Ubiquiti Alternative

[rebelwireless]

So I have a tower guy that is in the Hospital and I just had to go help put in (well upgrade from NanoBridge to AC 500mm) a private PTP link for a high end customer.

I am really thinking I like Rocket AC Lite for PTP links over the AF5X.

Less than $100 per radio vs $350 and the AC radios can get 300 Mbps in both direction with 40 MHz whereas the AF5X can not seem to touch that and you have to specify that damn duty cycle and with my network I do not know which direction I need the speed in.

I was just talking with my CTO for my WISP and thinking we are going to swap out our AF5X radios for Rocket AC Lite radios.

I definitely hear what you're saying. AF5X does have some perks, it does better in DFS bands, it does have a better bits/hz...

But that damn static duty cycle kills. If you have a ring and the primary direction goes down, you are probably at 25% capacity because the duty cycle is exactly backwards.

latency is a lot more stable with AF5X than RocketAC units though :/

[Digitexwireless]

ePMP is such a better product for a noisy environment. The AC is great if the spectrum is quiet, but in a metro setting, where is that possible. We just received our first ePMP 2000 and i cannot wait to deploy it on a noisy water tower. Unlike UBNT, the ePMP client modems will connect to both 1000 and 2000 APs. Frequency reuse is another big one for me. i can almost always find two 20 MHz channels, it is very difficult to find 4 or 6. If everyone was using shielding, then the spectrum would not be so crowded.

UBNT is a cheap and inexpensive solution. It works when tuned correctly but so many do not understand the Quality and Capacity. When my guys install Cambium PMP450 or ePMP and we usually never truck-roll again to the customer. The certification classes for UBNT are a joke. I could have passed the certs without taking the class. And don't get me started on UBNT releasing equipment with only beta or release candidates available. Are you kidding me! We purchased our first UBNT AC PTMP sector and client to test when it became available. Beta software running it and beta was the only thing available. After 2 months of testing we disconnected it and put it in the corner of a store room. In its place is a ePMP 1000 unit and it has 35 customers on it humming away.

Just my two cents, but if people (i included) would refuse to purchase their equipment until it is actually ready for market, maybe UBNT would not make us the guinea pigs. We certainly are not getting a cheaper rate for testing and finding the bugs in the equipment. All the while the customers are upset because of spotty service.

Now I really like the performance of the AirFiber line, although the interface on the slave is ridiculous. How about Auto on the slave like Mimosa. Works fine.

Cambium is a better product in my opinion and the advantage of the AC over N is so rare, it is just not worth it. Cambium support is incredible and they seem to listen to their customers.

Tommy

[sirhc]

Be Careful with epmp 2000 as far as Flow Control.

If you run into a problem where the NEtonix seems locked up unplug the epmp 2000 and plug it back in and all is good.

We are investigating it but they too may have a FLow Control issue like the AFX radios.

Its very similar results but yet different and we are still investigating, there was also a MT router in the mix so we are looking at that as well as the possible cause but we had the customer disable Flow Control on the port facing the epmp 2000 and 3 weeks no issues.

INVESTIGATION IN PROCESS

[rebelwireless]

Easy to second the complaint about ubiquiti's fenominally stupid beta firmware 'system'

That said, I feel that AirMAX 'M gear is just as good, maybe better, than epmp unless you need sync. The AC is really great in clean spectrum, if you can find it. It's service us really well in rural environments.

I did a full demo of cambium gear. I found some items a bit better, others similar enough. We are primarily rural and that's where ubiquiti shines. Go urban, and the game changes a bit.

I'm not touching cambium ever again though. We simply do not have these truck roll issues etc etc that people like to dog on ubiquiti about. Our disconnected radios are overwhelmingly customer power plug disconnects. Paying 2x-3x more per sub and 4x-5x per AP just isn't going to happen for the minimal gains.

Looking forward to some more data to come in about mimosa in urban deployments though.

[mike99]

What turns me off on the whole PMP line is the ridiculous licensing structure.

I agree but ePMP don't have the bandwith licencing by SM like PMP line. The GPS AP is around 500$ so the introduced a light licence for 10 devices or less at around half the price with possibility to unlock to full licence. That probably mean that AP should cost less but until somebody else have a working GPS sync on PtMP line ...

We are primarily rural and that's where ubiquiti shines.

Must disagre on this one. I think where GPS sync shine is in rural area with few competition since you can control interference between your own radio. In urban noisy environnement, interference mitigation like airPrism, HyPure, beam forming or beam steering is needed but in rural area without competition, GPS sync mean more radios, more towers, etc. Maybe in plains, it's less needed but in woody areas, that usefull since you must often multiply towers to cover the whole area.

[rebelwireless]

I think the tall tower / long reach model is fading, so I don't even try to build out fully stacked towers. Most sites have no frequency issues at all and their coverage area is 'small' with well under <100sq miles. Out in our parts, that real estate is cheap/free and smaller service areas make for smaller antennas, easier installs, and faster speeds.

Only in urban areas where real estate is difficult to come by and expensive is there much of a reason to have to reuse a lot of spectrum.