Coverage at your venue
Although you may want to provide full coverage of your entire venue, and this is certainly ideal, it can cost literally tens of thousands of dollars to do so depending on the size, layout and construction of your premises.
While many venues comfortably achieve full coverage using just a single Zenbu wireless router, others may require several routers, high gain antennas and a large amount of cabling.
You may find that on balance it is best to simply provide whatever coverage you can achieve from a single Zenbu router positioned as best you can.
This does not require electricians, RF engineers and network technicians or any special technical knowledge and costs only $249. Simply connect the Zenbu router to your existing broadband internet connection.
Although your entire premises may not be covered, this is the easiest way for you to cheaply provide wireless broadband internet access to your customers.
You can always add high gain antennas or additional routers later, so you have nothing to lose in starting small and simple.
You'll find that most customers don't mind sitting in your reception area, restaurant, lounge or at particular tables to access the internet. Especially when they see how cheap it is!
Hints and options
The following hints can help you maximise the coverage you achieve with minimal expense. Some are easy and cost nothing, some require you to purchase additional hardware.
One size does not fit all, but at least some of these hints should help you improve coverage.
- Place your router in a position which minimizes the amount of material it needs to transmit through to reach your users.
If you have a window from which you can see the area you want to cover, place the router near the window.
If your customers can see the router they should have no trouble connecting.
Bad materials to transmit through are metal, concrete, brick and water. Better materials are dry wood and glass.
- Add external, high-gain antennas in positions which maximise coverage.
If it is difficult to position the router itself in a location which maximises coverage, try adding an external antenna.
The standard antennas on the Zenbu router simply unscrew and can be replaced.
Often running a cable from the Zenbu router to an outdoor antenna will be all you need to do to get the coverage you want.
[ Some antenna options ]
Please make sure you disconnect the electricity supply from your Zenbu router before you change the antennas.
Do not reconnect the power supply to the Zenbu router while antennas are not connected to both terminals.
Failure to do this can damage the radio of your router and its ability to transmit and receive data can be severely limited.
- Add additional Zenbu wireless routers.
When it's impossible to get the coverage you want from a single Zenbu router, an easy option is to add another. Positioning a second Zenbu router in a location which covers areas with poor coverage from your primary router will help greatly. Netcomm's Homeplug ethernet over powerline adapters can be helpful for getting the internet connection to the second Zenbu router.
High gain antennas and accessories
NOTE: Zenbu Networks does not sell or install any of the following equipment. However, we have tested most of these products ourselves and can confirm that they are compatible with our routers and can improve coverage significantly.
Of course, different equipment types are better suited to different jobs so please think carefully about what you are trying to achieve and the best way to achieve it before you start buying things.
Please make sure you disconnect the electricity supply from your Zenbu router before you change the antennas.
Do not reconnect the power supply to the Zenbu router while antennas are not connected to both terminals.
Failure to do this can damage the radio of your router and its ability to transmit and receive data can be severely limited.
An online vendor of accessories that we have used is Go Wifi. They deliver promptly and seem reliable. Please confirm your plans and coverage expectations with them before placing an order for any additional equipment.
| HG2412P - 2.4GHz 12dBi Mini-Directional Antenna. These antennas offer high gain in an ultra-small package. The antennas are constructed of UV ABS plastic with aluminium back plate and stainless steel mounting bracket. The antenna can be used in Horizontal or Vertical Polarization by making a change to bracket mounting. The stainless steel bracket affords +/- 15 deg tilt adjustment. With its wide beamwidth these make a good sector antenna.
This is a popular directional antenna (sends the signal in one direction only) which has a relatively wide beam. This antenna requires an N-Male to RP-TNC Male cable to connect it to the Zenbu wireless router.
|
|
2.4GHz 14dBi 120 degree Sector Antenna. The HyperGain HG2414SP-120 Sector Panel WiFi Antenna combines high gain with a wide 120 degree beam-width. It is a professional quality cell site antenna designed primarily for service providers in the 2.4GHz ISM band. This WiFi antenna features a heavy-duty plastic radome for all-weather operation. The heavy-duty mounting system allows installation adjusts from 0 to 20 degrees down tilt.
This has a wider beam than the mini-directional HG2412P, but is more expensive and much bigger. This antenna requires an N-Male to RP-TNC Male cable to connect it to the Zenbu wireless router. |
|
N-Male to RP-TNC Male "Pigtail". A premade cable for connecting antennas with integral N-Female connectors (such as the HG2414SP-120 and HG2412P above) to the Zenbu wireless router. You can always make cables like this yourself as required.
The Zenbu wireless router needs a RP-TNC Male connector to connect to it. The antenna end of the cable will vary depending on the antenna you choose.
|
|
2.4 GHz 9dBi RP-TNC Rubber Duck Antenna. To replace standard detachable 2.2dB antenna on wireless access points. Gives up to 50% more coverage. With Standard Reverse Polarity TNC Male connector (RP-TNC Male). Slightly improved performance over the 7dBi version below.
These antennas replace the stand antennas which come with the Zenbu wireless router. Simply unscrew the standard antenna and screw these onto the Zenbu wireless router in their place to improve your coverage.
|
|
2.4 GHz 7dBi RP-TNC Rubber Duck Antenna. To replace standard detachable 2.2dB antenna on wireless access points. Gives up to 50% more coverage. With Standard Reverse Polarity TNC Male connector (RP-TNC Male)
This is an omni-directional antenna, meaning the signal is transmitted in all directions, just like with the Zenbu wireless router's standard antennas.
The standard antennas simply unscrew from the Zenbu router and you can screw these on in their place.
|
|
2.4 GHz 5.5dBi RP-TNC Rubber Duck Antenna. This flexible antenna features a tilt-and-swivel reverse-polarity TNC connector, allowing them to be used vertically, at a right angle, or any angle in-between. It is suitable as a replacement RF antenna for many access points and radios that are equipped with reverse-polarity TNC connectors.
This is similar to the 7dBi and 9dBi antennas above. Simply unscrew the standard antennas from the Zenbu router and replace them with these.
|
|
The Turbo HomePlug NP285 is the next generation of the popular HomePlug Ethernet over Power Adaptor. It increases data transfer rates up to 85Mbps - making it a powerful and simple networking solution for homes and small business. Now you can create a Local Area Network (LAN) over the home or office power points without the expense and complexity of dedicated network cabling. You simply connect the device with an Ethernet cable and plug it into a power point. The Turbo HomePlug is also ideal for streaming digital media content over your power lines e.g. send digital video files from your computer to a set-top box to play on a TV.
Connecting one of these to your broadband modem and another to a power point where you'd like the Zenbu wireless router allows you to position the Zenbu router in a good location without having to run cables everywhere. Simply connecting the cables to these adapters turns your existing electrical cabling into a broadband internet network. We've tested them and they work like magic.
|
