Need advice for a large property solution

[chalkytannins]

My parents are building a large house and I was wondering if I could receive some advice on how best to build out the wireless system. Currently the custom installer has spec'd out Apple Airport Extremes, and that was a red flag to me.

Consistent and reliable speeds are probably my number one concern, as the property may sit for months at a time unoccupied and the wireless will be used for Crestron home automation control through tablets and or touchpanels.

Given no budget constraints, what sort of solution would you guys suggest to provide maximum performance, coverage, and reliability? There are cat6 Ethernet drops everywhere on the property for hooking up APs.

Is it better to have a lot of E4200's acting as access points or are there simpler solutions? I would like to be able to walk around the property with a tablet/laptop and not have to manually reconnect to access points, is this an issue? Pardon my naivety and noobiness.

Thanks for your help.

EDIT: Should i be looking at cisco aironet or Ruckus wireless?

 

[Mangusta1969]

We need more information on your situation:

How big is the property (in square feet)? If a multifloor property, how many square feet on each floor?
What are the longest distances for the wireless signal to travel?
How many walls and floors must the wireless signal penetrate?
What is the construction type (wood, reinforced concrete, etc)?
What kind of sustained throughput speeds are you looking for?
How many client devices will be operating simultaneously?
Will other wireless networks be nearby to cause interference?

I am covering a 3 story 9000 square foot house and several outbuildings with 2000 additional square feet, all on a .8acre property with a single Ubiquiti PowerAP-N 2.4 GHz wireless router. I have about 6 wireless clients active. I previously tried using an E4200 without much success in range or overall reliability. In my situation, it would have taken about 3 E4200s in a wired setup to attain the same area coverage.

Your plan to extensively wire the new house with Cat6 is a good one and will give you a lot of flexibility for the future. I didn't have the same options with covering a big house built back in 1879...

 

[thiggins]

You are 90% on the way to a solution by having plentiful Ethernet drops. The most reliable way to have good wireless coverage is with multiple access points connected via Ethernet.

Without know construction type and layout, the first step would be to plan at least one AP per floor. Make sure there are Ethernet drops in attic and basement space, or at least a conduit / chase where you could pull a cable if you needed it. If you have a pool / patio area, run drops there, or at least get one outside on a wall facing the areas to be covered. This will make is easier to add outdoor APs.

Seamless roaming (smoothly moving among access points is another issue). Roaming is controlled at the client. Most clients are set to be very "Sticky", i.e. they stay associated to the first AP they find, even when throughput drops.

Hopefully, the mobile Crestron controllers have a roaming aggressiveness setting.

Consider a compromise by naming APs differently and manually selecting the best one.

I'd look at APs, not converted routers. I don't think you need to pay the premium that Cisco and Ruckus ask. Check Ubiquiti and Engenius products.