Why are large pings dropping?

[tdalton]

We have two 3Com OfficeConnect 108s set in bridging mode w/ no AP access checked so they are dedicated bridges running at 802.11b/802.11g. When we tried with 802.11g only the connection oddly did not come up. Are signal is around 45dBm w/ signal noise around 80 dBm We are currently running in WPA-PSK but have also tested w/ no encryption and either way when we start 6 or 7 peristant pings from a workstation on the LAN with 3K (3072 byte) packets we start dropping packets. If we ping with normal size packets pings don't drop. I can't believe that is normal? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

TD

[M/Q]

Is this a distance link? I am somewhat concerned as to the high noise level. I suspect and this is just an opinion that the link is not strong enough to support 11g. You will have to query 3com as to the exact signal strength that they step down to below 11g bandwidth ratings. But that would be my guess.

3Com devices had a great S/N typically, I am wondering if you maybe getting some latent interference. Have you tried a very distant channel from the existing one to avoid any kind of interference potential?

[tdalton]

We have tried every channel. In the end 3Com is fessing up to it being a potential lack of cpu in the APs. I am pissed, I called for presales techsupport and spoke with 2 people asking for a recommended model for this application: 27 users in building 1 to bridge to building 2 which has a T1 in it and is used for WAN access, internet and Terminal server connections. And if that is not enough I called techsupport after and provided them with the requirements and the suggested model that presales gave me and they said it shoudl work fine. When we first had problems and I called their techsupport back they again said it should have no problems. These antennas can shoot for up to 1 mile w/out amplification and we managed to reduce the distance by about 50% and we are still having the problem. The company we purchased the antennas from radiolabs.com has been really helpful and suggested a Buffalo Technologies AP that they say they have used repeatedly in campus environments with the same type of traffic so I will most likely go that route and return the 3Coms. It's just frustrating because we did our homework and found nothing bad about the 3Coms and got them to back us on the solution; it's just part of life when you work with technology unfortunately.

TD