I guess while this Issue is fresh, I will add some of my own:
ISSUE 1:
In one of our situations, we deployed all Lucent hardware and built a WISP
using Turbocell as backhaul only to later decided to
upgrade the last hop (PtMP) to Turbocell as well by using Karlnet software in
all our Equipment, and replacing numerous PCMCIA+PCI
clients with the RG-1000 based SEC. (This was do to network problems with
hidden nodes.) Problem is that this is now a live
network, and there isn't 100 trucks ready to roll, so we originally planned to
install the Karnet BINs, but keep the network in
802.11b mode until we could get all the CPE upgraded, and install and configure
the Turbocell Client at the remaining few sites that
were going to stay with the PCI adaptors. Then we had envisioned on one night
after all this was done, to remotely configure each
RG to Turbocell mode, and then the ISP Bases, and Voila! (Of course the guys
with PCI adaptors would have to choose the new Karlnet
setting on their clients, but they have been told how to do this already when
the client was upgraded.) Problem is the SEC won't
allow us to be "backward compatible" like the rest of the Karlnet system. I
was told that we require different code to run the SEC
in 802.11b mode, and there are restrictions on bridging! So this mitigates any
possible tiered upgrade schedule without
double-licensing each RG, and reflashing them later, plus we cannot bridge if
that is required. Fixing this in the RG code would be
a GREAT Enhancement, and maybe coming up with an alternate licensing strategy
that would allow us to "temporarily license" an
802.11b backward compatibility until the network was all "Turbocelled".
ISSUE 2:
The "Auto Channel Scan" on the Turbocell Windows client is buggy and doesn't
always work right. It sometimes does not find the
network again if the channel is changed on the ISP Base, and requires "screwing
with" in order to make work. (Editing the Profile,
changing to 802.11b mode then back, etc.) In addition, while it is "Scanning"
it loads the machine down so heavily that even moving
the mouse is jerky. The Interrupts coincide with the flashing "active" LED on
the Radio, so it appears to be some sort of hardware
interrupt that is not being handled efficiently by the driver (guess).
ISSUE 3:
Once you upgrade the Client to Turbocell, the 802.11b mode doesn't work
reliably, mainly when "roaming". It's a similar problem as
listed in Issue 2 above. You have to sometimes re-edit the Profile to get it
to "reset" and "See" the 802.11b site.
ISSUE 4:
Various little bugs in the "Configurator" (v3.87.0), such as the "In local
subnet" checkbox is by default "checked" everytime. It
would be nice if this was cached with the password for a "session". The reason
this is such a major issue, is that there is a bug
in the code that will somehow "mess up" the machine if you accidentally have
that box checked when the device being managed is not
in the same segment. After it fails, the machine will NEVER allow the
Configurator to access the device, even if you close and
re-start the configurator. You have to reboot the machine. It's as if it
leaves the low-level Ethernet driver "open" or something
which then leaves it "Broken" for subsequent connections. It would also be
nice if the configurator "remembered" the preferences
like it does the IP addresses, such as whether to view the Signal strength in
dBm or percent. It always resets back to dBm, which
is annoying because we have people in the field that do mobile testing, and
they find the percentage mode is easier to "Relate to"
while testing at various locations.
ISSUE 5:
When trying to do bandwidth management at the ISP Base side we discovered that
this is broken. It has strange results, but not ones
that allow this function to be useful. For obvious reasons the "License key"
method of bandwidth management is a bad idea in a WISP
scenario, central administration of this is a must (either by RADIUS or Direct
setting in the ISP Base). This is one of the
features that "sold" us on Karlnet, but sadly, it doesn't work as promised.
There are a few other little things, but I will save them for later, as I have
some people crying my name out that need some of my
attention....
Thanks Bill for this list, and to Doug for being here to listen to us whine! =)
Phil Sadow
Ingineerix Communications Consultants
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Fisher" <fisher@akorn.net>
To: <karlnet@WISPNotes.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 9:31 AM
Subject: RE: [Karlnet] RE: Karlnet Wish List
> > > 4) Better operation of config under enviroments with multiple network
> > > connections. I have 4 network connections in my notebook, and I can't
> > > connect to an A/P unless I disable all of the connections but
> > the one that
> > > is doing the connecting. This is just plain wrong. Give me an
> > > opportunity
> > > to tell you which connection I'm using.
> >
> > Have you tried this using the newest configurator? There was a bug in the
> > configurator that made you have to turn off the ports. Let me know if
> > 3.86.10 lets you do this on your PC.
>
> I have 3.86.10 on the notebook in question. Running Win2K. 4 network
> connections (PCI, wireless, & 2 VPN).
>
> Thanks for the feedback Doug. I'm sure everyone here appreciates it.
>
> Bill
>
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