[Asterisk-Users] Asterisk + WiFi Phones

[Michael Graves]

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 15:33:49 -0600, David Tillman wrote:

>This is only slightly related to Asterisk (in that we are using
>Asterisk as our PBX),
>so feel free to contact me off-list.
>
>I need to hear from someone who has practical experience using the combo of
>Asterisk, WiFi, and WiFi VOIP phones like the Hitachi-Cable IPC-5000.
>
>In particular, I need to know if scattering consumer grade access
>points (Linksys,
>D-Link) throughout a warehouse is going to be satisfactory, or if we
>should use some
>kind of mesh access point from Orinoco or Strix. (In hopes of a better handoff.)

I tried using the consumer access points (Linksys WAP-54G) and had not
end of troubles. Firstly, they all have to have the same SSID or not
hand-off at all. Secondly, I found that the WLAN bandwidth would
occasionally just go away for a few seconds, which caused calls to
simply go silent for 3-4 seconds unexpectedly. Never long enough to
drop the call...but enough to force me to ask the other person to
repeat themselves. Lastly, the volume level presented by the WIP-5000
was never enough for my tastes.

I found that the range around each access point was very limited. Bear
in mind that consumer access points often don't put out the full
allowable RF power. If you use third party firmware hacks to up the RF
output you'll find that they start to through a lot of spurious
interference as well. Not the best quality radios I guess.

I eventually switched to using a Astra 480i CT desk phone with a couple
of corless handsets. It's been great.

Michael Graves

--
Michael Graves                           mgraves at pixelpower.com
Sr. Product Specialist                          www.pixelpower.com
Pixel Power Inc.                                 mgraves at mstvp.com

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