Condo WiFi

[Kona Makai]

I am slightly, or more, over my head here, but I have been reading through several of the posts here and elsewhere to learn as much as I can to try to improve a WiFi system I inherited at a 102 unit condo complex.

I currently have a 15mbs Oceanic service using a ZyXel P-974 Modem feeding a D-Link DIR 655 Router. From here it goes out to two wired and three wireless EnGenius EOR7550 APs.

My problem is users constantly getting booted during high demand periods due to insufficient bandwidth.

What I am looking at is adding a 50mbs service using a Motorola SB6141 and the ZyXel both bridged into a Cisco Dual WAN RV082. This will allow us to use both the 15 and 50mbs services and use the load balance function of the router. From what I can tell this will give me the throughput and support up to 100+ users.

Next I am looking at the EnGenius EGS2110P switch(s). If my thinking is correct this will allow me to get rid of the injectors. I can then connect the APs directly via Ethernet using the PoE of the switch. I would like to connect all APs via Ethernet to improve speed and reliability.

Are there any flaws to my plan and does anyone have any suggestions that would improve upon it? I do not want to replace the APs as they seem to work good, I have extras if I need to replace or improve coverage in the future and they are already in place.

My main goal is to improve bandwidth service, speed and reliability...and keep costs down as much as possible.

One last thing to consider is I would like to add IP cameras in the future if the system will handle them.

Any help or information will be greatly appreciated.

 

[stevech]

with your 15Mbps service... that should be fine. Do you have hoggy users on the system?
Please elaborate on 'getting booted for insufficient bandwidth...'

102 units.
X percent of them use this WiFi?
they share 15Mpbs?

I think you need more than 15Mbps AND you need a per user or grade of service based bandwidth management router - none of the consumer products can do this

Maybe you should hire a competent pro.

 

[remixedcat]

Use QoS and VLANs. Those will help manage the B/W and make it so people don't choke the network.

 

[Kona Makai]

Thank you both for the replies.

Yes, 15Mpbs shared.

There are a lot of vacation rental units here and high occupancy is when we start having problems. Users get slow speeds, can't connect to internet or get disconnected. Typically reboot modem and router fixes it for a short time.

There are lots of users that stream and download movies plus all of the smartphones and tablets seem to just overload the system.

I agree, I should hire someone competent. Unfortunately the association will not give me the budget for that and there does not seem to be much for competence available here. I have tried to get references from other associations that have WiFi. (outer islands of Hawaii)

So I am left to try to make it work the best I can with what money I have available and I am able to figure out on my own. I just have to use what money I have available to get the most results I can.

If you can recommend a consultant that could work remotely I would be interested.

 

[stevech]

a good consultant will want a good fee, either hourly or fixed price for job.
I do that, but I wouldn't take the job for the kind of HOA you describe.

 

[CooCooCaChoo]

The ISP may not like what you are about to do. Is that connection going to be a business line or a residential line? You may pickup some flak from them if and when they find out. What's the layout of the buildings like? Are they separate structures or is it a multilevel single building?

But definitely one thing you will need is a larger pipe and a faster router that has good QoS in order to handle that large of a number of clients.

Let's say that each unit has four people living there. There's a computer, and at least two smartphones that can connect to the wireless network. Three devices per unit, 306 devices in this scenario. You're gonna have to setup subnets in order to accommodate the potential number of devices that can connect.

And like I said, a much faster pipe because 15 even 50 megabits is going to be like trying to drink from a well and everybody has a thimble. Somebody's going to have to pony up the cash for a faster connection to satisfy everybody. Our live with it.