[464] in Resnet-Forum
Re: Wireless networking in residence halls
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (gary flynn)
Mon Feb 6 16:58:47 1995
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 16:17:39 -0500
From: gary flynn <gary@habanero.jmu.edu>
To: GPALMER@coe.edu, resnet-forum@MIT.EDU
We are using AT&T Wavelan and Karlbridge equipment in two
places. One is a point to point link using Karlbridges with
WaveLAN cards installed. Its been very reliable. The only
time my SNMP manager ever saw a problem was during a
snowstorm. I can't say for sure what the problem was but
when the weather cleared the problem went away. It may
have been snow on the antenna or it may have been
the difusing effect on the signal. It was over the
weekend and noone works in that building so we didn't come
in to troubleshoot.
We also are using an omnidirectional setup for a building
where we couldn't drill through the floor to get to
the floor above. We have a Karlbridge on the first floor
with an Omnidirectional antenna. Two or three stations
are on the floor above and they are working fine.
We've had no trouble with the equipment. The point to
point system has been installed since Spring. The
omnidirectional system has only been installed since
fall.
The rated speed is 2 MBPS. Our point to point link is
faster than our 4 MBPS broadband over ethernet plant.
I thinks its because its a dedicated channel. Using
the omnidirectional equipment should make it more of
a shared media and performance will probably drop off.
Solectek had brochures at ComNet about a new product that
allows you to create something similar to cellular phones.
The access points create cells in which a user can roam.
I think conventional setups assign a "network" number to
each access point and the clients or other end of a
point to point link must have the same network number
to communicate. I like the roaming idea but I haven't
acualally used it.
One disadvantage of using WaveLAN technology in a
Residence Hall would be price. Our students complain
about $90 ethernet cards. We wouldn't have any
sign-ups if we told them they cost $695. Of course,
if you're willing to buy them for them....
The other disadvantage would be speed if a lot
of stations share the bandwidth. It would probably
be OK for telnet, Mosaic, etc. particularly through
a campus Internet connection that would help throttle
the data flow. But on-campus file server access, heavy
file transfers, "network game" playing, WFW/AppleShare/NFS disk
exports, etc. would probably tax the bandwidth. If a student
was familiar with ethernet performance they might be
a bit upset.
My off-hand feeling on this would be to stick with wire.
Its faster, cheaper, and can be upgraded to new technologies to
be even faster. I don't think you'll see 100 MBPS wireless
in the near future. We only use wireless in temporary buildings.
Gary Flynn
Telecommunications Network Supervisor
James Madison University
