[Commotion-discuss] Picostation mesh with APs

[Josh Harle]

Hi All,

Okay, I've made peace with the fact I'll need to get more Picostations.
I've tested just connecting the data connections between a Commotion
wireless node and a stock ubiquiti firmware Pico, and they worked okay,
with the right bridging configuration for the AP.  I've added the AP to the
static DHCP list for the mesh node, so I can access its configuration
without problems.



Kind Regards,

Dr Josh Harle
____________________
http://joshharle.com
http://tacticalspace.org
ph: +61 (0)491 155 985

On 4 March 2015 at 01:25, Ryan Gerety <gerety at opentechinstitute.org> wrote:

>
> We experienced the same issue while setting up a 10 node network recently.
> We turned off the access points on all the rooftop/mesh nodes, and
> connected a cheap access point router (running standard firmware).  The
> Commotion node’s LAN port is plugged into the WAN port of the Access Point.
> In many cases this is best anyways -- since you either want good internal
> coverage (dragging an ethernet cable inside) or you want to provide an
> access point for many people outside (so you might want multiple access
> points). Our wireless engineer is currently writing up documentation to
> recommend that people dont use a router as both an access point and mesh.
>
> I agree with Adam that this is just an unfortunate limitation of wireless.
>
> Another option is a dual radio is something like this:
> https://commotionwireless.net/blog/2014/11/05/do-it-yourself-antennas-for-community-networks/
>
> Best,
> Ryan
>
>
> _____________________________________
> Senior Field Analyst, Open Technology Institute
> New America Foundation
> 1899 L St., N.W., Suite 400
> Washington, DC 20036
> +1 202 492 8841 (c)
>
>
>
> On Mar 3, 2015, at 9:02 AM, Josh Harle wrote:
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I've been installing 20 picostation M2HPs in a town to try to set up a
> mesh network, partially based on the "Building Pop-up Mesh Networks"
> article.
> >
> > I've found that when I have a handful of mesh nodes, if more than just
> one of them has an access point interface enabled, the ETX goes from about
> 1 to somewhere between 5 and 7!
> >
> > I've been talking to Adam Longwill about this, who has found similar
> behaviour.  I don't understand how to mitigate this.  Isn't it expected
> behaviour to have all nodes as APs too?  How do I get area coverage with
> WiFi client access?
> >
> > It seems to impact performance so much to have more than one AP turned
> on in the network that the only thing I can think of is to have one
> Picostation for mesh, connected to one souly for AP on another channel.
> >
> > I would be hugely greatful for advice on this: I'm in a remote Aussie
> town for just a couple of days trying to troubleshoot this.
> >
> > Kind Regards,
> >
> > Dr Josh Harle
> > ____________________
> > http://joshharle.com
> > http://tacticalspace.org
> > ph: +61 (0)491 155 985
> > _______________________________________________
> > Commotion-discuss mailing list
> > Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss
>
>
>
>
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