Need help choosing Mesh system for very large estate

[macmediausa]

I have recently acquired a very large estate-type house that was built 100 years ago. The main house is over 14,000 sq. ft with 3 floors plus a basement. Between the rooms (and also the floors) are steel beams, 6 inches of concrete and plaster/lathe/wire mesh. I've been a networking person trained on old school stuff (10 base T, ethernet, coax - ancient hardware) and this house is a logistical nightmare for me and I'm a bit out of the loop. For some reason I visited my local best buy and they were trying to push stuff that probably won't work and not really understanding my situation.

I am looking to install a mesh network in the house so I can keep the same SSID and easily get this installed without days of setup. As far I can tell (with how the house is constructed), I would probably need to install 3 units per floor (or 12 in the house). Ideally, I want to also install more units outside as there are additional buildings on the property (over 10 acres) that would be nice to also keep the same SSID. So my question - what brand could realistically handle so many units over a large area and keep speeds reasonable? How to large commercial buildings like hotels cover a large area with a single SSID?

Oh - before the flame comments, I got very lucky won this property at an auction and it was waaaay below actual value. I have a reasonable budget but don't have an unlimited one!

Thanks for any help!

 

[BenJeremy]

Our company uses Cisco equipment, but I've recently become a convert to Ubiquiti's line of networking equipment. Mesh APs can be wired or unwired... provided they can hop to a wired unit (though obviously, wiring all your mesh APs is ideal) - I think of Ubiquiti as "Prosumer-level" - for example, setting up my EdgeRouter was not as straightforward as most routers, but once configured, it is working very well (most people's experience is that you never have to reboot them once configured), and a Ubiquiti managed switch I installed to replace a cheap netgear switch immediately showed a cabling problem that was vexing me for over a decade.

Ubiquiti also seems to be reasonably priced, and professional-grade enough to handle as many mesh units as you need to install.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

To answer your last question first, large commercial buildings cover a large area with single networks by running Ethernet drops to numerous Access Points in the building. They almost never use Mesh, because Mesh is less reliable, drastically increases signal noise in the environment to deal with (in an already noisy environment), and cuts speeds for every "hop".

If you can run a wire to each Access Point, then there are lots of relatively affordable products (like Ubiquiti Unifi) that give you options for centrally controlled Access Points, and even point to point Wireless Links if you can't run cables (I highly recommend running cables).

Doing a mesh is such a hit or miss, especially with you talking about the penetrative nightmare of the walls, that I personally wouldn't be comfortable suggesting anything. I doubt many home-budgets solutions are going to punch through wall and build a stable mesh.

 

[Genx87]

To answer your last question first, large commercial buildings cover a large area with single networks by running Ethernet drops to numerous Access Points in the building. They almost never use Mesh, because Mesh is less reliable, drastically increases signal noise in the environment to deal with (in an already noisy environment), and cuts speeds for every "hop".

If you can run a wire to each Access Point, then there are lots of relatively affordable products (like Ubiquiti Unifi) that give you options for centrally controlled Access Points, and even point to point Wireless Links if you can't run cables (I highly recommend running cables).

Doing a mesh is such a hit or miss, especially with you talking about the penetrative nightmare of the walls, that I personally wouldn't be comfortable suggesting anything. I doubt many home-budgets solutions are going to punch through wall and build a stable mesh.

This!

 

[macmediausa]

Thank you @BenJeremy and @thecoolnessrune !

I just looked into this (and they even have a handy network planner on their website) and the price was somewhat reasonable too.

 

[NetWareHead]

Try whatever you can to get a network cable to the access point. Use existing construction to your advantage. Those old houses sometimes have open spaces conducive to passing an electrician's snake or weighted string. I was able to get from the basement, past 2 floors and into an attic using a 2 inch wide chase next to my chimney and another time snaking along side a cast iron drainage pipe. The benefit of actual wires is you can employ power over ethernet too.

 

[SeanFL]

Hardwire as much as possible for AP's. One other idea. I've managed a network for a school that is fairly large. We've hard wired all AP's (over 10 of them), and this A60 model has worked great.

Superior coverage compared to older ap's and mesh systems, and it works well with teachers and students roaming with their tablets, pc's, etc.

Mesh systems can have bad results if you're trying to get them to hop without a wired connection. Wire it all and it can work wonderfully for less cost than some of the above solutions, which are excellent if you can afford them and have enough knowledge to set them up.

Hope you enjoy the house. I spent 13 years in an 8,200 foot monster and was happy to get out of running a small city and downsize.

Sean