Wireless Mesh Networks To Go
Lately, I’ve been using Meraki Mesh routers to set up saturated WiFi environments on the fly at conferences and in small communities. Mesh technology has been floating on the tongues of wireless aficionados for close to a decade now. But until now, it’s either been a fantasy of what could be or an ultra-expensive reality.
Meraki is different. Meraki is not only an affordable technology, but it’s a simple and easy to use technology. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can set a Meraki wireless network up.
Straight out of the box, all you need are a few Meraki routers and an internet pipeline. Got DSL or Cable? Then you’re golden. You can set up a Meraki network for your entire block. Just connect one unit’s ethernet port via ethernet cable into your internet enabled router, give some electricity to the other Meraki routers, and so long as the routers can see each other, you’ve got a self-configured, self-healing wireless mesh network. It’s great for conferences where you need a saturated wireless environment, and it works well for wireless hotspots too because with several routers the signal gets sent out at a variety of angles, and you can get rid of the dreaded dead spot.
While it’s simple to set up, Meraki lets you fine tune, monitor and control your wireless network via a web GUI interface. You can rename the network, change the network’s wireless channel, setup a captive portal, and even enable the billing system to charge people for accessing your wireless network. Community-level ISPs anybody? Worried about bandwidth hogging? Not a problem. Meraki gives you the option of setting user-level bandwidth limits.
What excites me most about Meraki’s technology is that it puts the power of setting up wireless networks virtually anywhere, anytime in the hands of almost anybody. This has the potential to be a disruptive technology to the core.
So what are the limitations of Meraki? Well, for one, they are single radio units so bandwidth gets cut in half with each hop. That means that you shouldn’t have more than 4 hops between any Meraki router and the internet pipeline. While it’s possible to cover an entire block with a single internet connection, it wouldn’t be easy to cover much more.
Currently, I’m working to setup a Meraki network that spans over 90 blocks. That means we’ll need about 90 DSL connections to make the project work. The cheapest business class DSL we can find in our area is $69.99/month per line, so that translates into well over $6,000. Not cheap.
One thing we’d like to see from Meraki going into the future is a solution for larger scale projects. This would involve making a more powerful outdoor unit than the current 60mW version.
Despite the negatives, Meraki has to be congratulated for putting together such a fine product that actually works straight out of the box with zero configuration. Not only that, but they’ve truly upped the ante by including a feature rich Admin Dashboard for each network that allows complete control over each unit. From map mashups to pinging to router restarting to bandwidth control and billing, Meraki has what it takes to make dead spots a thing of the past.
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Comments / What do you think?
May 1st, 2007
I am also interested in building a large scale wireless mesh network, so I read the above text with great interest. On the problem of scaling things up, have you considered a directional antenna/block that goes to a take out point serving several blocks? Meraki claims that their radio goes 30km reliably in some central American remote school application. I know http://www.streakwave.com in San Jose has such antennas. Also, I have a question for you. How far apart have you been able to place the Meraki units? Does every neighbor need to have one, or can it be every 3rd or 4th?
Thanks,
-bob
May 1st, 2007
It can be every 3rd or 4th if you’re lucky. It all depends on placement near windows, etc.
Most of the time I find that I’m doing ever 3 houses just fine.
May 1st, 2007
O.K., in my application, most of the units would be mounted outdoors. I have found in my very limited testing so far that WiFi propagation through structures is poor, but that 300+ feet seems possible outdoors. Has that been your experience as well?
May 1st, 2007
Depends on the antenna and power of the radio. We cover a good 3 bocks to the laptop with a 300mW and 12dBI omni.
The Meraki units are only 60mW and I think the omnis are something like 2dBI.
But of course, if the units are placed outdoors you get much better coverage and should get 300ft to the laptop very easily, and probably something more like 1000+ feet between Meraki units.
August 30th, 2007
My jobs are computers, and I often forget very simple stuff that will get you connected to wireless on mac. I wrote about that on my site’s forum http://www.citycomparator.com/forum/index.php/topic,5.0.html
Hope this helps
January 2nd, 2008
Hi, is ethernet ADSL modem has the same function as the ethernet router. I have a Speedstream 4100. I want to build a a small network. Thanks.
August 20th, 2008
I am looking to set up a wireless solution between my neighbor’s house and my house (~1500′) using a pair of 2.4 GHz radios with built-in routers. I was able to prove, using two hi-gain antennas with a pair of altered Linksys routers, that I can get a good signal between our homes. Obviously, the Linksys solution is not a good, all-weather, PoE option. My church uses the outdoor Meraki, but I’m wondering if I can use my own directional antenna to get higher gain?
October 16th, 2008
I have set-up WiFi hot spots and have learned all the in’s and out’s of mesh technology and how feasible it truly is. I have tried several different solutions and the fact is none of the products have the technology to have a system that can sustain multiple repeating without bandwidth degradation or the ability to provide seamless transfer throughout the entire mesh network. True seamless transfer is when you can drive through the range of multiple mesh nodes, and as you get out of range from one and in range of another, the internet is never lost and transfers seamlessly. if you want a large area (City Wide) mesh network with seamless transfer, true mesh network with one internet feed, then I am your man! I can take a single 1.5Mbps feed and set-up a wireless mesh network 802.11 b/g that has one SSID for many, many square miles and even city wide (40+square miles). Because I have had to spend tons of money and many hours of time learning and coming up with the ultimate solution to the problem of successful mesh engineering with seamless transfer, I do not share my secret, i offer my services and will come build a system for anyone will to pay for it. Also the WiFi hots spot AP’s I use have a 600mw radio with a 15dbl omni antenna with an outdoor range of 1000 ft. with standard laptop wifi card.
High quality solutions and the engineering experience it takes is what I offer. If anyone is interested in a large area seamless mesh networks, call me at:
Jon Healy
DTG
480-467-9895