How do I create a house network that can support 50+ people?

[Serori]

I live in a house with 50 people up at college, and our current internet system is absolutely miserable. We use Linksys routers that can run on phantom power through the ethernet line.

So, from this, we have the infrastructure set up to have a wireless network in the house.

The problem is, whoever made this system up the first time spent too little time and money on it. As it is, people get dropped off the network constantly and its sluggish - even now in the summer when less than 10 people live here. Now we have a budget that exceeds $5,000.

Basically, I just want to replace the crappy router system we have now.

Requirements:
1.) We have about six router points set up that we can use, and this is a fairly large house with thick walls, so strong signals and high range are important
2.) Each router needs to be able to withstand 10+ people using it fairly heavily
3.) Imagine 50 people streaming video at the same time, that's what we want to have happen.
4.) Reliable connection that won't drop every five minutes
5.) Draft-N compliant, but maintaining good b/g connection too

I realize that the end bandwidth is all on Time Warner not sucking and giving us more, but lets just focus on giving every person as much bandwidth as possible through the network. It seems like MIMO technology is a good idea for this.


I'm really at a loss of how to set up a network like this that will support everyone, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[kevnich2]

First, asking how to create a house network and having it support 50+ people are two very different statements. Anything exceeding 10 users need to be built like a business class network, not a home network. For your network, you need to be using enterprise class/business class network gear. Honestly, you need to hire a certified networking consultant to come in and look at this. I don't know how much money you can spend on this but if you want it to work correctly, it needs to be setup correctly. Your most critical points will be your internet connectin (a T1 line isn't going to cut it), main router/firewall, and your wireless access points. Any CAT5e cable, properly ran and terminated will easily handle this load.

 

[NickOlsen8390]

Yes, i would look to getting some of that budget into some dedicated internet. Chances are time warner cable isn't going to give you the bandwidth you need, or they will at a high price, Look into there business class plans.
If your going to run wireless make sure you have good coverage with multiple AP's, and have them wired in, screw WDS or using them like repeaters.

 

[spidey07]

At first guess I'd say the cabling needs to be checked out and certified that's going to cost a good 1000+ bucks plus any repairs that are needed. Also agree to get a business class service from TWC, much more bandwidth. From there a few SMC 10/100 switches will provide LAN connectivity and a small Cisco ASA firewall will handle that duty. You could probably get away with SOHO wireless devices as long as they support WDS but you'd get much better results from cisco/proxim.

All said 5000 is a little to low to really do what is needed, 10 could cut it for hardware only. Also agree that having a professional is going to provide the results you're looking for.

 

[skyking]

At $100 a drop, you could wire the whole house for your 5 grand.
spend anouther couple thousand on a decent switch and router and you have a real network.
Wired>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>wireless.

Of course that is just my opinion, but I've yet to see a properly built modern wired network let me down, and the performance is spectacular in comparison to wireless.
If you must have some convenience access points for laptops that is OK, just get the vast majority of the load off the wireless.

 

[kevnich2]

If designed properly, a wireless network would suffice ok (not for bandwidth hungry file transfers th ough), but again, 5,000 isn't going to get you a properly designed wireless network for 50 people. Get your wired network up and going first with a proper firewall/router and enough internet bandwidth then maybe add in some 3com or proxim access points (get a network consultant to get this going) if you have the budget to do it. If your wired network is good to go, adding in wireless isn't going to hurt it at all, right now it seems you don't have the bandwidth or a core network to really support what you're needing.

 

[InlineFive]

No inexpensive wireless setup is going to be able to handle the strain a fraternity will place upon it. And even then wireless isn't going to handle file transfers, bittorrent, latency sensitive applications well. It's for web browsing and checking email. If at all possible you should really consider dropping ethernet as it will meet your needs much better.