Help No Wireless Bandwidth in NYC Apartment

[wsmahone]

Hi i am desperate because i cannot get any bandwidth on a wireless network I am setting up for a client.
I have a sonicwall TZ100 and two D-Link DAP-2553. The connections will be full signal but i barely get any speed. My internet speed connection is tested and fine. I previously tried an engenious ap and had similar problems. I am right next to an apple store in manhattan and their are tons of wifi networks around me. I have tried changing channels etc. Is there a product you recommend which will do a better job? How can i get some more bandwidth?? Right now the devices that need to be connected are 3 macbookpros, 2 ipads, 2 iphones and a blackberry. Will hacking a router be a solution?

 

[stevech]

first, what have you done to confirm that the low speeds are due to heavy traffic from the Apple store? How far away? How many walls in the path? What kind of walls?

Unlikely that the store is the problem.

Have you tried your kit of stuff when the store is unoccupied?

 

[wsmahone]

more details

its not just the apple store(its across the store).. There are about 30 wifi networks when i run a network analyzer. One of the AP's are in the same room as where they are having trouble. The 2nd AP is at the other end of the apartment which also has speed issues. I have tried the engenius product with the same luck. There is also cordless phone system in the building.

 

[keenanj]

Your problem is there are no clear channels because of all the networks around you.

The solution is to use a Ruckus zoneflex AP with beamflex.

beamflex stears the signal at the device cutting out interfierence. We have installed in many situations like your and the problems went away.

more information on the ruckus 7363 here

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=333

The 7363 also has a dual band radio so your macbook pro and ipad 2 can use the less congested 5.8Ghz radio to connect.

 

[wsmahone]

thanks! how will two of the rukus aps work together?

I need two of these rukus ap's. Will they work well together/talk to each other? I will have one at one end of the building and another at the other end.

 

[claykin]

I need two of these rukus ap's. Will they work well together/talk to each other? I will have one at one end of the building and another at the other end.

Ruckus does not support repeater mode. Are you using Repeater mode with your 2 x Dlink 2553? If so, try to use only one AP and see if throughput improves. I bet it does. Repeater mode is typically crap and in a best case scenario cuts your bandwidth in half. Sometimes its worse than that.

Ruckus can be made to support true Mesh however it requires the Zone Director a somewhat pricey manager for a 2 AP office.

You may be better off setting the 2 APs on different channels and use the same SSID. Most devices will switch between APs quickly and won't cause an issue. However, if your users are expecting true seamless coverage (i.e. streaming media while walking from one side to the other) then this recommendation may not be acceptable to them.

 

[stevech]

You may be jumping to conclusions that your poor speed is due to the adjacent SSIDs. The number of SSIDs detected by your survey method is not at all significant. I live in a townhouse complex and there are 20 or so SSIDs in range and none bear much traffic.

What you need is a tool that shows you long term (24 hours or more) of UTILIZATION by channel (with yours mostly idle). With this info (usually as a histogram graphic), you can see what channels have light traffic. Then choose a channel for your SSID, ideally 1, 6 or 11 to avoid overlaps.

My experience is that very few people stream video or FTPs hour after hour, and use up a large percentage of the available air time on a channel. (actually, several channels, because WiFi channels overlap one another, hence the 1, 6, 11 non-overlapping). Even streaming Netflix uses only small part of the available channel capacity in WiFi. Streaming HD from a home media server can use half or so of the channel capacity. But most HD media server streaming doesn't use WiFi because of the high dropped frame rate of WiFi for HD 1080.


So it's very very likely that you can find a means to do what you want.

More access points on your WiFi plus prudent channel selection = better speed.

 

[keenanj]

The ruckus system does support repeater mode or meshing this requires the zonedirector

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=234

Since these are dual band AP's they use a freee 5.8Ghz channel to do the uplink for the meshing. This gives you %100 of the bandwidth unlike other repeaters that use a single radio and cut the bandwidth in 1/2.

The zonedirector will configure the AP's and choose the best channels and power output to avoid interference.

 

[stevech]

mesh networks with 2.4GHz access and 5.8GHz band backhaul (mesh) is commonly used in such professional level ($$$) products. Such as from Tropos, Cisco (not Linksys), Aruba, and many others. Some, such as Tropos, operate without a central controller; what is central is network admin.

of course, a mesh network is a big overkill for the problem being the subject of this thread.