nhaydock
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Setting up wireless network on large estate - recommendations on setup, bandwidth and hardware
Hi,
I have been tasked with setting up a wireless network at my employers large estate. Requirement is that all rooms be able to have wireless access throughout the year and that the network be able to accommodate conference users every two years.
I have attached a file that outlines the estate and the approximate distances to the office. Currently there are two residential Time Warner Road Runner high speed cable internet lines (max 5mbps each) One going to the office #26 and one going to room #15.
The rooms are hardly ever full throughout the year, typically a max 3-5 (10 people) of them are only used at any one time during the year.
However every 2 years a big conference is held on the estate - all rooms are full and people also come from nearby hotels and need internet access to get at emails, etc. The conference usually hosts 70 people but I would say we can safely half that amount for those trying to get on the internet at any one time.
I have phoned Time Warner and we can get a Business (15mbps) Line on the estate and that this could possibly coexist with the current two residential lines. What I am thinking is getting the business line into room #15 (this has to be the permanent main line as it is under contract) and then getting the two current residential lines re-cabled to #42 and #31 or thereabouts (these are month to month contract lines and only firing these up when the conference comes round)
My questions:
1. Do you think the above strategy is any good?
2. Do you think we will have enough available bandwidth to support a max of 35 simultaneous connections?
3. If so how do I mange all 3 seperate connections and pass people off to the next router if one is maxed out?
4. what type of hardware would you reccommend using and where would I place them so the whole estate is lit up?
Am I missing anything? Budget is not really a big issue.......
Many Thanks
Neil
Estate-room-and-area-map.doc
I have been tasked with setting up a wireless network at my employers large estate. Requirement is that all rooms be able to have wireless access throughout the year and that the network be able to accommodate conference users every two years.
I have attached a file that outlines the estate and the approximate distances to the office. Currently there are two residential Time Warner Road Runner high speed cable internet lines (max 5mbps each) One going to the office #26 and one going to room #15.
The rooms are hardly ever full throughout the year, typically a max 3-5 (10 people) of them are only used at any one time during the year.
However every 2 years a big conference is held on the estate - all rooms are full and people also come from nearby hotels and need internet access to get at emails, etc. The conference usually hosts 70 people but I would say we can safely half that amount for those trying to get on the internet at any one time.
I have phoned Time Warner and we can get a Business (15mbps) Line on the estate and that this could possibly coexist with the current two residential lines. What I am thinking is getting the business line into room #15 (this has to be the permanent main line as it is under contract) and then getting the two current residential lines re-cabled to #42 and #31 or thereabouts (these are month to month contract lines and only firing these up when the conference comes round)
My questions:
1. Do you think the above strategy is any good?
2. Do you think we will have enough available bandwidth to support a max of 35 simultaneous connections?
3. If so how do I mange all 3 seperate connections and pass people off to the next router if one is maxed out?
4. what type of hardware would you reccommend using and where would I place them so the whole estate is lit up?
Am I missing anything? Budget is not really a big issue.......
Many Thanks
Neil
Estate-room-and-area-map.doc
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Do you have in mind your wireless hardware?
As far as bandwidth, IMHO, you have very good Internet bandwidth. I work in a rural area and the best we have is two - 2 MB business class DSL links linked via a multi-WAN router to somewhat combine the bandwidth.
We have about 80 users with Internet access via this link and most work days. Their Internet access is sporadic throughout the day and to subtract more bandwidth from our little 2 meg pipe we host our email to the tune of thousands of emails, 90% SPAM, the other link is shared with wireless INternet access for our hotel guests, 120 rooms. We usually only have maybe 20 guest users even when the hotel is full.
We get along very well. I think you will do fine.
The following link here on EE, in which I participated, may help you as you design your WLAN.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22963288/Wifi-in-public-areas.html
By the way, we use D-Link wirless APs and have about 10 inside APs (Access Points) and 4 outside access points.
If I can help further, ask.
John
As far as bandwidth, IMHO, you have very good Internet bandwidth. I work in a rural area and the best we have is two - 2 MB business class DSL links linked via a multi-WAN router to somewhat combine the bandwidth.
We have about 80 users with Internet access via this link and most work days. Their Internet access is sporadic throughout the day and to subtract more bandwidth from our little 2 meg pipe we host our email to the tune of thousands of emails, 90% SPAM, the other link is shared with wireless INternet access for our hotel guests, 120 rooms. We usually only have maybe 20 guest users even when the hotel is full.
We get along very well. I think you will do fine.
The following link here on EE, in which I participated, may help you as you design your WLAN.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22963288/Wifi-in-public-areas.html
By the way, we use D-Link wirless APs and have about 10 inside APs (Access Points) and 4 outside access points.
If I can help further, ask.
John
ASKER
Hi Johnjces,
No I havent determined hardware yet. The estate manager is the one who will be looking after the system and his technical expertise is non existant so we will need something fairly reliable and not something that will have to be restarted every couple of days/weeks.
Another thread that discusses some hardware is https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22779236/wireless-solution-large-estate.html
I am not sure if a WLAN controller is overkill. Just looking for reliability and hopefully something to manage distribution between the 3 connections during the conference period - can this be achieved - is this what your multi-WAN router achieves.
As for outside AP's - the conference tent will be located outside - does it make sense to put one of these in it?
Thanks for your help,
Neil
No I havent determined hardware yet. The estate manager is the one who will be looking after the system and his technical expertise is non existant so we will need something fairly reliable and not something that will have to be restarted every couple of days/weeks.
Another thread that discusses some hardware is https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22779236/wireless-solution-large-estate.html
I am not sure if a WLAN controller is overkill. Just looking for reliability and hopefully something to manage distribution between the 3 connections during the conference period - can this be achieved - is this what your multi-WAN router achieves.
As for outside AP's - the conference tent will be located outside - does it make sense to put one of these in it?
Thanks for your help,
Neil
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ASKER
Hi John,
Any particular reason you went with the above hw? Is this a more reliable business range? What about the new N standard routers - eg http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1154659754557&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=5455739789B02 or http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=530 - if I put one of these each at the end of my 3 connections and then access points where the signal doesnt reach ...........
Still not sure how I would manage these though....
Thanks
Neil
Any particular reason you went with the above hw? Is this a more reliable business range? What about the new N standard routers - eg http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1154659754557&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=5455739789B02 or http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=530 - if I put one of these each at the end of my 3 connections and then access points where the signal doesnt reach ...........
Still not sure how I would manage these though....
Thanks
Neil
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ASKER
Only one part of the question missing - how do I manage the 3 seperate connections...otherwise great answers
ASKER
We will not be hosting a web conference - its just a week long team building conference - people just need to check their emails and do some light internet browsing I imagine. The distance from room 15 to 48 is approx 240ft - there are walls in between and yes internet access would be required in all rooms year round.
Thanks
Neil