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327 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Siman 
#1 ·
Im dealing with an interesting challenge at work and need some people to poke holes in something for me.

I work for a company that does a lot of support for live events across North America.
We show up at everything from Coachella to shows in the boonies in Wisconsin to Hulaween in Florida and all kinds of places in between.
Sometimes we have an ISP that specializes in larger scale pop up networks(Clair Global, Tourtec, etc), but its not uncommon for us to end up as the ISP for an entire show.
Right now we rely on the Cradlepoint MBR1200B or MBR95 and a 4G USB Modem for Verizon or Rogers Wireless deployed around a location and paired with some Ubiquiti networking gear for P2P network extension.
Obviously thats not going to be adequate for much more than the most basic of applications and is - shall we say - less than ideal when you are in the middle of nowhere(or even in urban or suburban areas).
Ive had a bunch of meetings with some local solution providers and all have left me pretty unimpressed with their offerings so I figured I would turn to OCN and see what we can shake loose.

Keeping bulk(shipping this stuff sucks) to a minimum, what can you guys come up with for providing ISP services in super remote locations?
We are looking for Stronger Signal both from the towers AND to our network and clients via Wifi without sacrificing too much in the way of weight or size vs the MBR1200.
Integrated sim is ideal but not required and Remote management is a super nice to have option when i'm trying to help from across the continent.
Cost is not a massive roadblock but lets just say the Cisco 829 for $2k each is going to be a hard sell on my CapEx budget.

Here is what is currently on my list:
Cisco 829 Series ISR
Cisco 1000 Series ISR
Cisco Meraki MX64W
Cradlepoint AER1600
Cradlepoint AER2100

Am I missing anything that I should be considering?
Anything I have on there thats garbage?
 
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#2 ·
http://www.peplinkworks.com/MAX-BR1.asp?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvuDPBRDnARIsAGhuAmZaXKDeIw2V5Een8LHMAoIIS6S2SfDxPmxIFwWWpxhQbVDBexYCXTIaAhqzEALw_wcB

https://www.digi.com/products/cellular-solutions/cellular-routers/digi-transport-wr11

These would be two solid options for 4G Connections, then you could just use something like the Edge Router and other ubiquiti products.

Hell I would look into building a easy to ship/transport case with the basics of what you need. Ubiquiti point 2 point and access point units are spot on, their edge router works great under load and very dependable. With dual/tri wan setups with fallover/etc. Otherwise you could setup a mini PfSense Box or a UTM appliance like untangle.

I know you know depending on 4G is the worst. A p2p system to local existing network may be the best option, but sometimes that just isn't an option.

Everything you picked out is solid. But I would give the Pepwave a look over. I've used some pepwave stuff in the past with good results.

I could see something like that acting as a good cost effective means of reliable 4G to use as a backup or primary means of WAN. That and something like a Edge router or anything you are accustom to using that has multi-wan capabilities. Not as all in one of a solution as the cisco you mentioned. But cost effective.
 
#3 ·
Is there some sort of satelite based system you could use? I would imagine that would be more reliable than 4G cell network, and latency shouldnt be that muych higher. Typically bandwidth is quite low though, but maybe someone has made some advances in the tech that would get you a solid 100mb connectionm or something? This route probably wont pan out but it might be worth a quick look into.
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DzillaXx View Post

http://www.peplinkworks.com/MAX-BR1.asp?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvuDPBRDnARIsAGhuAmZaXKDeIw2V5Een8LHMAoIIS6S2SfDxPmxIFwWWpxhQbVDBexYCXTIaAhqzEALw_wcB

https://www.digi.com/products/cellular-solutions/cellular-routers/digi-transport-wr11

These would be two solid options for 4G Connections, then you could just use something like the Edge Router and other ubiquiti products.

Hell I would look into building a easy to ship/transport case with the basics of what you need. Ubiquiti point 2 point and access point units are spot on, their edge router works great under load and very dependable. With dual/tri wan setups with fallover/etc. Otherwise you could setup a mini PfSense Box or a UTM appliance like untangle.

I know you know depending on 4G is the worst. A p2p system to local existing network may be the best option, but sometimes that just isn't an option.

Everything you picked out is solid. But I would give the Pepwave a look over. I've used some pepwave stuff in the past with good results.

I could see something like that acting as a good cost effective means of reliable 4G to use as a backup or primary means of WAN. That and something like a Edge router or anything you are accustom to using that has multi-wan capabilities. Not as all in one of a solution as the cisco you mentioned. But cost effective.
Excellent options.
Thank you my friend.
Im already putting together my proposal for a "network in a box" and the fine tuning of the hardware selection is one of the last steps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EniGma1987 View Post

Is there some sort of satelite based system you could use? I would imagine that would be more reliable than 4G cell network, and latency shouldnt be that muych higher. Typically bandwidth is quite low though, but maybe someone has made some advances in the tech that would get you a solid 100mb connectionm or something? This route probably wont pan out but it might be worth a quick look into.
Ive looked into Satellite and while its probably more reliable in a lot of the remote areas the cost to run is significantly higher.
As is the labor and hardware to configure.
We average 4 to 5 different APs at any given location we support and I dont want to ask the field teams so set up and configure multiple Satellite relays just as much as im trying to avoid HAVING to send ubiquiti gear to every show.
I do plan to leverage the procurement dept of our parent company to see if we can get a better deal on satellite for due diligence though. Im looking at doubling the monthly cost for service to switch to WildBlue.
 
#5 ·
Id run some cheap quanta switchs for your internal network LB6m/LB8 for the backbone switch and a LB4m/LB9 with LAGs back to the backbone switch. Then run a LAG and Vlan trunking to a PFSense box for your edge router and firewall. PFSense can run multiple WAN connections in both load balancing and failover. If you need more relability, two PFSense boxes also can run with in a reduntant setup. PFSense boxs would probaly utilise a kaby pentium with ECC ram and a m.2 for its HDD. Then for then interconnects to the backbone switch Id use some cheap Mellanox connext-2 cards they cone in QSFP, SFP+, and dual flavors for LAGs cheap intel quad 1Gbps cards for the WAN connections. Then Id shove them into deploable pellican rack cases for mobility. If you need wireless, Vlan them out on one of the LB4m switches and the PFSense box and use ubiquiti A-points. Cheaper route would be to use cheap routers with DDWRT installed on them. As for the rest of the ISP/WAN connections Id use a DDWRT router in repeter mode and have that connected into one of the WAN ports for the 4G hotspots. If you can get SAT that can also be used with the PFSense box or even a wired service provider if it becomes avalible.

Alternitivly if you needed more WANs than the PFSense box would allow you to have. The switches could be VLANed out for the WAN connections to go into and the PFSense box would need to be configured to see the VLANs as WAN connections.

O also you could cascade the switches instead of going the backbone route... depends on the load your expecting to have. also 10gtek on amazon sells 10Gb SFP+ for hella cheap.
 
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