Going wireless for several people?

[gujuguy007]

The organization that I am in is sponsoring a business competition requiring students to access the internet. The hotel that is hosting the competition will provide free AT&T high speed DSL in the conference rooms (which is roughly less than 1000 sq feet when the dividers are removed). To say the least, the connection is decently fast. Here is our problem:

We want to setup a network configuration so that 40-50 people will be able to access wireless internet on the first floor of the hotel room. Expected range should be between 400-500 feet (considering there are walls that may obsruct wireless access). A simple router might suffice. However, we want to find a solution so that 40-50 people can access internet at any given time within the surrounding area without network congestion. The DSL line will probably be slow, but our main concern is to have it up and running.

My question is: What is the best possible solution to creating this wireless network along with switches so that indvidual laptops can hook up with a patch cable if necessary or access internet through a wireless adapter. It is understood that there will be two dsl ports in the room. How can we maximize our range and reduce network congestion?

My original plan was to have 2 routers hooked up to the 2 dsl lines and attach a 8 port switch into both of the routers. Maybe throw in an access point or antenna upgrade.

I will appreciate any response to this. I just want a general feeling of what everybody thinks, how should I go about configuring the hardware, and what products to purchase.

 

[martind1]

well first off, best way is wired. always is. but since you are doign this temporarily and i assume are unable to lay wires.


since you need the ability for people to use existing lan cards(wiht a patch) then you are going to need to put a wireless reciever in EVERY room.



I am starting to think you are pretty new to networkign eh?

You are really askign for conflicting things here and appears you will need to lay lines at some point.

 

[gujuguy007]

I'm definitely new to networking...the only thing I can setup is a home network with 2 or 3 computers. When you mean lay lines, do you mean that I should find a way to contact AT&T and ask them to put in more ports or do you mean that I should go out, purchase a 1000ft cat cable and run it across the room?

 

[ryandmiller]

It seems to me that setting up physical connections for 40 to 50 people might be challenging because of the amount of cable you would need to run. When the organization I work for held a conference, the hotel ran all of the cables and already had network jacks all over. You might want to see what the hotel can do and at what price.

If you go wireless, you don't have to worry about cables, but you would probably need to have 30 wireless PC cards for the students to use to connect. That would likely cost about $1800 for Orinoco cards (I wouldn't use anything less).

I would probably see what the hotel could do for you as they probably have experience with this sort of thing.

Hope that helps.

 

[martind1]

well, he mentions dsl ports in the room. does this mean the hotel alreayd has a network?


If they already have a wired network, you might be able to plug the rooms you need right into the dsl lines.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

I'd get a pair of wireless routers, some unidirectional antennas to increase the range, and as many 8 port switches as you think you'll need, perhaps two for each router. The whole works shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks, at least pricing it a D-Link. I suspect you could have the people bring their own jumper cable if they wanted a wired connection...

 

[martind1]

settting this thread on NEED MORE INFO

 

[gujuguy007]

Thanks to all those that have responded, it is a big job but then again no job can be too big right?

ryandmiller-people have the option to bring wireless cards if they want. I don't think we are planning to purchase any. I should clarify that 40-50 people will not be using the internet at any given time, but it should always be a concern just in case if the situation ever arises. Unfortunately the conference rooms have the jacks, and the one that we have rented out is only provided with two. The manager had stated that there is high speed internet in their office and the single computer that sits in the lobby. I'm guessing that only the first floor is wired, but jacks are only limited to certain areas, such as the conference room and hotel offices. The hotel doesn't really have much to offer, that is why I'm trying to set this this configuration up.

 

[martind1]

iot doesnt matter that the 40-50 people are or are not on at once, no need to bvold that, thats not where your problem lies.


its getting any connection to rooms.

 

[gujuguy007]

well thanks for everybody's input. Due to the lack of resources on hand, the best possible solution is to use a rotation system to allow a couple of people to use the computers or the room for wireless internet for a brief period of time. That is the only thing that pops in my mind.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

You mean the cheapskates couldn't come up with $500 for a decent solution? Some sponsorship.

 

[gujuguy007]

the sponsorship is there..in fact its Ford Motor Company. The problem really isn't money. I'm still considering the amplified routers and hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on them soon. But the hotel really lacks the resources that we need--a strong internet connection--and I'm not going to propose something, spend a lot of money on it, and find out later that it just doesn't work. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a test run done sometime next week and give you guys a post about it.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

"Strong Internet connection"? I'd think for a few connected folks on each line that high-speed DSL would be sufficient! It's way better than nothing!

 

[martind1]

this whole thing just keeps makign less and less sense to me.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by: martind1
this whole thing just keeps makign less and less sense to me.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that! I'm wondering what's really going on, this seems like a real simple issue...

 

[martind1]

it kind of started a little blury, then as questions were answered it started making sense.


then it took off on a wild tour of wierdness and I have fully given up on this thread.

 

[gujuguy007]

i think the problem here is with me...being stuck on the bandwidth issue. No worries guys. I guess this thread has gone off into something else. I'm really new to this topic, so I'm not quite sure what to say half of the time. I think I'm just being critical about things that I'm not supposed to be. Sorry for that.

Here is an update: We decided to use 2 DLINK 614+ wireless routers with amplified omnidirectional antennas, which gave us a fairly decent range (each router was connected to the 2 seperate ethernet ports). We also decided to run a wire from the router to an 8 port switch. It seems to be working fine. Obviously, we need to test it with a fairly large number of people on the network. Hopefully we won't run into any problems.

Thanks to all those guys still paying attention to this newbie thread.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Sounds like my contribution wasn't a total loss.

 

[ScottMac]

If I'm reading things right, You have one large, open room (1000 sq ft is NOT a large room - give a dimension if you can).

All that should be necessary is a little altitude (Higher is better for the APs).

If you locate two APs at opposite side/corners and give them each a different SSID, you have effectively two separate networks. Cisco recommends a MAX of 25 people per AP. Whether they people are using the connection or not, if the wireless NIC is up, it's associating and will take some resources.

Assign people a color group (like red and blue) ... half the people connect to the "Red" AP, half the people connect to the "Blue" AP.

For the sake of illustration, call the four walls A,B,C,and D; B and D are the shorter end walls. Locate the Red AP 1/2 the distance from the B wall along A, and the Blue AP 1/2 the distance from wall B along wall C. Get the APs up as high as possible and you should be good to go.

If you could hang the APs from the ceiling in the middle of the room, that would be the ideal solution.

You should be able to maintain a fairly quick wireless connection out to ~100-130 Feet, depending on who's AP you're using, and the number and type obstructions between the AP and the client. You may still want to put in (at least) a 40 bit WEP Shared Key - or you might get a few rogue connections.

Good Luck

Scott