Base3 Network Operation

@Dave Olson works better.

One thing that looks disappointing is it appears they continued to only support 2.4ghz for the WiFi on the BASE3.  Since virtually every other WiFi device on the planet now supports 5.8ghz and higher speed protocols, why not the BASE3?

I also hope they bought a lot of the WiFi modules, they're no longer being manufactured and already obsolete.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I also hope they bought a lot of the WiFi modules, they're no longer being manufactured and already obsolete.

If you look at just the status on Digikey, then yes. If you realize that it's a P/N change, then no. I love the internet.

@LionelAG posted:

Dave-

The Base3 is obviously married to internet communication now that the prime end user interface is via a network-connected mobile device.  There's a considerable amount of language devoted to how "join network" could be problematic due to network congestion/traffic.  I'm wondering if you ever considered simply adding a 1G or even 100M LAN card to the Base3 in addition to the wifi radio.  It seems to me this would eliminate most, if not all, of the network traffic complications.  I for one would make every effort to create a hard connection to the Base3 if this option was available.  I know this adds more cost to the system but LAN cards are significantly cheaper than wifi cards.  Is this an upgrade possibility for a future Base3?  Curious how much consideration (if any) was given to this connectivity alternative.

Tim

Much to GRJ's disappointment, we have been looking at dual band capabilities and may one day incorporate it, but that'd be a few years. And hey, if we had 2 more years of dev time before we shipped, then maybe!

The truth is, the info on the website about network latency, etc. is to cover our bases (pun intended). In all our testing, we rarely ran into any issues. We've had 10 devices sending commands simultaneously with other network traffic also present (like streaming) and all without issue. The info is more for the fringe examples where people may have other 2.4Ghz devices around that cause interference. If that happens, then we at least have provided ways to try to work around it.

@Dave Olson posted:

If you look at just the status on Digikey, then yes. If you realize that it's a P/N change, then no. I love the internet.

Much to GRJ's disappointment, we have been looking at dual band capabilities and may one day incorporate it, but that'd be a few years. And hey, if we had 2 more years of dev time before we shipped, then maybe!

The truth is, the info on the website about network latency, etc. is to cover our bases (pun intended). In all our testing, we rarely ran into any issues. We've had 10 devices sending commands simultaneously with other network traffic also present (like streaming) and all without issue. The info is more for the fringe examples where people may have other 2.4Ghz devices around that cause interference. If that happens, then we at least have provided ways to try to work around it.

The upgrade to 5Ghz is something that can be done without buying a new BASE3? Not sure what the issue is it should be a plug in module in laptops and devices for a long time I have swapped them out for better and worse modules. So  testing the physical hardware should be easy making FW update via you stuff would be the challenge.

Will we be able to swap that module when it becomes available?

@Dave Olson posted:

The truth is, the info on the website about network latency, etc. is to cover our bases (pun intended). In all our testing, we rarely ran into any issues. We've had 10 devices sending commands simultaneously with other network traffic also present (like streaming) and all without issue. The info is more for the fringe examples where people may have other 2.4Ghz devices around that cause interference. If that happens, then we at least have provided ways to try to work around it.

I will say that the old LCS WiFi hasn't had any issue here commingled with a pretty busy WiFi network.  I've never noticed any issues, so I guess that probably won't be a big factor.  Also, I see the module in the BASE3 does up thru 802.11n, so it's considerably faster than the old LCS WiFi, I believe it only did 802.11b.

@Dave Olson posted:

If you look at just the status on Digikey, then yes. If you realize that it's a P/N change, then no. I love the internet.

Much to GRJ's disappointment, we have been looking at dual band capabilities and may one day incorporate it, but that'd be a few years. And hey, if we had 2 more years of dev time before we shipped, then maybe!

The truth is, the info on the website about network latency, etc. is to cover our bases (pun intended). In all our testing, we rarely ran into any issues. We've had 10 devices sending commands simultaneously with other network traffic also present (like streaming) and all without issue. The info is more for the fringe examples where people may have other 2.4Ghz devices around that cause interference. If that happens, then we at least have provided ways to try to work around it.

Thanks Dave!  Can you confirm GRJ's statement that Base3 is, indeed, 802.11n?  By definition, "n" uses 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands so that is a major upgrade.