Setup suggestion for better hardware to improve network speed

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webnz

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#171718 28-Apr-2015 23:26

I would like some input.

We have existing wifi environment in our motel but would like to have better coverage/speed as well as implement STB for watching youtube or iptv in the guest rooms.

Our motel is on ground floor with 8 unit side by side and the small office (point b) space in the middle of these units. So there is small office in between unit 4 and 5. It is approx 65-70m length. We also have managers house (point a) 20m away from unit 1.

We have fiber connection at point a. We use Triple play 150 (TP 150) wifi router at point a and from one of the port we have either net cable all the way to the office point b approx 55 to 60m. We have another router at the office netcomm wifi n300 gateway and it supplies either net cable to 2 of T-Link 2.4GHz High Power Wireless Outdoor CPE TL-WA5210G.

One of 2.4GHz High Power Wireless Outdoor CPE TL-WA5210G is facing unit 1 to 4 and the other one is facing unit 5 to 8.

we thought about getting Wifi Bridge to feed STB in each room but the speed was unstable and you could only get around 1-2mbps.

I am thinking if I use commercial switch or router for the network, you might get better speed or I am also thinking to have switch hub in the office and hardwire the network cable to each room so that you can get faster speed than through wifi.

Do anybody out there have good recommendation on what sort of hardware I should be looking for?

pdath

252 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1293244 29-Apr-2015 07:41

If you want a STB you really need to run cables to each room to be confident of getting a good result.

With regard to WiFi you are also in a challenging environment, because your environment keeps changing. Guests will come and go, and so will all of there devices (particularly their interfering devices).

I think a Cisco 2504 wireless lan controller, with 702W access points and a 2960-X PoE switch would make a very nice solution, but you could easily be looking at $12k to $15k to fit your Motel out.

The 2504 is a centralised wireless lan controller. It does RF spectrum management, and will perform an RF scan every 10 minutes using Cisco access points to map out all the interfering devices. It then calculates the optimal spread of frequencies and power levels used to maximised performance/coverage of the entire environment and re-configures the access points. No human will be able to do a better job - and it repeats the process every 10 minutes. So it will completely adapt to your changing environment.

Next the AP702W. This is a bottom of the line Cisco access point, only being a 2x2 - however if is a "wall jack" access point. You run a cable to the room, and rather than putting an RF45 jack on the wall you fit this. It is white and reasonably discrete. The 702W has a built in access point (so every room ends up with an access point inside of it) and it has a built in 4 port Gigabit switch. You then either plug into one of these for Internet, or plug in a STB. One of the ports can supply PoE, so you can also plug a PoE device into it (like a VoIP phone).

And lastly, the 2960-X PoE switch. This can supply up to 30W of power to each port. If you use this, then it can power the AP702W's, so you don't have to supply any local power to the devices in the room. It will all be centrally supplied. Then you can palce the 702W's in the best place, as opposed to near a power point.

Cisco 2504: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/2500-series-wireless-controllers/data_sheet_c78-645111.html
Cisco AP702W: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/aironet-700-series/data_sheet_c78-728968.html
Cisco 2960-X: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/catalyst-2960-x-series-switches/index.html

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timmmay

20580 posts

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#1293245 29-Apr-2015 07:44

I've been in huge hotels overseas, spread out and skyscraper, many have a wifi router in each room. I suspect wired ethernet will be the best solution, though probably more trouble and cost than wireless.

webnz

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1293252 29-Apr-2015 08:01

Thank you for the reply.

I forgot to add budget for this project. I was looking around 2 to 3k not including STB boxes.

Cisco option looks what needs to be done properly but the problem would be the cost.

I think it is feasible to install cables in each rooms and setup individual Wifi router ( this might not be the best option in terms of security but the router would be hidden maybe on the roof space)

If this is the case, wifi router could be domestic ones but the switch router which will be setup in the office (point b) needs to be for commercial. cisco 2960-X still looks out of budget is there lower end model that you would recommend in this small business setup?

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#1293273 29-Apr-2015 08:12

The simple answer if you really need an expert to come and look at things. That sort of environment would probably need at least 3 APs to deliver a solid solution - but best practice these days is always indoor APs with one every 1-2 rooms.

pdath

252 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1293276 29-Apr-2015 08:19

I don't think you have sufficient budget to do this job well.

Perhaps you could split this into to smaller projects?

Perhaps in the first year get copper cabling into every room. Get a switch, and cable your existing access points to it. This would form the base of your infrastructure.

Then in the next year get start putting access points into the rooms. Perhaps one in every second room to begin with, and then increase density as money allows. Make sure you choose something that can be permanently mounted so you don't have kit that disappears with the guests.

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pdath

252 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1293278 29-Apr-2015 08:20

ps. You will also get a much better result using more lower power access points than a small number of high power access points.

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