Doubling up Access Points to Increase Performance

More AP’s Means Better Performance

Here is a problem we run into sometimes. In certain areas of our network, we’ve added so many new members over the years that the Access Point radio serving them is starting to get overloaded. With the increase in traffic due to Covid-19, that issue coming to a head in a few places. So we’re now adding new and more AP radios at those network sites and splitting the traffic from the old radios. The result is fewer members per AP radio and better performance.

The first such work was done recently at the Goldmine AP in Cerrillos by Phil Curnutt and Rob Hausman. And we are already seeing improvements there.

Specifically, they replaced two sector antennas with three “horn” antennas providing much better connections to about 60 members in that area. The special horn design allows additional AP radios to be inserted in a single area without interfering with each other.

In the picture below, the new horn antennas are the three smallish cones right near the roofline. The next AP to receive a similar upgrade will be the RidgeRoad AP above Old Santa Fe Trail in Santa Fe.

Continuing with Backbone Upgrades

In addition to this work, we are continuing to upgrade the backbone radios that deliver internet to all AP’s in our system. We’ve completed three major regional upgrades, and we have 17 more backbone radios to replace on our system in the weeks and months ahead. Many volunteers are giving up their weekends to get this done and help with the covid-19 internet use overload that is being experienced all over the country.