Category: Wireless

United States-based WISP distributors

Posted on January 11, 2021 by j2sw — Leave a reply

The following is an extensive list of distributors who sell products related to the Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) space. This not a total list, but an extensive list. If you are not on this list or want to add your own description then donations are always welcome. It takes time to make these lists and there is nothing more motivating than some Paypal donations (https://paypal.me/j2sw).

ISP Supplies
Texas-based distributor carrying a big number of product lines such as Cambium, Mikrotik, Airspan, and many others
Baltic Networks
CTIconnect
Double Radius
FlyTec
Last Mile Gear
LinkTechs
Microcom
MultiLink
Roc Noc
StreakWave
Surplus Wireless Gear
TeleTronics
Tessco
Wav Wireless
WinnCom
WLANMall

Last Updated: 10 January 2020

Justin’s List of xISP vendors and resources

Posted on January 10, 2021 by j2sw — Leave a reply

I have been working on this list for a while. The following are vendors, manufacturers, and various companies I have dealt with in my career as an ISP owner and consultant. This is not a complete list by any means. These are companies I have dealt with personally and/or are sponsors of this site. Companies with the are ones that support this blog and I personally recommend. I don’t recommend them just because they support this blog, but because they provide a good product or service. If you would like to be included on this list please contact me as I am working on more detailed lists per category. This is a starting point for those looking to narrow down some focus of their research.

Distributors
ISP Supplies
Texas-based distributor carrying a big number of product lines such as Cambium, Mikrotik, Airspan, and many others

Baltic Networks
Chicagoland based distributor carrying product lines such as Mikrotik, Cambium, and others.

CTIconnect
Distributor of fixed wireless and telecommunications infrastructure for Internet Service Providers (ISP’s), Cable Operators, Telephone Companies

Double Radius

Billing
Azotel
Mature billing solution which can
manage all aspects of your ISP.

Sonar
Modern Billing software with many backend automation

VISP
Automation and control of your WISP customers

More Billing providers can be found at xISP billing platforms

Manufacturers
Baicells
LTE and CBRS based solutions

Cambium Networks
Manufacturer of fixed wireless products such as EMP, 450, and cnPilot wireless.

Mikrotik
Manufacturer of Mikrotik routers and RouterOS routing and switching products

Ubiquiti
Manufacturer of WISP and WIFI products. Product lines include AirFiber and Unifi.

Tower Related
TowerOne
Training and equipment to keep climbers and companies compliant and safe. Large selection of needed items such as Harnesses and rope related items for tower work.

Voice
Atheral
Unified communications with experts to help you migrate and stay compliant. Here is a link to a podcast I did with Ateral.

True IP Solutions
Unified communications solutions integrated
with access and camera solutions.

Training
Rick Frey
mikrotik training and certification as well
as consulting and integrations solutions

LinkTechs
Training on Mikrotik and distributor of related products

More info on training for the xISP

Supporting Services
TowerCoverage
RF Mapping and Modeling for tower sites and customer pre-qualification

Wireless Mapping
Radio Mapping, two-way radio, mark study information, and Municipal broadband.

IntelPath
Microwave and Millimeter Wavechannel procurement.

Organizations, web-sites, and groups
WISPA
Trade Organization supporting Wireless Internet Service Providers=

WISP Talk on Facebook

Cambium Users group on Facebook

YouTube Channels
TheBrothersWISP
Networking, ISP, and related topics

MSFixit

Did I forget you? Would you like to sponsor this blog and your name listed? Contact me for more information.

Video: ISP Design Pain Points and redundancy

Posted on July 30, 2020 by j2sw

Siklu Case study 80 GHZ Indianapolis Indiana

Posted on July 28, 2020 by j2sw

Some photos from a Siklu 80GHZ deployment in Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. This was deployed by On-Ramp Indiana (https://www.ori.net). The problem being solved is moving video files around a network in order to get it to smart screens and projectors. This is a very urban area and wireless was pretty much the only option to get from building to building.

Siklu 80GHZ was on the shortlist due to the distances involved. Another consideration was the footprint of the equipment. The equipment had to be as low profile as possible.

Another needed aspect of this network was the ability to move traffic around at layer 2. Not all traffic is IP based in this type of network.

Equipment used
Ether Haul 1200FX
https://www.siklu.com/product/etherhaul-kilo-series/

Right above the observation windows, you can see the Siklu just to the right of the center corner

Some technical Details

As you can see traffic is reasonably consistent in the 80-100 meg range. We needed a solution that did not slow down due to interference. A possible 10’s of thousands of visitors to this attraction in a weekend, reliability and performance were critical. When this was installed we did not know about COVID, but this is an attraction people can enjoy from their cars and social distancing. This use added to the visibility of this attraction, thus making the reliability even more crucial.

Articles about the finished product
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/monument-circle-get-new-light-show-time-holidays/531-ef1819ca-5f27-4886-9283-17e481c33f39

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/new-light-show-sound-system-entertain-monument-circle-visitors/531-576ce095-501c-41c6-913a-518a0cc05779

On-Ramp Indiana Contacts www.ori.net 317.774.2100

WISPs: IPv6 is the answer to some of your issues

Posted on July 13, 2020 by j2sw

Many Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs), especially newer startups, struggle with nat issues and having enough public Ip addresses to go around. Invariably, you start running into double nat issues pretty quickly. Then you get the dreaded gamer call:

Many times they don’t know why they are even calling. They just know the magic box is saying this is bad. This is related to how many layers of nat between your edge and them. Many times you are natting at the edge, then you are natting at the customer router. If you have multiple customers behind the same nat at the edge this compounds it even more.

