MSM422 performance? Much gain using external antennas?

[Maxxx]

Hello,

I'm considering buying a few of these APs.
But I'm a bit irritated by the fact that all your APs seem to have internal antennas only. Isn't that a big drawback performance wise?

I'd only use them inside small buildings.

In this case, would buying external antennas increase performance much or would you say that it's unnecessary?

Do you have any papers comparing actual "live" performance differences between your different wifi products and/or competing products?

Thanks for some info,

best regards,

Max

P.S. This thread has been moved from Communications, Wireless (Legacy ITRC forum) to MSM Series. -HP Forum Moderator

[Maxxx]

BTW: I contacted hp presales support about 3 weeks ago but never got any answer. This isn't a very good sign.

I wanted to know whether MSM422 is also covered by your life time warranty policy.
>> replacement of a faulty product next business day in regions where that's possible..

[Graeme White_1 · Accepted solution]

We have use 2 MSM422 in our marketing building.

We do not use the extra antennas, just the two that fold out (Comes with the unit)

One per floor, they cover the entire floor.

The floor is about 60m - 70m in length.

I have placed the AP in the center of the office.

We had to purchase 2 POE bricks, cant remember if it came with power adapters but with the POE bricks (or POE switch if you have) it works well.

Although with about 10 - 12 people sharing the AP its a bit sluggish as they are not all using 802.11n.

But for average office and ERP usage, it works ok.

[Maxxx]

Thanks a lot for your answer!

There come 2 antennas with the unit? I suppose they're for the b/g/a module?

Regarding the sluggishness: are only non-n users affected?

Do you run the AP in 5GHz mode for both n and a/b/g? And the n module.. do you run it in 5GHz or 2,4Ghz band?

Thank you!

[Maxxx]

I'd really like to see some comparisons with competing products regarding wifi performance.. but I didn't succeed in finding one..

Also it would be very interesting to compare 410 vs 422 performance.. and of course whether external antennas for the n module would increase coverage and performance inside buildings.

I'm asking myself whether those external connectors are just useful for strengthening and distributing the signal to the outside..

[Maxxx]

Sorry for the extra replies, but I didn't find any function to edit my posts..

I'd like to ask you whether there are many walls on your floors and if signal strength in N mode is a problem when you are far away.

[Graeme White_1]

Hi max

Sorry I was focused on my own MSM710 issue which is now solved :)

We have dry walling both upstairs and downstairs.

We only have 2 users upstairs using 802.11n

So, and I stand to be corrected on this, when you congigure each radio, when you select 802.11n, you cant use 802.11 b/g on that radio. so its either or but noth both.

So I decided to stick with 802.11b/g for both radio's.

But first prise would be everyone using 802.11n

I did not notice much difference when I was testing the connectivity last year. If I was at the far end of the floor or near, it was a strong connection.

We only noticed the impact of wifi vs cable when it came to installing software over the network.

Wifi was sluggish

I have asked our distibutor about adding the extra antennas and he says:
1. Adding high gain antenna's for indoors can boost signal strength indoors
2. You could add extra antenna's for outdoor coverage, like a workshop area, using the same AP
3. You can add Wall mount patch antenna to connect two buildings up, so an AP in either building with attached wall mount patch anntenna pointing at each other vs cable or fiber between the buildings.

[Graeme White_1]

Lots of spelling errors ha ha....dangnabit no button

[Maxxx]

Hi Graeme White,

thank you for your answer!
That was really helpful.

You said you stick with b/g. But why? Isn't the unit capable of running n in 5Ghz and b/g in 2,4GHz mode simultaneously or do I understand something completely wrong? :)

I really would like to see some comparisons about performance data..

[Graeme White_1]

Hi Max

I dont know, could be

For now I am focusing on getting it working with our MSM710 controller with AD authentication.

Once I have that out the way I will check the DUAL N b/g thing you mentioned.

We are using b/g because there are more b/g users than n users so at the time i went with what was "best" for the masses, thinking you could only use one or the other.

[Maxxx]

Hi Graeme,

Nice that you have a MSM170! That's not possible with my budget :(

Have you had different APs in use before those?

If so, which ones? And did you see any improvements in performance with your new 422s?

What I noticed is that the 5GHz band is much worse regarding signal strength in buildings through walls et.c. That's common knowledge of course, but I didn't think it was so bad. I tried that once using our b/g/a Lancom APs.

So I'm a bit afraid that N in 5GHz mode would be similar..

Otherwise it could be a big advantage since our office is plagued with interferences by foreign 2,4GHz APs..

[Graeme White_1]

Hi Max

over the years we have tried netgear, Linksys and Dlink AP.

The linksys units all died after a year or two and the rest followed or were not strong enough.

I am happy with the 422 so far, they have decent range and appear reliable plus the lifetime warranty is always a seller.

The 710 was purchased becaused I wanted to standardise on our AP's and our security policies and it was the easiest way.... but it is not that easy to configure the 710 if you not clued onnetworking, wifi security options and Windows Wifi configs.

I am still struggling but I am sure that once I figure it all out i'll tell the next guy it's so easy ha ha...mmmm we will see.

But I enjoy figuring things out myself

[Maxxx]

Hi,

"playing around" with the 710 sounds quite interesting, but frustrating the same time :D

I'd also like to have a controller (never ever had one), but that's a bit too big for my setup with only 2 units and it's far too expensive..

I wish you all the best and good luck with the 710 :)

Max