The first thing to do is implement the same SSID across your network or even [...]]]> Access point redundancy is one of the hardest things to achieve. This is because fixed wireless customers do not roam between access points.  You have a couple of tricks you can do to minimize downtime in the event of an AP failure.

The first thing to do is implement the same SSID across your network or even per tower. If you are using Mikrotik you can implement connect lists to tell your clients to not connect unless it meets an acceptable signal level.  This way if one sector fails some of your clients might “jump” to another sector if they can connect to that sector at a good enough level.

Another tactic you can employ is putting an omni up with a Mikrotik added to it. Should one or more sectors fail you can add virtual SSIDS to the omni and bring up some customers.  These customers won’t be as good as if they were connected to a sector. However, they will be functional.  A good practice is to mount this omni, on a standoff,  at a different level than your sectors.  Also, if possible, run the cable for the omni down a different leg of the tower.  While this is not always possible, it does isolate the components somewhat from the others.  You could put a redundant omni with any vendor, not just Mikrotik.  You just might not be able to simulate multiple sectors like the Mikrotik does.

Yet another tactic with mikrotik is to add multiple connect lists to your CPE.  This can be cumbersome if you ever decide to change your network.  You have to edit those customer CPE, which can be time consuming.

Stay tuned for more in this continuing series.