+Byt Subscriber¹ Posted May 14, 2012 Subscriber¹ Share Posted May 14, 2012 Hey All, I am looking to get a few wireless access points for a hotel, they have a dedicated broadband line in and working for guests but the wireless doesnt reach all over the building, so im thinking of getting a couple of Access Points and plugging them into the current router via a normal CAT5 Cable. Could someone help me find a reliable and good performance access point? I have seen these - http://www.ebuyer.com/220595-netgear-wireless-n-universal-range-extender-wn2000rpt-100uks But apparently they arnt to good and the signal can be abit up and down. Any suggestions would be welcome! Cheers Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japlabot Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 If the owners do not care about the brain cells of their guests and staff: https://www.neowin.net/news/review-amped-wireless-r10000g-high-power-router Ambroos and remixedcat 2 Share Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864629 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Byt Subscriber¹ Posted May 14, 2012 Author Subscriber¹ Share Posted May 14, 2012 That what now? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864639 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted May 14, 2012 MVC Share Posted May 14, 2012 Normally a large area, that will have a number of wireless users (like a hotel) with good coverage and performance requires a bit more thought than picking out a AP and plugging it in ;) How large is this hotel? How many users on at 1 time? So your saying the only wireless now is some SOHO router with wireless? Is this really not a hotel, but like a bed and breakfast sort of building? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864641 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Byt Subscriber¹ Posted May 14, 2012 Author Subscriber¹ Share Posted May 14, 2012 Its a 14 room hotel ;) nothing massive so i would call it more a bed&breakfast! Users on at any one time i would say 10. Currently the wireless on their BT Router is switched to off because it is lacking in performance, it keeps dropping out aswell. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864645 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted May 14, 2012 MVC Share Posted May 14, 2012 Ok this is a start. Do you have a layout - can you draw a rough one with rough distances. And we can guess the best location and number or AP that will be needed. Its always best to have a wireless survey done for coverage. But with what amounts to a large home, we could prob get by with using are best judgement. What kind of budget do you have for the devices, and needed wire runs? What bandwidth do you have now? No use in spending for N routers if your internet is 2mb, etc. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864649 Share on other sites More sharing options...
remixedcat Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 If the owners do not care about the brain cells of their guests and staff: http://www.neowin.ne...gh-power-router Nope... this one is much better!!! http://www.ampedwireless.com/products/r20000g.html 10,000 sq foot coverage! usb filesharing guest networks! Crisp 1 Share Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864669 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Byt Subscriber¹ Posted May 14, 2012 Author Subscriber¹ Share Posted May 14, 2012 I believe they have a 12mb download broadband service at the moment. 1MB Upload. They have put by ?400 for the entire hardware, this is excluding all labour etc. They have a guy who does all their cabling so he would run the cables where i would need them etc. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864681 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted May 14, 2012 MVC Share Posted May 14, 2012 So do you have rough drawing we can look at to make an estimate on number needed and location. UK, I would assume the walls are like bomb shelter brick walls then ;) Seems lots of people in the uk have trouble with coverage due to the better construction of the buildings vs here in the us where walls are thin and just wood with drywall. Depending on the layout will determine if we can get by with just omni directional antenna or should use directional, etc. More than likely your going to want an AP that allows you to adjust the power out, be it native firmware or something we can run 3rd party firmware to accomplish that. Since we wont have a survey - do you have a wireless ap/router you can use now to do our own rough survey. Does not have actually have internet (wired to your network). But it's nice to turn it on in the location we think will work, and then check with laptop the actual coverage area with inssider or wifi analyzer, etc (free tools). What power it should be set too, etc.. You don't always want to turn it up to full. This can save a lot of work in placement being bad, and either having to move it or get another AP, because you have a dead spot that we could of spotted with a few minutes of pretesting. Its more work than just buying the most expensive wireless router and plugging it in - but the guests will be very happy with the coverage if you take a bit of care in planning it, etc. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864693 Share on other sites More sharing options...
