Long-Distance WiFi Device

[W32PAMELA]

Originally Posted by richardhula

Now had chance to use IE8 to view Bullet's setup menu. Sadly it still requires MAC address of selected station to to be entered manually.

Fairly sure now this is not a browser issue, & can only think there was a regression in latest firmware or it hasn't been fully implemented with the Bullet M.

Other than your report I haven't seen any reports of IE8 having a problem and have tested it with my own BM2 without a problem. I am running 5.2.1-rc.

[richardhula]

Didn't realise there was a newer fw Bob, albeit RC. As you mentioned before, very much WIP.

Upgraded fw (again) to v5.21rc build 6194 from v5.2 build 5132 & issue resolved. Pleasantly surprised that I didn't loose my settings either although I had backed them up.

With both Opera & IE8, I can leave the lock to MAC field empty when selecting AP & fw doesn't object.

[richardhula]

Having purchased a Ubiquiti Bullet & found little recent info on setting one up from scratch, have written the following guide. Hopefully this will allow others to avoid the pitfalls I have had to endure.

Its written to provide basic setup instructions for Bullet M2HP (802.11 b/g/n compatible) to use as long range WiFi device connected via LAN adaptor to PC or feeding a local WiFi Access Point, with DHCP enabled. The instructions will probably serve anyone setting up a Bullet 2HP as well.

Will add screen shots later.

[hellosailor]

Richard-
Using the LAN gateway at 192.168.1.20 as the DNS server also ??

[richardhula]

Yes to match factory/shipped IP & enable initial setup, Bullet acts as DNS server.

[hellosailor]

Interesting, and quite different from the typical home router--which specifies the ISPs own DNS server or another outside service. I wonder why they do that? And if there's other firmware redirecting it for some reason?

[richardhula]

I'm no Network engineer as you can probably tell, but the instructions I gave work. I spent four hours trying to get connected only to find firmware as shipped was causing a big issue. No connection button against security enabled AP's.

I found no help anywhere on the web with this particular issue & discovered the answer almost by accident.

This is my way for saving others from the heartache. The advice is gleaned from a variety of sources & merely compiled by myself.

Attached are illustrated instructions (with fewer typo's)

[Beausoleil]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Interesting, and quite different from the typical home router--which specifies the ISPs own DNS server or another outside service. I wonder why they do that? And if there's other firmware redirecting it for some reason?

Typical home wireless routers with NAT will almost always by default advertise themselves as a DNS server through DHCP, rather than your ISP's actual DNS server address(es). The DNS process in the router acts as a caching-only DNS server, and handles DNS requests on behalf of the PCs on the private side (LAN side) of it.

On the other hand, most all of them will allow you to override that setting, and manually specify one or more DNS server addresses. It will then advertise that address via DHCP when your client PC's start up and send out a DHCP request for network configuration. I like to use OpenDNS, whose main servers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

Using OpenDNS' servers used to be a way around some wireless ISP's signup pages, as they used to use DNS re-direction as a cheap way to force you to sign up, rather than using a commercial wireless infrastructure with proper security. Nowadays, as prices have dropped, you don't find that kind of "fake" security/authentication anymore...

[neener3]

Well, after all these great posts plus reviews in Practical Sailor I'm leaning toward Rogue Wave or Bitstorm BadBoy for wifi (both Bullet-based) - but not sure whether to add something to pull in 3G phone service. Is there much along the coast or will the wifi work better in anchorages and marinas? Planning on this year's HaHa and staying down for 6-10 months.

[colemj]

Rogue Wave - $370-$425 (range of dealers and prices) and unsuitable antenna for use on a boat (+$120 to get same antenna as badboy)

Badboy - $227 and decent antenna

These are identical hardware sans antenna - seems like an easy choice between the two...

Another option for the same system is from Islandtimepc for $239

Mark

[richardhula]

Originally Posted by colemj

Rogue Wave - $370-$425 (range of dealers and prices) and unsuitable antenna for use on a boat (+$120 to get same antenna as badboy)

Badboy - $227 and decent antenna

These are identical hardware sans antenna - seems like an easy choice between the two...

Another option for the same system is from Islandtimepc for $239

Mark

OR buy:

Bullet 2HP for $74
12dB gain Omni-directional antenna for $45 (this includes ally bracket & U bolts)
POE injector for $4
Suitable length of screened Cat 5e cable with RJ45 connectors - say $12
Patch cable - say $4 (if you haven't already got one)

High spec DIY system for $139 - an even easier choice

For the same price you could buy the Bullet M2HP and have latest 802.11n compatibility as well as 802.11b/g

[colemj]

Originally Posted by richardhula

For the same price you could buy the Bullet M2HP and have latest 802.11n compatibility as well as 802.11b/g

The n-specification will be useless in cruising application for many years to come. By the time commercial (and even private) AP's have widespread n capabilities, there will be newer/better hardware to take advantage of them.

The Bullet M2HP has worse performance on the b and g bands (which are the bands you will find in use while cruising) than the Bullet 2HP.

I stayed away from addressing the cost of DIY (which is the way I did it) because the customer and technical support associated with buying a commercial system is valuable to most people. But you are correct on the cost difference (although you forgot shipping costs, which add up for multiple items).

Mark

[ArmyChief]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I'm rocking the Alfa with a 32' usb cable. Works terrific.

Rebel Heart - Sailing, cruising, liveaboard blog and website - Eric's Blog - long range wifi for the*boat

Yup..nice device

[W32PAMELA]

Richard,

Nice job on the Bullet Setup Document. My only comments are that when setting the static IP on the computer it is unnecessary to enter a "Default gateway" and "preferred DNS server" address.

Setting the static IP and then going back to automatic DHCP can be avoided completely by using ubiquitis "Discovery Utility" which can be found on their Support page.

All you have to do is plug in your Bullet, wait about 90 seconds for the Bullet to boot and your computer to give itself a self-assigned IP (169.254.xxx.xxx). Bring up the discovery utility, right click on the bullet IP, select "details", highlite the self-assigned IP and click the "WebUI" button.

The discovery utility is also useful if you want to set your Bullet as a bridge rather than a router. It will tell you what IP has been assigned to the Bullet and you can use this IP in your browser to connect to the Bullet.

[off-the-grid]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I'm rocking the Alfa with a 32' usb cable. Works terrific.

Same here, although I'm using it with that Engenius antenna recommended about 100 pages back, and only about a 15' run. I'm picking up tons of networks that are all over a mile away, even when I have it sitting on the table.