MahlonS - Slashdot User

Campground WIFI design follow up 3

Submitted by

MahlonS

on Monday March 05, @09:22AM

MahlonS writes "In November I asked Slashdot to offer suggestions on the best technology to upgrade WIFI service in a campground. I received several valuable nuggets of info. After the IT guy for the company failed to provide a complete solution, the campers revolted. I used your info to propose a solution, and I was hired to design, oversee installation and configure a better network. Things are now running smoothly.
The IT guy installed 2 Ubiquity Bullets, one on the ISPs router, one 200' away, served by a pair of bridged Engenius 2611P. This covered about 25% of the park quite well. I added an Amped repeater at my site, about 800' away, which provided some service to my part of the park, but everything was still routed through one AP.
After reviewing all the sites Slashdotters referred me to, I proposed a mesh network built on Open-Mesh. I added 2 more 2611P bridges for backhaul and installed 2 more Bullets at those locations (IT had those on hand) to cover most of the park while we evaluated the mesh. I built a 4 node mesh net, evaluated, and found it very workable. I added 8 more mesh nodes, replacing the Bullets with mesh gateways.This is now stabilized with over 100 users per day passing about 8 GB up and down.
Part of my proposal included management tools which can be operated by non-technical campground staff. Since the Cloudtrax dashboard charts usage and provides the ability to block individual machines, staff can now control the network instead of just rebooting everything.
Thanks to Slashdot for pointing me toward this solution!"

Difficult campground wifi design 0

Submitted by

MahlonS

on Sunday November 20 2011, @01:02PM

MahlonS writes "I am a retired network hack wintering in my RV in a campground in southern GA. 3 years ago I reconfigured the wifi system to a marginal working ability, It's now ready for a serious upgrade prompted by a new cable net connection replacing a weak DSL. 5 dual radio HP Curve access points connect to a 6th via single or double radio hops (effectively a Wireless Distribution System) in heavily wooded space. Unidirectional antennas at the APs are placed on poles above the RVs, about 15 feet above ground. Primary hops are about 300 feet to 3 of the APs, secondary hops about the same. Signal measurements indicate that there is adequate RF between the access points. In 2008, average user count averaged about 30 users; newer devices (smart phones, etc) will likely increase that number (winter population total is about 80 RVs). While the old design worked OK when lightly loaded, I suspect that the single DSL line generated so many packet resends that the APs were flooded. APs are in water resistant enclosures. This is a quasi-State Park, so money is always an issue, but there is enough squawk from the user community that a modest budget might be approved
The main AP connects to an old Cisco router. Burying wire is frowned upon, due to shallow utilities, and campfire rings that float around the campsites sometimes melting TV cables. Since I'm not up on current wifi tech, are there solutions out there that would make this system work much better? (Resubmitted from https://slashdot.org/submission/1853742/difficult-campground-wifi-design )"

Difficult Campground WIFI design 1

Submitted by

MahlonS

on Friday November 18 2011, @11:05AM

MahlonS writes "I am a retired network hack wintering in my RV in a campground in southern GA. 3 years ago I reconfigured the wifi system to a marginal working ability, It now needs a serious upgrade, prompted by a new cable net connection replacing a DSL. 5 dual radio HP access points connect to a 6th via single or double radio hops in heavily wooded space. The main connect is an old Cisco router. Burying wire is frowned upon, due to shallow utilities. Since I'm not up on current wifi tech, are there solutions out there that would make this system work much better?"

AT&T sues Verizon over "Map for that" ads 0

Submitted by MahlonS on Wednesday November 04 2009, @01:42AM

MahlonS writes "AP is reporting on a suit filed in Northern Georgia in which AT&T claims that Verizon's "There's a Map for That" ads are misleading and amount to deceptive trade practices. AP's article is available here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ATT_VERIZON_LAWSUIT?SITE=KVUE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Verizon had already agreed to modify their original ad to include a tag line that voice and data services are available outside 3G coverage areas. Personally, I have my own evidence that Verizon's ad is misleading. At our summer home in Maine, Verizon's map claims full 3G coverage, but we rarely have voice coverage, even outdoors."