Router Set Up For ubiquity Bullit M2HP. HELP!

[pesarsten]

In my rececently purchased IP38 ,I found an antenna, Bullit M2hp, POE and Ethernet cord.
The system was sold and configured by PDQCONNECT. I have asked them but have not gotten much from them other than to tell me they don’t sell that system any more.

If this system can be salvaged and used I would be happy to save some money but, I will need to add a wireless router and set up a network.

I readily admit to being ignorant and in spite of research and reading I’m still in the dark.

My computer does not have an Ethernet plug, will a usb to ethernet adapter work to check out the Bullit.

Will any router work with the Bullit or do I need something proprietary?

If I am able to connect to my marina WiFi with the PDQ and Ethernet adapter, is the router set up as simple as just plugging in the Ethernet connection to the antenna?

[bdgWesternMass]

Originally Posted by pesarsten

In my rececently purchased IP38 ,I found an antenna, Bullit M2hp, POE and Ethernet cord.
The system was sold and configured by PDQCONNECT. I have asked them but have not gotten much from them other than to tell me they don’t sell that system any more.

If this system can be salvaged and used I would be happy to save some money but, I will need to add a wireless router and set up a network.

I readily admit to being ignorant and in spite of research and reading I’m still in the dark.

My computer does not have an Ethernet plug, will a usb to ethernet adapter work to check out the Bullit.

Will any router work with the Bullit or do I need something proprietary?

If I am able to connect to my marina WiFi with the PDQ and Ethernet adapter, is the router set up as simple as just plugging in the Ethernet connection to the antenna?

I used to be a big fan of ubiquiti but they have gone a bit cloud crazy.
It’s hard to know exactly the state of the access point. A while back ubiquti started to default, to cloud based storage and configuration. So you may have to wrestle with claiming the access point ownership.

If you set-up a self contained network there is still a method for installing and configuring without the cloud.

Yes the access point willl work with any equipment.

Ben

[HeywoodJ]

There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle. Until a storm recently took it away we had a masthead Bullet and liked it quite well for connecting to shore-side WiFi. Our Bullet is the straight Ubiquiti product, some vendors load a custom operating system on them to try and make things more consumer friendly, no idea if that is the case with PDQConnect. If it is, then instructions may differ slightly (or significantly).

• The Bullet uses power-over-Ethernet (PoE). There should be a brick somewhere that has two Ethernet ports and a power port. Connect an Ethernet cable from the powered port on the PoE to the Bullet.
• Connect power to the power supply port on the PoE. You should now get lights on the Bullet.
• Connect the non-powered Ethernet port on the PoE to the laptop. A USB-Ethernet adapter should be fine. As long as your laptop recognizes it as a network adapter the Bullet won't know the difference.
• This is where the OS comes into play, if the default AirOS then:
• Give your laptop an IP address 192.168.1.x (where x is 1-253 except 20) - the Bullet by default does not act as a DHCP server - again this depends on whether or not PDQ made any consumer friendly modifications.
• Launch a browser and go to 192.168.1.20. You can then configure the Bullet from the web page (tell it what WiFi network to connect to, give it the encryption information, etc.). If you can get this far come back with more questions. At this point you will need the Bullet login information. The defaults are ubnt and ubnt for AirOS. There is a reset button on the Bullet to get you back to factory settings.
  
• If PDQ installed their own operating system then you may be a bit more out of luck. When you first connect see if the Bullet gives you an IP address, in this case it has a DHCP server running. Check to see what the gateway address is and use a web browser to navigate to that gateway address. Then you'll have to see if you have/can get the PDQ login information to continue.
  
  https://dl.ubnt.com/qsg/BulletM2-HP/BulletM2-HP_EN.html

Once you get that all done, if it is working, yes, you can use pretty much any WiFi router to create an access point on the boat. Just connect the Ethernet cable from the PoE to the router and then follow the normal router setup. If you move around you will want to configure things in a way that you can still access the Bullet web page so you can change the connected shore-side access point.

[Zanshin]

@HeywoodJ has done a good job of explaining the details. I had an Ubiquiti Bullett which I loved, once that broke I got the same hardware but different firmware with the BadBoy. Getting free internet for the price of a beer at a local waterside pub is worth it! The Ubiquiti hardware is best-of-breed in this sector but the handling is not easy for non-computer folk.
I would try to keep this if I were you. I've gotten WiFi from miles away with these extenders!

[Russ]

Ditto re Bullet functionality but it was a Bugger to set up. Ended up getting help on the phone from a geek who worked me through it. Mine has been onboard and through a hurricane and antennae replacement, but still works great.

[CarinaPDX]

Agreed that you have some good info here, no need to repeat it. I suspect that your Bullet has custom firmware as well, which should make it easier to set up, but it would really help to have a manual to explain how to connect - shame on PDQconnect if they won't send you a PDF of it. You can try connecting to the Bullet with the first part of the Ubiquiti instructions but no guarantees. My guess is that you don't have the user/pw that the previous owner used, in which case you would need to do a factory firmware reset (see Ubiquiti manual) and start with the default setup (the Ubiquiti setup would need a bit of configuring but if custom f/w it should be easy).

This Bullet is very good for accessing distant access points but is definitely dated technology (802.11b). It may not be the best way to connect to your marina wifi, and in fact it may slow the wifi for other users if the marina is using newer technologies (the access point has to adapt to the slowest transmission rate). And often marinas are both 2.4MHz and 5MHz bands (the Bullet just supports 2.4MHz) and 5MHz usually offers greater bandwidth. If you were a computer nerd I would recommend the dual band Mikrotik product that looks like the Bullet, but I don't wish configuring it on anyone - very complex.

Greg

[Jerry Woodward]

Good advice from Heywood and others. If you would like more detail, I have a downloadable .pdf file that describes in detail how to set up a WiFi network on the boat using a Bullet, a 4g cellular modem, a standard netgear router and various antennas and coax cables.

As Heywood said, your first step is to try to log into the Bullet. My instructions will walk you through it.

Go to my web page using the link below and search for the blog "How to get WiFi on a boat". There will be a download link at the end of the post. Feel free to PM me if you need any help.

[pesarsten]

I’d I really like to have your pdf file thanks
Pesarsten at g mail dot com