802.11a upper band support

[fred]

I'm looking at the use of 802.11a for longer range outdoors applications.

However, strange as it seems most of the vendors only support the lower and middle bands (5.125-5.325GHz).

Can anyone point me to an AP vendor that does support the 802.11a upper band?

Thx.

[computeradam]

If you want longer range, go with 2.4ghz 802.11b at 11mbps or 802.11g at 54mbps.

5Gghz is gives you less the distance.

[fred]

You're quite correct.

However, as I understand it even though I would lose ~3dB due to the doubling of freq (2.4GHz->5.7GHz), I would more than compensate for that by being able transmit up to 36dBm (PtM) whereas for the 802.11b I would be restricted to 20dBm+6dBi=26dBm?

Please indicate if I have misunderstood the power limits.

Furthermore, it seems the 5Ghz has much less interference that the crowded 2.4GHz space especially in the outdoors situation.

Hence, my need for finding 802.11a vendors with the high power upper band capability.

[computeradam]

try www.tessco.com they are a distributor for commersial access points and antennas. I have their catalog.

[oshea85]

You don't state what your application is, whether you require end-user mobility, or if you're looking to link up some sites, what the distances are, etc.

I think you should look at Western Multiplex's (now Proxim) line of 5 GHz bridges, especially the P2MP product (60 Mb shared).

I can provide a quotation, if you need one.

[fred]

I'm actually investigating the possibility of using 802.11a based outdoor equipment (routers, antennas) to provide WISP to residential customers in smaller cities (population <100K) where RF interference may not be too high.

I would like to see whether it is possible to install the 802.11a antennas onto the existing cellular masks and using external antennas at customer premises (~11dBi gain) to achieve a 2Km coverage radius.

I was hoping to use the 8 channels (4 upper band channels and 4 from the middle band) to plan a cellular like pattern across the city to maximize the number of Broadband Internet subscribers.

This however would not be possible if the upper 4 channels are not supported by vendors.

Regards