large scale wireless (800 users)

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oROEchimaru

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If we had a jack going to each classroom... and wanted wireless n routers...

how many users can connect to one router? are there any higher end routers that allow 30 users to each connection?

i was thinking of having 1 lan port to each classroom... then one router in each classroom.. then the students could connect their laptops to the router. we might do 1 router ever 2 classrooms meaning 60 users... what is the best router under 200$ that would support this, if there isn't... what is the next option?
 
1) You dont want a router. You want an Access Point.
2) How are you going to control bandwidth? File sharing? Virus (personal laptops I guess)
3) Who is going to show the students how to connect their laptops? Provide troubleshooting?
 
to support 800 users you really are going to need to look at putting a proper controller based wireless solution in utilising thin-ap's. a drop to each room and then a so-ho ap is just not going to cut it. you are going to get horrible interference issues, roaming will be a problem, and keeping unauthorised people out is going to be tricky. plus, do you really want to have to configure and manage each fat-ap manually?

we have an aruba system at work and it is fantastic! singularly on the controllers we create the band of network we want (a,b,g), the ssid's we want to advertise, the encryption and authentication required, the vlans clients are placed on, the firewall to control access to resources and then provision the thin-ap's. job done.

the amount of invisible money you are going to waste in time and grief managing a load of fat-ap's will soon outweigh the cost of a proper wireless system.
 
EEP. Where to start. I fully agree with the previous two posters.

OP, you are in for one huge headache if you go with standalone wireless routers or gateways. You might also look into a Cisco Wireless Control System setup, or similar products from other vendors.

What is your budget and timeline?

If you could provide us with some more information on your situation, we can give you more input for your project.

*this thread remind anyone of the hotel wireless thread?*
 
No offense but if you are calling them "wireless routers" then I would highly suggest you find a consultant in your area that can do wireless rollouts for large organizations. You can probably get by with staggering APs every other classroom on either side of hallways if you get good Cisco, Aruba or Meru APs and wireless controllers. They can generally handle 20-40 concurrent connections although keep in mind each client is sharing the bandwidth that the AP is capable of. A good wireless control system will shift clients from AP to AP to load balance.

 
For something that large scale look into setting up a wireless mesh network for the entire area.
 
jroe52 said:
If we had a jack going to each classroom... and wanted wireless n routers...

how many users can connect to one router? are there any higher end routers that allow 30 users to each connection?

i was thinking of having 1 lan port to each classroom... then one router in each classroom.. then the students could connect their laptops to the router. we might do 1 router ever 2 classrooms meaning 60 users... what is the best router under 200$ that would support this, if there isn't... what is the next option?
Click to expand...

We have notebook carts that have fixed aps on them, for schools that haven't been upgraded to wireless. We use a cisco aps, and most schools have at least three or four in a hallway. remember if you do that, you are going to need a good firewall because there are child information privacy acts you have to adhere to. This is going to require them logging in to the wireless ap. While it might seem cheaper now, getting someone with that knowledge and expertise isn't cheap. Also I don't think it was easy to add wireless to each school. It required federal funding based on the amount of money the parents at the schools make. The rich schools don't have wireless access, so they use a single AP that fixes to the cart. They just wheel the cart to the room and plug it into the drop.
 
thanks for the feedback... i'm just trying to get ideas for a principal again..

what would be a proper budget for wireless to server 800 people? its hard to state i suppose! hmm...

3 computer labs x 40pcs (on ALL the time)
40 classrooms x 30 pcs (on at a time, when students in class)

800 users total online (so there will be more access areas than people on at a time)
 
jroe52 said:
thanks for the feedback... i'm just trying to get ideas for a principal again..

what would be a proper budget for wireless to server 800 people? its hard to state i suppose! hmm...

3 computer labs x 40pcs (on ALL the time)
40 classrooms x 30 pcs (on at a time, when students in class)

800 users total online (so there will be more access areas than people on at a time)
Click to expand...

It would be cheaper if they are pcs to just wire them, and seriously I don/t think anyone here is going to take the time to budget out something like that. You might as well get a consultant.
 
you'd want to bridge several access points together. Go with Cisco.

Cisco FTW.

A proper budget? Probably over $1-2k
 
Properly...

Cisco 1242 access points (AIR-AP1242AG-A-K9)
Cisco WLC 100 (AIR-WLC4404-100-K9) if you have more than 100ap's add another controller.
 
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