AP advice

[mgbolts]

Hi, great site and often my first port of call for great advice. Snb was first intro to ubuntu and nas servers (still running well 2 years later, thank you!)

I need some advice on networking a large country estate with several separate buildings with thick stone walls.

Each of the buildings have got cat 5 but the number of outlets are very limited. The broad plan is to use a single router for dhcp for the site. I wish to then use a combination of several ethernet switches and wireless access points to cover the site. Unfortunately some of the rooms will need some sort of wireless bridging or similar technology as I can't get the cat 5 everywhere as the building is too large.

It seems to me that I should purchase a bunch of identical wireless n routers and switch off dhcp. This gives me maximum flexibility to hang pcs and printers off a location and also provide an access point which could also be a bridge or similar.

Absolute speed is not a priority albeit who likes a slow network. Extensive features seems important due to the different duties each of the boxes might perform. Stability is a must. Reasonable qos for voip is helpful.

In terms of price, a 'bmw' seems right as opposed to a porshe or a Hyundai.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Regards
Mark

Ps. I have assumed that simple access points are exactly that and for a very small extra cost, the wireless routers deliver vastly more features?

 

[thiggins]

Actually, access points may have features better suited for what you are trying to do. All of the whizzy features in routers aren't available once you convert them to APs.

Have you considered powerline as part of your solution?

 

[mgbolts]

Thanks Tim, glad I posted, the power line solution is a good fix for some problem areas in difficult parts of the buildings.
i presume that they are not just point to point and you can add several plugs and they act as network.

I will do some homework on the the access points as you suggested. Do you have any favorites?

Regards

 

[thiggins]

Thanks Tim, glad I posted, the power line solution is a good fix for some problem areas in difficult parts of the buildings.
i presume that they are not just point to point and you can add several plugs and they act as network.

You can. Powerline isn't perfect, however. So you might want to purchase a pair and run some experiments. Make sure you buy all the same make and model. I recommend you stick with products using HomePlug AV.

I will do some homework on the the access points as you suggested. Do you have any favorites?

I mostly review routers. But you might look at EnGenius' stuff. They have many models, and many with repeating, bridging features and the ability to attach higher power antennas.