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Your Customers' Equipment

Members of the ISP-Wireless list discuss a conundrum of Wi-Fi deployment: indoor radios are cheaper but outdoor radios are closer to the antenna and should be more efficient and convenient.

[October 24, 2001]

On the ISP-Wireless list in October, CW asked,

"Which do you prefer: indoor or outdoor Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)?

I like the outdoor concept, but I don't want to deal with the hassle of an outdoor enclosure for the CPE. Most WLAN gear was manufactured for indoor use, and doesn't have the tolerance for extreme temperature ranges. Power over Ethernet solutions seem to start at $50, and then you need to add the cost of a NEMA box with some type of climate control.

I'm a big fan of putting the radio near the antenna to eliminate loss and shorten the cable run; I'm also a big fan of driving CPE costs as low as possible. Any thoughts?"

A number of respondents argued for the cost-effectiveness of indoor units:

[BN offered] "We like the outdoor units, but most of our installs are indoors. One very important thing for us is in the buildings and warehouses where we don't want to mess with the electric; then Power over Ethernet is good for us. But the cheapest CPE is always going to be indoors."

[TM agreed] "Our goal is to put as little outdoors as possible. Antenna, cable, and ground outdoors, radio connected indoors, and an Ethernet run to the router or switch. Keep the outdoor equipment as simple as possible: easier maintenance, and less chance of error or failure."

Others observed that keeping things outdoors is easier in the long run:

[MA advised] "Keep as much as possible outdoors and as high as possible: away from the user, their kids, their pets, etc. It makes things a bit more expensive, but you end up with just one small, simple box inside the house."

[DM agreed] "And you don't have to drill a large hole for the coax."

[MS noted] "I've not yet had any weather-related issues with any of my outdoor units."

[DW added] "I see having too much equipment inside to be a problem. Suppose the customer stops paying his/her bill? Okay, you can shut off the connection, but then how do you get the equipment back? If it's outside, you can just go pull it off."

Some respondents suggested that grabbing your equipment isn't the best way to handle nonpayment:

[CW warned] "I'm not so sure about the legality of that, but I'm just guessing. That's what security deposits and credit card numbers are for."

[TM agreed] "When we deploy to the client, they secure their connection with an upfront deposit. It's roughly the equivalent of the cost of the antenna, cable, and radio. If they do not return the equipment, there's just no refund at termination of service."

—End