I currently have approximately 50 WAP54G v.2 and v.3.1 AP's and I am in the planning stages for their deployment throughout 27 offices where 2 or 3 will be used to blanket each office with signal.
These are small offices where one AP could in most cases cover the area but there would be dead spots due to walls and if I'm in the room my thick head. My initial intention was to deploy one unit with 1 or two others setup as repeaters to eliminate dead spots.
To ease the configuration burden the primary unit will contain the MAC filter list for all devices attaching to the assigned SSID. Eliminating the need to update each unit with the MAC lists.
In most cases I will have no more then 5 to 10 wireless devices ever connect to the network so yes it isn't a big deal but anywhere I can cut out configuration is helpful.
I've completed a test installation and was unable to get the repeater function to work on the second unit until I physically cabled it into the switch. So I assume that the WAP54G will not work as a repeater without it being physically cabled. Once cabled I found that the repeater worked well and I was able to get signal throughout the office with high performance and no dead spots as expected. But I was unable to hop from one cell to the other as I moved in and out of the different areas of the office.
My inquiry now focuses on the refinement of the installation and its usage. I will have user's roaming in and out of each radios broadcast pattern and would like to enable the user's systems to seamlessly hop from one cell to another as the signal strength wanes and builds.
Would I accomplish this through channel separation; having the primary AP broadcast on one channel and the repeaters on other channels?
Is there anything I need to do on the client system's machines to make sure they will hop cells when the signal strength is at certain levels?
I've read many wonderful posts similar to this one and understand from one post that I could go with each unit setup as an AP with the same SSID, channel and security allowing the user's to seamlessly roam between cells with little to no service interuption. Due to the close proximity of the units I wonder if this would not cause contention and if I shouldn't seperate the channel's.
Being lazy I would like to go with the repeater option but if I will get the best performance by setting up each unit as a seperate AP with the same SSID, security and channel then I will take that route. Come to think of it I will probably be able to just copy the config from one unit to the next and just adjust the IP so I guess I can exude my lazyness in either approach. "It's good to be consistant unless being chased by a tiger or bear."
In any case let me know what your suggestion would be for my rambling. I expect to have each AP cabled to the switch so I could go either way.
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