MikroTik

Hello,
I am new to MT and am considering switching our private business network over to it. I have a 3 hop backbone between two facilities spanning about 35 miles (56km). Downtime costs quite a bit so I am looking to make it redundant. I would also like to increase the bandwidth. The system is currently running on Trango backhaul radios and I am only getting about 3.5mbit of actual payload tested with iperf. My question is this, I am interested in nstream 2 in hopes of decreasing jitter, but if half the link goes down due to a cable failure or something, will the other half of the link take over all the traffic? If not I would probably just use bonding. Also, does it make any difference if I use a dual polarity antenna instead of two antennas for Nstream2?

Thanks,
Stephen

Nobody knows the answer to this?

Stephen

...I am interested in nstream 2 in hopes of decreasing jitter, but if half the link goes down due to a cable failure or something, will the other half of the link take over all the traffic?

Not automatically. My solution was to run a script on both boxes periodically that reconfigures the radios to bridge mode if the next-hop doesn't respond to pings. (Other strategies/examples would be appreciated!)

If not I would probably just use bonding.

No first-hand experience bonding radios, but I have read mixed reviews--and IIRC you'll find the same problem with bonding if a radio goes down.

Also, does it make any difference if I use a dual polarity antenna instead of two antennas for Nstream2?

Again: no first-hand experience, mixed reviews. For best performance, I'm sure spatial separation would be more effective than polarity separation. Also, you may find that one polarity works better in your environment than another, the result being a sub-optimal connection for one pair of radios.

Dan