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Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?

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Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?

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Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-04 08:53:35
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Hi there I've just setup a new EAP110-outdoor. It was fitted to the top of our roof.
It has very poor range, drops out at around 30-40mts with a clear line of site.
What do most people get for range?
I've tried different devices also.
It actually has worse range than our Telstra (network provider) technicolor modem wifi router.
It's all installed correctly as far as I can see.
I gave it a separate SSID to compare both channels and the inside techniccolor wifi router gives a better range out side than the EAP110-outdoor!
I'm sure it must be faulty, I've tried network cables with it connected directly to the power injector but no difference.
I've called TP-link but I just got a link to update the firmware - but it's current.
Any thoughts / help appreciated.
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#1
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18 Reply
Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-05 00:30:03
80 to 100m is the usual (directional) range of an EAP110-Outdoor in 802.11n mode @ 20MHz channel width, yielding up to 200m radius.
But it also depends on the client device's antennas and WiFi mode.
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#2
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Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-05 08:25:47

R1D2 wrote

80 to 100m is the usual (directional) range of an EAP110-Outdoor in 802.11n mode @ 20MHz channel width, yielding up to 200m radius.
But it also depends on the client device's antennas and WiFi mode.


Nice one thanks for the reply.
I must have a faulty unit, as mine is worse than the internal Wi-Fi router.
If I remove the antenna's it doesn't seem to make any difference to the signal so maybe the internal connection is faulty.
Any chance the power injector might be faulty? I don't have another one to try. Any tests I could do - multi meter for volts?
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#3
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Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-05 14:21:43
Hi Claypot,

1. I recommend to deploy it a little bit lower. Because if you installed the EAP110-Outdoor on the roof top, the horizontal plane of the wireless signal are in totally different level of your device.
The EAP110-Outdoor's antenna is designed to give a higher gain in the horizontal direction, so the gain on the elevation direction is not that much.
If your AP and your device are in a totally different level, the coverage effect will drop obviously.

2. Since you have mentioned that with and without the antenna, the gain is the same.
Firstly, if EAP110-Outdoor work without the antenna, it definitely can't give a 30 meters coverage.
Secondly, the test report shows that in clear outdoor environment, the EAP110-Outdoor can give a coverage radius of 200m maximum.

So please check if you have install the antenna correctly, and the EAP has got enough power.
And if possible, reinstall the EAP110-Outdoor at the approximately same horizontal level as your wireless clients.

Regards
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Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-05 18:19:38

Saber wrote


1. I recommend to deploy it a little bit lower. Because if you installed the EAP110-Outdoor on the roof top, the horizontal plane of the wireless signal are in totally different level of your device.


Depends on the height of the building. With typical elevation of dipoles the gain on the E plane is lower at distances of a few meters to the antenna only, but not so much at larger distances. See the antenna pattern below. Much more important is the modulation scheme: 802.11n gives you roughly twice the distance as 802.11b/g outdoor.



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#5
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Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-06 02:59:39

claypot wrote


Any chance the power injector might be faulty? I don't have another one to try. Any tests I could do - multi meter for volts?


If the power injector would be faulty, the device wouldn't start at all.

As for testing signal strength: use a WiFi Analyzer (such as the free WiFiAnalyzer app for Android from farproc) and compare signals with and w/o antennas. It should look like this - different colors only due to a restart of the app:








Significant difference in signal strength at a factor of more than 10^3! And even without antennas the EAP110-Outdoor's signal is better as the indoor WiFi's signal on channel 1, but a little weaker than that of the indoor WiFi on channel 13.
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#6
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Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-06 08:01:40

R1D2 wrote

If the power injector would be faulty, the device wouldn't start at all.

As for testing signal strength: use a WiFi Analyzer (such as the free WiFiAnalyzer app for Android from farproc) and compare signals with and w/o antennas. It should look like this - different colors only due to a restart of the app:







Significant difference in signal strength at a factor of more than 10^3! And even without antennas the EAP110-Outdoor's signal is better as the indoor WiFi's signal on channel 1, but a little weaker than that of the indoor WiFi on channel 13.


