Senao/Engenius

Apr 17, 2007 22 Replies

Is there a specific reason why I never see the Senao/Engenius gear never recommended here ?



There are many questions here that the answer could be the Senao/Engenius equipment. $170 US for an outdoor (supposedly) 400 mW POE 802.11G bridge with an integrated antenna (8 or 16 dBi) is a one-piece solution that doesn't involve buying a NEMA box, or expensive coax, or separate directional antenna.



Is it THAT bad ?


DanS hath wroth:

Yes. See below.

The only products you see mentioned in this newsgroup are products that do *NOT* work. Those are the ones that people are having problems with. If you want to buy something that works, just find something that is never mentioned. I'm sure there are people out there using various products that have no questions, no problems, and no complaints. It's just that we never hear from them.

Jeff Liebermann wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

So by that logic, it's very good gear.

My Engenius adapter is truly awe-inspiring. Hot receiver and transmitter. Their techs. are here in the USA and not in the Philippines as are those of ,say ,LinkSys..Connect even with

1 db (relative) signal..Hard to believe!!

Possibly. If nobody asks any questions, complains, or violently denounces the manufacturer, then it's either a workable product that works the first time, or it's a total disaster which everyone returns and is then too embarrassed by the experience to comment about it. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. This is one of those odd situations where either extreme yields identical user reactions.

I'll jump in and say my two Senao access points both work great, only trouble is rather cryptic instructions and sometimes esoteric configs, but that just makes it more challenging. Overall, good stuff.

Once set up properly, which as the OP stated can seem like a blind walk, Senao/Engenius 200mw b and b/g AP/bridge radios are bulletproof and long range.

As bulletproof as old 500mw Proxim Rangelan2 radios, in fact.

We're talking years of trouble-free, reset-free operation.

Senao/Engenius card performance is more variable, though primarily due to the difficult to distinguish differences between desirable 200mw cards and visually similar low power cards. Just insist on the high power cards if you really need the range.

Airman Thunderbird wrote:

To Airman and News....

Thanks for your replies.

Of my most recent recollections, there was only one mention of the Senao/Engenius gear, and that was the guy on the boat that was having difficulties with it, but I think that was mostly his application since he was on an achored boat being moved around by the water.

It just seems to me to be an inexpensive, simple installation no-brainer for many of the 'can this be done ?' questions i've read here.

Regards,

DanS

News wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@Groups.com:

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:13:01 -0500, DanS wrote in :

It was mostly his uninformed hacking and unwillingness to follow advice on how to set it up; i.e., cockpit error, not the product.

Inexpensive and good, yes; simple, not necessarily, as documentation is mediocre.

On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:08:25 -0700, "jbyrd" wrote in :

Indeed. Not bloody likely either. :)

John Navas wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I must admit that the documentation is not very good, and have my doubts about support, but knowledgable people such as you and myself wouldn't have a problem.

The simple comment was intended toward's the physical part of it and a simple POE CAT5 run installation with no coax or separate antenna.

That may have been me. I've resolved my initial issues which were primarily due to cryptic documentation, and the gear is working fine. I use high gain omni directional antennas on the boat so swinging at anchor is not an issue. Under ideal conditions I've been able to reach outdoor APs 3 to 5 miles away.

(Engenius EOC-3220-EXT Outdoor Access Point or Client Bridge)

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The Senao 362-EXT is also a great little USB adapter for anyone looking for high power and a removable/external antenna.

That was not me.

Interestingly enough, the gentleman in question took off with his wife on their first voyage, and within two days found themselves 20 miles off course and parked on the rocks north of the Florida Keys.

Apparently also had problems with his GPS install....

On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:13:56 -0400, Wayne.B wrote in :

I didn't mean to suggest it was. Sorry if it seemed that way.

Sorry to hear that, although I can't say I'm terribly surprised.

On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:10:20 -0400, Wayne.B wrote in :

I think that was someone else.

There are many applications of these cards, and other than the fact that they are PCMCIA, which I regard a degree less stable than miniPCI, the are good gear. I've built a lot of open source WiFi access points with 200mW cards as the base radio.

Some 2nd hand cards we d> On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:08:25 -0700, "jbyrd" wrote

On 22 Apr 2007 16:44:07 -0700, c24 wrote in :

Why would you think PC Cards would be any less (or any more) stable than mini PCI cards? I'd say they are pretty much dead even.

p.s. Please don't switch posting styles (top vs bottom) in mid-thread

-- it makes the thread confusing and hard to follow. Thanks.

John Navas wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I kow you didn't bring up the PC Cards, but to be clear, I was speaking of the EOC-3220 & 3220 Plus. The outdoor ready stuff with POE.

From the searching I did do, it seemed to be driver issue's with the PC cards that showed the most problems.

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