episode Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 BudMan will probably get his panties in a bunch about this, but I could care less. OpenMesh IMO. Get the single band OM2Ps. They run $75 each. They have a planning guide available here: http://www.cloudtrax...nning_guide.pdf That will give you a good idea on what you need to cover the area. The beauty of the system, though, is that if there is a dead spot, you just buy another one. +BudMan 1 Share Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864699 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Byt Subscriber¹ Posted May 14, 2012 Author Subscriber¹ Share Posted May 14, 2012 See your kinda on the right track though Budman with regards to the bomb shelter. Its a very very very old historic building (its why it attracts so many visitors) so the walls are an issue! I have InSSIDer which i will use on my laptop to see how the coverage is. I am tempted by that Amped one though! Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864705 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambroos Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 See your kinda on the right track though Budman with regards to the bomb shelter. Its a very very very old historic building (its why it attracts so many visitors) so the walls are an issue! I have InSSIDer which i will use on my laptop to see how the coverage is. I am tempted by that Amped one though! Please, don't. I beg of you. Amped Wireless is ridiculously expensive. I'm not sure how their pricing is and how hard/easy they are to get, but the Cisco Small Business AP's are great and very discrete. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864725 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted May 14, 2012 MVC Share Posted May 14, 2012 "BudMan will probably get his panties in a bunch about this" :blink: That actually looks like a Great suggestion - just reading over the guide you provided. And I have not used them before, this is the first I have heard of them. But this looks like a very good option to be honest from the quick breeze over I just did of the guide. I would take a deeper look at that for sure. I love the part in the guide where they clearly point out that in repeater mode you will half your bandwidth on each hop! And they give examples of how to lay it out in your building. This looks to be the exact sort of solution for his setup. Clearly a better option than just buying some off the shelf AP/Router and doing it on your own without any thought to coverage and bandwidth, etc. Kind of confused why you feel this would be be something I would be against? Looks like a company that is providing a solution to smb's that requires little technical skill, etc. Great Suggestion!!! Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864795 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 We've just learned to love you the way you are Budman ;p Japlabot 1 Share Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594864805 Share on other sites More sharing options...
manroweb Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 You definitely need to do a proper wireless survey. There are free tools out there which can help. I would then look at zyxel ap's. The NWA 3160's or 3166's, has the option of running in controller mode which will mean it can and you can control them easily. Previous installs I have done have resulted in AP's being put in up in false ceilings etc so I would go POE if you can (will need POE switches). Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594865317 Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom1981 Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 I use the dap-2360's at work. Plenum Rated chasis ,poe and everything. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594865351 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Byt Subscriber¹ Posted May 14, 2012 Author Subscriber¹ Share Posted May 14, 2012 In all honesty i didnt think there was to much to it but now i see that i do need to get a proper survey carried out, i may get a fellow techy to attend site with me as ive not done it before, hes a networking guy so must know about this! Thanks for the advice, this is exactly why i like posting here :) it might make me look like a clueless idiot, but id rather learn the proper way than to waste clients money and doing a half-assed job. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594865379 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted May 14, 2012 MVC Share Posted May 14, 2012 Yeah you can do a rough survey with just wireless router/AP and a laptop with some free tools on it. Just put the router/ap in the location you feel is good, and then walk around with the laptop and measure the strength of the signal. The router/AP does not have to actually be connected to the internet. Your just measuring the strength of the signal to see how many you will need to cover the area. Best to put the device as close to where you feel your going to mount them as possible. If need be use a ladder or something you can move around to get at the heights they will be mounted, etc. If you have a mac you could try this out for doing your survey - http://www.netspotapp.com/ here is a free windows based on - http://www.ekahau.com/products/heatmapper/overview.html -Alex- and +Byt 2 Share Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594865609 Share on other sites More sharing options...
remixedcat Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Don't want to lug a laptop around? Amped wireless has an app for that! +Byt 1 Share Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594865691 Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Alex- Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 <snip> here is a free windows based on - http://www.ekahau.co...r/overview.html Thanks for that link, downloaded & installed it, and it looks pretty useful. I have a plan for it already, so thanks BudMan! :) +Byt 1 Share Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1077149-wireless-access-point-for-a-hotel/#findComment-594865989 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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