Motorola PMP 320

For some time, we have been looking for something that would replace our 2.4GHz access points. As a wireless ISP providing connectivity to rural and very small towns we rely on low cost solutions and up to now, in the unlicensed bands. That unlicensed area has become an issue as everyone and their brother have pounced on those bands for use. This includes cellular telcos to provide connectivity between their towers. As a result, that band has become so noisy it is all but unusable except in very remote areas. Now those very remote areas are far and few between. So, to provide quality service to our customers we are forced to look to other bands and technology. Enter the 3.65 light licensed band. This is so new to us, equipment is hard to find. At first you either find high end equipment which is not affordable by companies such as mine, or very basic equipment just out to try to enter the market early.

Now that very basic equipment tends to fill a gap, or want to. It may get you into the game early by occupying that band or channel quickly, supplying some type of service to the customer quickly and be somewhat cheaper allowing the company to install but maintain financial soundness. But being on that bleeding edge, there is a later cost. It doesn't perform as well as you would like and somewhere down the road you end up having to replace not only the tower equipment but also all of the customer equipment associated with that tower. Now another big expense to your company. We tested a couple of these, were disappointed in the performance but were considering purchasing because it provided some relief to the congestion or interference issues mentioned above. Now enter the Motorola PMP320.

First I want to qualify this by saying I have not been a huge fan of Motorola Canopy equipment in the past. We will leave it at that. But I attended a demo/presentation hosted by a wireless ISP and put on by Motorola reps about the PMP320. The morning was the usual slide presentation concerning the product, along with their new PTP product. Then we had a fine BBQ lunch followed by lets caravan out into the field and try some test shots. Thats where it got interesting.

The AP was located on a water tower and the SM was on about an 8 foot pole they carried around in a pickup truck. We went about 2 miles from the tower, shot through a tree then a tree trunk and got -60s and -70's with throughput in the 10 - 20 mb/s range. Ok better than the 2.4 stuff, so lets see more. We moved to about 3.5 miles and barely shooting over the top of a building with similar results as above. The shot basically knocked out the bottom half of the fresnel zone so I would have to say it was nice. 2.4GHz couldn't have performed that well. Then we moved about 4.5 miles out and this is where it got interesting.

We were at a high school shooting over a hill to the tower, not even close to being line of sight. Signal again in the -70s, download was in the mb/s teens with the uploads just under 5 mb/s. Now when we drove up there, I would have said it wasn't going to work at all. Then we moved to the other side of the school which put the shot from the SM into the side of the hill. Signal was -81 or so, download 4 mb/s and upload 2.5 mb/s. Looking at that shot, it shouldn't have worked at all. The SM shouldn't have associated with the tower and wouldn't have in 2.4. Now, even though we got that result, I wouldn't have installed there if it had been a customer sight. But the fact that it did what it did was very impressive.

So I guess I am sort of plugging Motorola here. And while the cost of it is higher than our 2.4GHz equipment, I think it is well worth the cost. It will provide our customers with much better service. We can actually put more customers on per AP than the 2.4 hardware. There is a higher cost per customer so it may take a bit longer for a company to realize a true return for the investment but consider the following. First, it is in an un-congested band. With that type of performance, you have fewer service calls. You provide better service. In our case, we have seen the type of internet use change from simple email/surfing use to more complex and demand such as voip, video etc use. So with this type of equipment, you have satisfied customers and realize a constant return. And that is what it is about. Competition is increasing so we need to provide that exceptional service.

I think it is a change in philosophy from we are the only service to we are the best and we can make some money along the way. Anyway, it was a very good day spent on a quality product which we are looking forward to using.