Mangusta1969
Occasional Visitor
Back in 2009 there was some interest on this forum about the high performance and long range (in the 5Ghz RF band) of the Mediaflex 7811 Wi-Fi Access Point. See:
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=2061&highlight=mediaflex+7811
At the time, this was a pricey unit (apparently pushing $1000), but now the 7811 is available from several sources for less than $200 (MSRP is now $199) and offers extremely fast and long range Wi-Fi performance. The manufacturer's web site promises sustained 40-60Mbps performance across a 5000 square house for this unit; the unit was initially designed to support wireless transmission of several HDTV signals within a large residence. See:
http://www.ruckussecurity.com/MediaFlex-7811.asp
Has anyone on these forums been using the Mediaflex 7811 for high performance and/or long range Wi-Fi networks in the 5Ghz RF band? I am particularly interested in the effective range (in feet) of this unit, sustained connection speeds and in its long term reliability.
While the Mediaflex 7811 uses a sophisticated beam-forming 6 antenna array to achieve its increased operating range, I suspect the real limiting range factor will be the output power of its 5Ghz clients for connection-based TCP/IP protocols, but perhaps the beam-forming antennas help with reception of weak client signals, too.
While the 7811 was primarily designed for the wireless transmission of high resolution HDTV signals (with the connectionless UDP protocol), there are many Wi-Fi users who would like to jump out of the crowded, interference-prone 2.4Ghz RF band (with only three non-overlapping channels) and into the less crowded 5Ghz RF band (with many more channels), but could not do so because of the very limited physical range of the higher frequency band.
Any feedback, good or bad, or the Mediaflex 7811 would be most appreciated. If there is enough general interest in this now affordable device, perhaps TH could see his way to a full review for more general Wi-Fi connection-based uses.
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=2061&highlight=mediaflex+7811
At the time, this was a pricey unit (apparently pushing $1000), but now the 7811 is available from several sources for less than $200 (MSRP is now $199) and offers extremely fast and long range Wi-Fi performance. The manufacturer's web site promises sustained 40-60Mbps performance across a 5000 square house for this unit; the unit was initially designed to support wireless transmission of several HDTV signals within a large residence. See:
http://www.ruckussecurity.com/MediaFlex-7811.asp
Has anyone on these forums been using the Mediaflex 7811 for high performance and/or long range Wi-Fi networks in the 5Ghz RF band? I am particularly interested in the effective range (in feet) of this unit, sustained connection speeds and in its long term reliability.
While the Mediaflex 7811 uses a sophisticated beam-forming 6 antenna array to achieve its increased operating range, I suspect the real limiting range factor will be the output power of its 5Ghz clients for connection-based TCP/IP protocols, but perhaps the beam-forming antennas help with reception of weak client signals, too.
While the 7811 was primarily designed for the wireless transmission of high resolution HDTV signals (with the connectionless UDP protocol), there are many Wi-Fi users who would like to jump out of the crowded, interference-prone 2.4Ghz RF band (with only three non-overlapping channels) and into the less crowded 5Ghz RF band (with many more channels), but could not do so because of the very limited physical range of the higher frequency band.
Any feedback, good or bad, or the Mediaflex 7811 would be most appreciated. If there is enough general interest in this now affordable device, perhaps TH could see his way to a full review for more general Wi-Fi connection-based uses.
