sorority house - what router/wap??

[ASDCR]

hi everybody

this one is a bit of a long shot for me... i'm not used to dealing with wifi networks with end-user load of this order -- i'm glad i got the account, and i'd like to keep it -- yes, this is a bit of a challenge for me, so i look forward to growing through this experience and increasing my technical knowledge and experience

i'm being called in to a situation where they have a (consumer grade DLink DIR655) router and a couple "mix-n-match" WAPs (Amped Wireless AP300 and Linksys WAP54G) - i'm being asked to make some recommendations as to how to improve connectivity in the house

there are 35 residents living on the premises (sorority house in the san diego state area - yeah, i know - can't seem to catch a break can i... ) -- there are three floors in the structure - router is on the first floor (SE corner) - WAPs on the second and third floors (SW corner and SE corner, respectively) -- catV connecting them all

the current complaints are that they often can't seem to connect to a wifi device - or, having connected, stay connected - also, the on-screen indication is that they are connected with good signal, but they are unable to get through to the internet

while i was there (mid-morning on a weekday - admittedly during a low-usage time) i had no trouble whatsoever connecting my laptop to all three wifi devices from the same location (ie - signal to the furthest WAP was sufficient from the furthest point in the residence - thus, i don't think raw signal strength is the problem)

i suspect its just a matter of the poor lil wifi network just getting over-taxed (unequal load distribution?) - everybody connecting to the downstairs router and no others, for example

we must also consider a small number of residents logging on to youtube/netflix/pandora and soaking up all the available bandwidth... (??) -- this is sdsu after all

i did a bandwidth speed test and found that they're getting 10-12MB from cox

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my questions... would you recommend a hardware refresh? current h/w is vintage late-2009 (?)

but also... shouldn't the existing h/w be able to handle 10-15 simultaneous users??

 

[phaZed]

I would certainly recommend that the routers be placed in a central location as opposed to the corners of the residency.

The hardware, like you say, should be able to handle that many users without problem. I think your right, the ISP bandwidth is probably not enough and is causing load errors.

Another thing to think about is that the users are only going to get the bandwidth of the wireless connection.. and further.. your access point probably does not allow simultaneous a/b/g/n operation.. so you could be locked into slower wifi tech depending on who is connecting. 54mbps anyone?

 

[smashedbotatos]

The current hardware should be fine in this situation, but in my experience I would suggest a couple things.

1. Centralized location for the AP on each floor.

2. I would suggest to them that the ISP bandwith is possibly not sufficient for that many users. Maybe an upgrade to business class?

3. I would set it so you can't use Wireless A,B we all know what happens when that happens.

4. If they decide for Non-Consumer grade use Cisco 800 Series Router and WAP4410N AP.

It really sounds like a no bandwidth problem though. Sorority girls and their Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, and Torrents (especially if it isn't blocked).

 

[Encrypted Existence]

Sorority girls and their Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, and Torrents (especially if it isn't blocked).

You left out Facebook.

 

[phaZed]

You left out Facebook.

It would take a sorority house to saturate a 10-12MB connection simply using facebook, wouldn't it?

 

[ASDCR]

thx guys

(ps... did you notice someone added the tag "pillow fights" to this thread?!)lol

 

[synack2]

They call me the Wi-Fi Man.

I have done a ton of AP's in heavy use enviroments for Universities and the like. I like to use Ubiquity, but Proxim is a close second. If those aren't in the budget I have really fallen in love with Tenda Routers for budget installs. They $14.99 at Micro Center, and have good coverage, can be set to G or N. They have a nice feature set for controlling via mac addresses limiting bandwidth to each users so no one user hogs it all etc. You can turn off DHCP and just not connect to the WAN port and plug you ehternet into the 4 port switch and it bridges to the Wi-Fi. Then just give each one a seperate IP address on in the Lan Range for Management. Also since the have a 4 port switch built in, you can link the ethernet from one to another on the same floor etc and daisy chain a "backbone" for them to ride on.

Rember, Wi-Fi is Colision Avoidance not Collision Detection like Ethernet. All WiFi Cards see the the Access Point but not each other, so the Access Point says who is allowed to transmit.

You need more AP's to hanlde that many clients without congestion. The problem is that with G you only get 3 sets of non overlaping channels, 1, 6, 11. Wireless N only has 3 Sets of non overlaping channels in the 2.4 Ghz Band as well, so the same rules apply. I would use G in this situation. Slower to each client is better for sharing the overall internet pipe. If this was a connection to actual data servers on a 100Meg LAN connection or something though I would choose N, because it is better to have them transmit as quick as possible and get out of the way for the next guy.

Now normally, I do an onsite accessment. I charge $125 and hour for it. I like to take one access point and my laptop and see how far I can go vertically and horizontally in the building before I drop to just one bar. Then I Know I could get another Access point at thos location on the same channels without too much interfernece. I then calculate how to get the most access point I can, interfering the least.


So normally I would do
(You probably wont need this many for your situation, maybe 3 or 4 total.)

__________________________________
1..................................................11
__________________________________
.........................6...........................
__________________________________
11.................................................1
__________________________________

OR in a really congested situation I will split channels in the middle somewhere


___________________________
1..................6..................11
___________________________
........9...................3............
___________________________
11.................6....................1
___________________________

Yes they will interfere a bit but the benefit of adding more total access points often outweighs it. Notice that when I split I could have wen with 3 or 4 I chose 3 because it has less over with 6 than with 1 and 6 is closer than 1.

Also Be weary of other things that run in teh 2.4ghz band, Bluetooth, Cordless Phones, Baby Monitors, Leaky Microwave ovens. If it is an interference problem you may need to rent a spectrum analyzer or find a two way radio shop that will do an onsite assesment for you to look for potential interference.

 

[732914TECH]

are all of the ssid's the same on the routers, or each AP has a different ssid?