Mesh network for 24 apartment complex...

[flyboynm]

I came across an issue for a customer that looks like a no-win situation for them. They reported having frequent disconnects or extremely low speed when they are able to connect. Here is what I found:

• Everyone has their own ISP service in the complex, all are using their own routers and it has saturated the 2.4 Ghz range; I counted 29 networks on the 11 channels according to WiFi Analyzer but only 3 in the 5 Ghz range.
  
• Apartment complex was supposed to provide Internet to all tenants wirelessly but dropped the ball and people started to get their own service.

I have told the person that the "best" solution for them (only) is to get a router that supports 5Ghz connections and use that because there is no way that they are going to get a decent 2.4 Ghz connection with that many APs in the area. They asked me if I could recommend a network system to be installed to make it so there isn't as many APs conflicting with each other and that would cover the entire complex. I don't know commercial mesh systems but know home mesh networks. Can you suggest systems for me to look into?

 

[netwrks]

That would be a terrible solution. That would be like putting a mesh network in a hotel. You need a real router, that supports firewalling, vlans, with a real switch that supports vlans. Ethernet drops from each apartment to some location in the apartment building. with Ethernet connected dual band Access Points that support vlans, most likely controller based. Someone does have to do the power and channel planning though.. A wireless site audit would be a good start..

 

[thiggins]

The first step is to get everyone on a frequency plan using 20 MHz bandwidth and channels 1, 6 and 11 only, NO EXCEPTIONS. Properly assigning channels to avoid having the same channel used by people right next (or above/below) each other, would start to clear the congestion.

 

[tannebil]

It sounds like the person asking you is just one of the tenants, in which case I'd just stick with your advice for them to get a dual band access point and connect with 5Ghz. You can't fix every problem in the world and the only person that can implement netwrks and thiggins good advice is the owner of the building.

If the owner is the one asking for advice, the owner needs the expertise of a network pro to implement a proper solution.

 

[sfx2000]

The first step is to get everyone on a frequency plan using 20 MHz bandwidth and channels 1, 6 and 11 only, NO EXCEPTIONS. Properly assigning channels to avoid having the same channel used by people right next (or above/below) each other, would start to clear the congestion.

That's probably hard to do and enforce...

I think the horse has already left the barn there - the Apartment owner, if they were going to provide the broadband over WiFi, should have done things right.

Most broadband providers have solutions there, but it's up to the building owner/management company to engage them up front if they're going to do the broadband access...

 

[thiggins]

If the owner organizes/drives the process, it could succeed. Even if there were not 100% buy in, a smaller group experiment might convince others.
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wir...6-it-takes-a-neighborhood-to-fix-bad-wireless