I have set up a Long Distance internet access point link with an RT-AC66u (802.11ac) that appears to work well.
This link covers ~ 1200' ( ~ 400 meters)from my ISP to the farm house(in a field). It seems to work fine & was not expensive( two free satellite dishes{ 26" dia.}, a plastic paint can, two 50' CAT-6 cables(up the tower), and one extension cord.). A Linksys AE3000 USB dongle is used at the house end of the 1200' link, sitting at the focus of the 2nd satellite dish.
The Linksys AE3000 is limited to ~ 300Mbps, and I am awaiting the Asus RT-53 (802.11ac) USB dongle. The only software I have tried is inSSIDer which indicates signal levels of ~ -65dBm for both 2.4 & 5 GHz. The Windows 7 WiFi parameter window indicates "Good Signal Strength", at 322Mbps rates, (although I do not trust that reading).
I do not yet know how{nor which parameters} to optimize the RT-AC66u router firmware settings (uploaded version .220, Asus), nor how to measure throughput correctly, and would appreciate help or suggestions from the Asus RT-AC66u guru's in this forum !
The cable modem is plugged into the RT-AC66u Asus router(via 50' of CAT6 cable going up the tower ~30'). I bolted the plastic Home Depot $5 paint bucket t the center of the 26" dish. The RT-AC66u router sits forward, in the paint bucket, at the lid, with the 3 router antennas pointed straight up(flush with the plastic paint bucket lid). This places the router antennas at the approx. dish focus, about 15" out from the center of the dish. One 1" hole in the plastic paint bucket allows the Cat-6 cables+ extension cord to reach the router.
If anyone has explicit info/instructions about what to do next to improve things, I would be appreciative. For instance:
1) I would like to increase power slightly from the default 80mW or chose the channels that would provide the highest available.
2) I wonder if I reduce the channel BW to 20MHz for both 2.4/5 G would this improve performance.
3) Glue modest heat sinks on the Tx radio chips ( which chips are these) ?
4) Firmware mods or parameter changes ??
So far with the existing set-up, I am getting internet and You-tube university lecture videos(sometimes with a bit of a delay). Would a small hard drive up in the paint bucket help video streaming ?
If anyone has any suggestions for testing software( free downloadable ) I will post the results and pictures of results.
I do hope to get the Asus RT-53 (802.11ac) USB dongle{when available} to see if this will improve throughput and data/video rates. It would be nice to see if 1Gbps rates are achievable.
rick
This link covers ~ 1200' ( ~ 400 meters)from my ISP to the farm house(in a field). It seems to work fine & was not expensive( two free satellite dishes{ 26" dia.}, a plastic paint can, two 50' CAT-6 cables(up the tower), and one extension cord.). A Linksys AE3000 USB dongle is used at the house end of the 1200' link, sitting at the focus of the 2nd satellite dish.
The Linksys AE3000 is limited to ~ 300Mbps, and I am awaiting the Asus RT-53 (802.11ac) USB dongle. The only software I have tried is inSSIDer which indicates signal levels of ~ -65dBm for both 2.4 & 5 GHz. The Windows 7 WiFi parameter window indicates "Good Signal Strength", at 322Mbps rates, (although I do not trust that reading).
I do not yet know how{nor which parameters} to optimize the RT-AC66u router firmware settings (uploaded version .220, Asus), nor how to measure throughput correctly, and would appreciate help or suggestions from the Asus RT-AC66u guru's in this forum !
The cable modem is plugged into the RT-AC66u Asus router(via 50' of CAT6 cable going up the tower ~30'). I bolted the plastic Home Depot $5 paint bucket t the center of the 26" dish. The RT-AC66u router sits forward, in the paint bucket, at the lid, with the 3 router antennas pointed straight up(flush with the plastic paint bucket lid). This places the router antennas at the approx. dish focus, about 15" out from the center of the dish. One 1" hole in the plastic paint bucket allows the Cat-6 cables+ extension cord to reach the router.
If anyone has explicit info/instructions about what to do next to improve things, I would be appreciative. For instance:
1) I would like to increase power slightly from the default 80mW or chose the channels that would provide the highest available.
2) I wonder if I reduce the channel BW to 20MHz for both 2.4/5 G would this improve performance.
3) Glue modest heat sinks on the Tx radio chips ( which chips are these) ?
4) Firmware mods or parameter changes ??
So far with the existing set-up, I am getting internet and You-tube university lecture videos(sometimes with a bit of a delay). Would a small hard drive up in the paint bucket help video streaming ?
If anyone has any suggestions for testing software( free downloadable ) I will post the results and pictures of results.
I do hope to get the Asus RT-53 (802.11ac) USB dongle{when available} to see if this will improve throughput and data/video rates. It would be nice to see if 1Gbps rates are achievable.
rick
