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On 4/12/09 4:18 PM, jay peltz wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:3D13C692-9F22-4F4D-8892-8BF9CA49EBCA@asis.com"
type="cite">I"m wondering if there are any recommendations for
wireless routers for an off grid application.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
The best firewall solution and the best wireless solution may not come
in the same box. I have a fair bit of experience in this area and can
say with reasonable certainty that the combination of <a
href="http://x-wrt.org/">X-Wrt</a> (a version of OpenWrt featuring a
vastly improved web interface) and commodity consumer hardware can work
quite well for basic office use.<br>
<br>
If you need real firewalling with usable traffic shaping (maintain your
VoIP quality even when several others are using the network) I think <a
href="http://pfsense.org/">pfSense</a> does a stellar job running
something like an <a href="http://pcengines.ch/alix.htm">Alix</a>
board. You can drop a quality mini-PCI radio (try Ubiquiti or Atheros)
into one of these and have something that will equal anything available
at any price on the commercial market. The receive sensitivity of
these is a good 10 dB better than the integrated Broadcom stuff in the
commodity boxes and that (not to mention their 400 mW or even higher
output capacity) can make a world of difference in marginal setups.<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:3D13C692-9F22-4F4D-8892-8BF9CA49EBCA@asis.com"
type="cite">I'm looking for something that A works, B efficient, and C
isn't an Apple.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
The little Linksys and related boxen draw about 4-5 W if I recall
correctly. My Alix 2d3 draws about 4-6W most of the time without
wireless, probably closer to 7-8W if I were to drop a card in there.
One caveat if you're looking at DC powering these: Almost all of them
max out at 24V input. That means 24V, <u>not</u> 25 or 26V (found out
the hard way.)<br>
<br>
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