So what is the fix? Give the customer public addresses. But IPv4 is hard to get! I didn’t say IPV4 I said public addresses. IPv6 is a public address. When given the choice between v4 and v6 most modern streaming and gaming platforms will prefer v6. Xbox has supported a protocol called Teredo for a long time. You can learn all about Teredo in this PDF. Basically, it is a tunnel in which the Xbox speaks ipv6 over the tunnel. The ISP does not have to support v6, which does away with the above-mentioned nat issues.

Great! I don’t have to worry about IPv6, Microsoft has it taken care of for me. There are two problems with this statement. Problem number one. There are more companies out there than Microsoft. Sony Playstation Online, Apple gaming, and Steam are just a few. Second, you have overhead of tunnels. In the world of who can pull the joystick quicker, milliseconds count. You don’t want them wasted in tunnel overhead. Plus, v6 is beneficial for other service such as Netflix.

Any other service that runs into port issues behind nat can be solved with Ipv6, This can be voip, cameras, and other type services. This is providing the product or service supports v6 addresses.

So what is an ISP to do?
Awhile back I put together a resource guide for ISPs. You can find it at https://blog.j2sw.com/networking/ipv6/ipv6-planning-and-implementation-resources-for-the-xisp/

PTP Backhaul Complete link kit #1

Posted on May 18, 2020 by j2sw

I have been asked a few times on what I would pick for a PTP link. here is what I would recommend as option #1. You can use the RF Elements link planner to judge how far you can go. If you want to dive deeper you can use the Cambium LinkPlanner, which is a download. This is an unlicensed 5GH link. if you want some real-world data on this link you can visit https://blog.j2sw.com/xisp/the-addition-of-rf-elements-horns-to-a-ptp550-link/

2x Cambium PTP 550
https://www.ispsupplies.com/Cambium-Networks-C050055H001A
PTP 550 Data Sheet

2x RF Elements Ultrahorn
https://www.ispsupplies.com/RF-Elements-UH-CC-5-24
Ultrahorn Data Sheet

4x LMR Jumpers
https://www.ispsupplies.com/NM-NM-L4-36

8x Cold Shrink
https://www.ispsupplies.com/COLDSHRINK-12MDN

There are several other distributors to buy from as well. I choose ISP supplies because they refer business to me and do not have a consulting program that competes with my services.

RF elements Asymmetrical horn antenna

Posted on April 22, 2020 by j2sw

Some pictures of the RF elements A Symmetrical horn and it’s components.

Horvath Communications offers free tower co-lo

Posted on March 29, 2020 by j2sw

In an effort to alleviate the ramifications of COVID-19, Horvath Towers V will be offering free tower co-location to rural broadband service providers for a period of six months.

“With so many families working and learning from home,” company President Jackie Horvath told Inside Towers, “the demand for wireless internet access has sky-rocketed. As such, we would like to partner with rural internet service providers to allow co-location on our tower assets on a temporary basis.”

Applications will be accepted between now and May 1. All inquiries are to be sent to ehorvath@horvathcommunications.com. As part of this program, the broadband provider will be responsible for the cost of installation and the equipment. The installation team must provide proper insurance before climbing the tower.

https://www.horvathcommunications.com/ has a map with a site list

AirFiber 4.10 is out

Posted on March 25, 2020 by j2sw

Important notes

Please update far end of a link before the near end
Please refresh browser cache when logging into a v4.1.0 unit for the first time
UNMS cannot upgrade airFiber firmware loaded with pre-beta8 firmware (i.e. -beta7, etc.)
If you are upgrading from pre-v4.0 software, your password (after upgrade) will be the first 8 characters of your pre v4.0 password. If you chose to downgrade, please ensure that your password is no longer than 8 characters or you will be locked out of your unit.

Features

Added additional modulation rates (3x, 5x, 7x, 9x, 11x)
Improved throughput capacity (improved modulation performance)
Added support for UNMS
Added telemetry reporting (optional)
Changes to support Apple SSL certificate location rules
Updated default https certificates validity for 18 years
Added Paraguay and Swaziland country codes
Telnet Server port number now displayed on Services tab when using default number (23)
Added alert box when Receive Target Power is enabled
Build number now shown in system tab
Firmware version now displayed with product ID (i.e AF11 vs AF09)
Assorted web changes to colors, initial login screens, updated EULA

Improvements

Manual browser refresh not required when upgrading FROM 4.1.0
Updated SNMP MIB

Bugfixes

Detect and recover from OTA management traffic lockup
Detect and recover from user traffic lockup
Fixed issue where capacity graph showed 2x capacity when there was no GPS signal at the timing master
Fixed issue where GPS process would use 100% of the CPU
Fixed issue where RF link would repeatedly reset if Ethernet port was disabled
Addressed issue with moving (jittery) labels around signal strength graph
Corrected conducted power reading when using Receive Target Power
Fixed issue with Carrier Drop Operation where unit would not come back if Block Data After Pulse was enabled
Fixed issue where disabling Management VLAN after upgrade from pre v4.0 could corrupt networking configuration
Fixed SNMP reporting of frequency (SNMP now reports frequencies in MHz)
Fixed Static IP gateway address usage (was ignored if configured with v4.0.x)
Fixed GUI issue where deleting link name and pasting in a replacement would not work

Known issues

If you are upgrading from pre-v4.0 software, your password (after upgrade) will be the first 8 characters of your pre v4.0 password. If you chose to downgrade, please ensure that your password is no longer than 8 characters or you will be locked out of your unit.

Official Page and Download links here

Compliance Test for LTU and AC gear

Posted on March 4, 2020 by j2sw