues. Key was having a professional radio company actually do the installation and line up of the dishes where they had 1 guy on each tower and 1 ground guy at each site to assist with line up.
Locally, we have a fixed wireless ISP that offers traditional Internet, MPLS, and IPVPN services. I know one of the service/operations managers there and he says most issues be traced to bad alignment of the antenna (wind over time twists the mounts causing mis-alignment) or customers not getting enough height (rather not PAYING for enough height) to clear limitations like trees. Works well in the winter when no leaves, but come spring and summer the leaves deflect the signal and speeds drop. Any fixed wireless needs an annual look-see to make sure clamps are still tight and alignment is still ok. -
@JaredBusch said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
Fiber is susceptible to backhoes, while fixed wireless is not (generally).
The first wireless bridge I built was for a paving company. They wanted to connect their repair shop about 200 yards away to their main office. I said well since you have all the digging equipment, fiber is the obvious answer. They said, well we've hit fiber optic lines before and that's kind of bad word around here. What are our other options? So in went the wireless bridge.
I know a successful wireless ISP and basically in his part of the country it's cost prohibitive to get copper, let alone fiber, to his customers.
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@Mike-Davis said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
I know a successful wireless ISP and basically in his part of the country it's cost prohibitive to get copper, let alone fiber, to his customers.
I have worked with a successful fixed wireless company in the past as well. it is most certainly a good solution as long as it is done correctly. Not really any different than any other solution. Do it right and it works well.
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@JaredBusch said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
@Mike-Davis said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
I know a successful wireless ISP and basically in his part of the country it's cost prohibitive to get copper, let alone fiber, to his customers.
I have worked with a successful fixed wireless company in the past as well. it is most certainly a good solution as long as it is done correctly. Not really any different than any other solution. Do it right and it works well.
Exactly. It's almost all about the ISP in question, not the technology itself.
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@scottalanmiller said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
@JaredBusch said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
@Mike-Davis said in Anyone have Fixed Wireless?:
I know a successful wireless ISP and basically in his part of the country it's cost prohibitive to get copper, let alone fiber, to his customers.
I have worked with a successful fixed wireless company in the past as well. it is most certainly a good solution as long as it is done correctly. Not really any different than any other solution. Do it right and it works well.
Exactly. It's almost all about the ISP in question, not the technology itself.
And to clarify for the naysayers. The ISP includes the installation.