Hi there, thanks for the reply and help.
I did notice when installing the antennas that the internal thread didn't seem to be secured and kept turning freely when screwing the antennas on. Perhaps the internal antenna connection is faulty. I don't recall seeing a difference with the antenna's off, but will have to check again as I've tested it that many times now! It's back on the roof so will go and try again.

The screenshot is of the tp-link and the technicolor next to each other and the wifi aniliser 1mt away from both (antennas fitted)
File:
Wifi.JPGDownload
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#7
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Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-06 08:39:36

claypot wrote


I did notice when installing the antennas that the internal thread didn't seem to be secured and kept turning freely when screwing the antennas on.


Could be possible. But since the antennas have no hinge, they are not critical regarding the outer cover. It most certainly is just a socket with a suitable antenna wire mounted on it, covered by an outdoor case into which the socket is pressed. If you fix it too tight, it could keep turning around the socket. Just fix it sturdily (sp? I mean not too much pressure, but so that it has good contact). As for the plug on the EAP110-Outdoor case: I have not opened it yet, but since it is similar to the WBS210 housing, the antenna plugs are almost certainly soldered on the PCB, not wired.

Just curious: what kind of antenna (in terms of dBi) does the technicolor use? And are you located in the U.S.? As for the EAP110-Outdoor it is a 5dBi antenna and therefore legal limit in the U.S. for EIRP is 20dBm (much like elsewhere, 100mW), but antennas with more than 6dBi gain are allowed higher EIRP according to the FCC, since they most often have a more directional radiation pattern. If the techniclor's antenna is a 10dBi antenna for example, this could explain a higher signal strength such as shown in your screenshot.


The screenshot is of the tp-link and the technicolor next to each other and the wifi aniliser 1mt away from both (antennas fitted)


Choose another channel for one of the AP's to compare their signal strength against each other, since you are measuring a pulsed signal and the analyzer shows a mean value over time. A distance of 1-2m is o.k. to compare with/without antenna's signal strength of the EAP110-Outdoor alone to see wether the antennas might be probably damaged.
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Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-06 11:39:34

R1D2 wrote



Just curious: what kind of antenna (in terms of dBi) does the technicolor use? And are you located in the U.S.? As for the EAP110-Outdoor it is a 5dBi antenna and therefore legal limit in the U.S. for EIRP is 20dBm (much like elsewhere, 100mW), but antennas with more than 6dBi gain are allowed higher EIRP according to the FCC, since they most often have a more directional radiation pattern. If the techniclor's antenna is a 10dBi antenna for example, this could explain a higher signal strength such as shown in your screenshot.



Choose another channel for one of the AP's to compare their signal strength against each other, since you are measuring a pulsed signal and the analyzer shows a mean value over time. A distance of 1-2m is o.k. to compare with/without antenna's signal strength of the EAP110-Outdoor alone to see wether the antennas might be probably damaged.


I'm in Australia
The technicolor is also known as a Thompson TG799vac, from the specs I could find:
File:
wifi specs.JPGDownload
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#9
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Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-06 11:53:34
Here are some screenshots of antenna removal.
I was less than a meter away from the EAP on the roof.
The signal seemed to get better when the first antenna was removed.
An interesting find was to get -20 dbm I had to have my phone touching the EAP.
IronGate is the EAP,
File:
both antennas.JPGDownload
1 anntenna removed.JPGDownload
both antennas removed.JPGDownload
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#10
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Re:Poor range on new EAP110-outdoor, what is normal range?
2017-09-06 19:40:33
Seems to me, that antennas of the EAP110-Outdoor are o.k. As for the lower signal with two antennas compared to only one: the mean value shown by the WiFi Analyzer can change sporadically, it's not an exact measurement those tools can provide. I guess that your phone's antenna is the weak point in the link.
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