Wireless Router

[James Bond]

Hi,
I know a fair amount about wireless networking etc, but I'm currently living in a fairly large house and I'm looking for a good wireless router with a VERY large range.

It is a two story fraternity house that is pretty spread out. The problem is that our networking room is in one of the top corners-- needless to say, most of downstairs barely gets any wireless signal at all.

We have a large enough budget for pretty much anything. Would it be in best interest to get a good router and a wireless repeater of some sort?

Thanks in advance,
Tyler Lucas

 

[JackMDS]

Do not look for a ?Magic Router?. Buy few units, interconnect them and create an Access Point System.

Link to: Wireless What Should I Get?

The best Method to Extend Wireless Coverage depends heavily on the Specific Envioroment.

Look at these pages they describe most of the options that are within the means of Entry Level users, and choose the one that fits you envioroment best.

Link to: Extending the Distance of Entry Level Wireless Network.

Link to: Wirelessly Bridging Home / Network.

Link to: Hi Gain Antenna for Entry Level Wireless.

In general, the best Method involves using multiple units connect with wire to the source.

Or WDS ( Wireless Network - Configuration Modes. ) system using Hardware of one Brand across the board.

:sun:

 

[compukid38]

 

[nweaver]

Cisco 1200 series offers a 100mW radio, and is very reliable. It also has external antenna connections.

 

[kevnich2]

For a large fraternity house, I'd definately NOT go soho equipment. I'd be looking at commercial cisco equipment for this. Not only can they reach longer distances, they can handle the amount of connections your probably going to need. SOHO equipment is only made for a few connections at a time.

 

[JackMDS]

Each Network need to be constructed according to usage. At time, a Cisco 1200 is what is needed.

However taking into consideration that an 802.11g Access Point alone is hovering around $500, in many cases few Entry Level units for $50 each might solve the problem as well, and save few hundred $$$.

:sun:

 

[InlineFive]

I think that in this case JackMDS's idea is best. Get a few Linksys WAPs and connect them to a wired backbone. And then have a router on the network (could even be one of the WAPs) to handle DHCP and internet.

 

[James Bond]

Great, thanks for the input guys. Right now I'm leaning towards the "a few WAP" idea. Maybe I'll have a 100mbps one at the entry point, then a couple more upsairs. The problem is that I can't have anything wired downstairs- but there is a 'wireless repeater' of some sort I could put downstairs?

 

[James Bond]

What makes the Cisco1200 so good, the ability to host multiple connections well?
http://www.cmishop.com/store/ShowDetail...No=&nCategorySubID=125&txtSiteTrack=CN

 

[nweaver]

The Cisco does damn near everything...multiple VLAN's, multiple SSID's, onboard RADIUS server, WDS, WPA2 support, etc. It's really probably overkill, but I would consider it to be the "Best overall" AP on the market (cost not considered). The true power shows when you integrate into WLSE and other cisco stuff (such as NAC, port filtering, etc)

 

[James Bond]

That would be friggin awesome.
How do you feel about having a Cisco1200 at entry, being used as a gateway, and then a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de...00005854B/102-4671347-2208913?v=glance">Linksys WAP11</a> across the building in the other corner as a (wired) repeater?

 

[spidey07]

I'm also a huge fan of the 1200 series APs. Very good power and tons of features.

You could also do as Jack suggested.

If it were me I'd probably get 2-3 cisco's and be done with it. Mainly because I know it would work and work very well. Put two upstairs and one in the middle downstairs.

How many clients are we talking here and how much LAN usage is needed? Wireless is pretty dang slow and in reality you shouldn't put more than 12 people on a given access point. Of course you can go higher or lower depending on load.

-edit- I'm not a big fan of doing any repeating with wireless. It severely limits the performance of the wireless. If there simply is no way possible to run a cable to the place then do repeating. But calling an electrician and having them run a couple cables would be pretty cheap.

If you want, post a rough layout of the building and I can offer decent guesses at where your APs should go.

 

[nweaver]

TBH, if you are going Cisco, go cisco, and get another 1200 (not sure if 1100's support it) and do CCKM fast roaming (most clients roam in under 125 ms, all CCXV3 do) for your repeater. Not sure on that linksys on what it does, I work in a Cisco shop.

 

[James Bond]

Well I'm not sure if our budget would permit more than one Cisco1200 + another AP.
I've got to go to class right now but I'll post a layout of the house in a few minutes from class.

Thanks again for everyones help!

 

[James Bond]

Here is a layout of the upstairs of our house. The downstairs is near identical, but with nearly no walls.
http://www.fileh.com/TylerLucas/graphics/HouseLayout.jpg

As you can see I was thinking about getting a Cisco1200 at entry point and using it as a gateway, then getting a Linksys WAP11 as a wired repeater (there is already a hard connection to that room, so it would be solely meant for extending the wired connection).

What does everyone think?

PS: Ignore the names, I made it earlier this year for room assignments.

 

[James Bond]

bump