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Minitar MNWAPB
802.11b (11 Mbps) Wireless Access Point |
This page documents some of my personal findings on this AP.
Like all budget units, it has its strengths and weaknesses. At this stage it
seems to be excellent value for money, and is recommended in most situations.
Manufacturer's Specs
No need for me to reproduce them. Click
Here.
Pro's
 | High transmit power. My
measurements show a consistent 4.0 dB (150%) increase in TX power across all
channels (1-11), when compared to an SVEC FD1811-A. The manufacturer specs
from the two companies say there should be 3dB (100%) extra TX power from the
MNWAPB. So;
 | if the SVEC is transmitting 'at spec' (30 mW), then the
MNWAPB is transmitting at 75 mW. Or, |
| if the Minitar is transmitting 'at spec' (63 mW), then
the SVEC is transmitting at 25 mW. |
As a point of comparison, an increase of 4dB means an
effective 58% increase in range (distance between antennas). [This assumes
the RECEIVE SENSITIVITY of the SVEC and MNWAPB are identical, which has not
been verified.]
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| Removable antenna Uses the
(now common) RPSMA connector.
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| WWW Configuration. Unlike the
SVEC, no special software is required to configure the Minitar; any standard
WWW browser will do.
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| Multiple modes. Like the SVEC, the Minitar supports
a number of modes (see
Manufacturer's Specs) including 'Infrastructure Client' (i.e. AP 'client)
mode.
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| [Linux based]. For some, this
may be an advantage. However, at this stage it is more of a curiosity as it
seems unlikely that the firmware can be 'edited' without access to a
complete development environment.
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| Size. Gee these things are small!
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| Easy to POE. As all the
regulation is done inside the AP, they are much easier to use with
Power-Over-Ethernet (POE). No extra regulator required. They handle 30m (easy)
of CAT5 (and probably a lot more) using the supplied external supply. |
Cons
V2.32/2.39 Firmware
V2.32 version of firmware uses MAC Address Translation;
that is as an ethernet packet traverses the wireless link, the SOURCE MAC
address in the packet is replaced so that the packet appears to come from the
MNWAPB. My personal opinion is that this strategy is flawed, and in fact is
directly responsible for at least one of the bugs reported below (possibly
more).
Update: This problem is 100% solved with V2.53 firmware!
| Incompatible with SVEC FD1811-A in Client (station)
mode. It is relatively common for APs in 'Client'
mode to have interoperability problems with other brands of AP, so this
problem is NOT unique to the MNWAPB (and in fact may be a bug in the SVEC unit
!!??). The reason for reporting it here is that the SVEC APs are in wide use
already, so interoperability can be a key issue for many. My personal testing
interoperability testing has shown:
|
AP |
'Client' (Station) |
Result |
|
Success |
Fail
|
| MNWAPB V2.32 |
DLink
DWL-900AP+ |
|
|
| MNWAPB |
|
|
| RoamAbout PCMCIA |
|
|
| Dell Truemobile 1300 Mini
PCI |
|
|
| Netgear
MA401 |
|
|
| SVEC FD1811A
V0.0.1.16 |
|
|
| LinkSys WAP11 V2.2 |
MNWAPB V2.32 |
|
|
| SVEC FD1811A
V0.0.1.16 |
|
|
| Orinoco RG500- modded |
|
|
|
D-Link
DWL-2000AP |
|
|
|
Billion 743ge |
|
|
|
Netgear WGR614 |
|
|
|
Compaq 510 (= Wavepoint2 E/AP1000) |
|
|
| Cisco 350 |
|
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|
Belkin 54G |
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| DHCP pass-thru. DHCP
requests sent across the wireless link fail. In fairness, the MNWAPB includes
its own DHCP server, so there is a fairly simple workaround; enable the DHCP
server in the MNWAPB.
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| Routing via a MNWAPB Client (station).
The MNWAPB strictly adheres the the 802.11 standard, which does not
support multiple PCs (MAC addresses) connected to a 'station' (i.e. Client)
AP. The standard says if you want to connect to multiple PCs, you should be in
Bridge mode. In practice, this means:
| MNWAPB Mode |
Connected to.... |
Comments |
| AP |
Multiple PCs |
No problems |
| Router |
No Problems |
|
Station (ie Client) |
Mulitiple PCs |
No Problems |
| Router |
Can't see networks beyond the router
via the wireless link. Workaround: send traffic via a tunnel (eg PPtP, VPN,
...) to the router. Update: This problem is
100% solved with V2.53 firmware! |
| Bridge
(Pt-Pt or Pt-MultiPt) |
Multiple PCs |
No Problems |
| Router |
No Problems |
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