Outdoor network

[sm00thpapa]

Orbi might work well also. You can add as many satellites as you need.


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[MichaelCG]

Someone with more true RF experience should really chime in here....I am an arm-chair RF guy mostly since this isn't my daily job anymore. Dedicated/Special antennas can help depending on the design and implementation. There is a big difference in a high dB gain omni antenna vs a high gain directional antenna.

Is it pointless to have a "high power" AP? Mostly yes. Blindly blasting out signal to clients who may not be able to blast back with equal power won't generally end up in a good user experience.

Is it pointless to have a "high gain" antenna on the AP? Depends on the design and use case.

You have to strike a balance of the client and the AP being able to hear each other. "Usually" you will strike a better balance by making the distance between the clients and AP so you have less RF "magic" required to get the desired performance.

As for the testing apps...yes, they base their scoring off of the signal strength the client sees from the AP. Does not take into account the signal strength of the client as seen by the AP.

 

[ascanio1]

You can always keep the router indoors and run a wire to an outdoor antenna.


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This is a very good idea but the external antenna means that I would loose internal broadcasting in which case I would have to buy an additional AP for inside, anyway, and... in that case I might as well buy the additional Ubiquity for external use straight away.
But I'll check the advantages of this layout, thanks for suggesting it.

not have the internal AP. If I have to give up the internal AP I would have to buy an autumnal AP for the

might as well . I'll verify the installation cost

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[MichaelCG]

Keep in mind, most of the Ubiquiti devices are all $200 or less....most are even sub-$100. So even if you have to get into multiple devices, they aren't that pricey overall.
I am having trouble following your plan for the top floor rooms? How many rooms are up top? What room were you planning/hoping to serve the outdoor area? Why can't you put a UAP-AC-M outside to serve the outdoor role, while keeping UAP-AC-LITE or UAP-AC-IW in the rooms to service indoor clients? Do the windows have any coatings or tint on them?

 

[ascanio1]

Keep in mind, most of the Ubiquiti devices are all $200 or less....most are even sub-$100. So even if you have to get into multiple devices, they aren't that pricey overall.
I am having trouble following your plan for the top floor rooms? How many rooms are up top? What room were you planning/hoping to serve the outdoor area? Why can't you put a UAP-AC-M outside to serve the outdoor role, while keeping UAP-AC-LITE or UAP-AC-IW in the rooms to service indoor clients? Do the windows have any coatings or tint on them?

After your earlier explanation re clients having to send back packets and after explaining to me that different devices have different antenna gains, I did all the testing again, this time using phone and tablet... (and thus I also edited a previous post re dB reception).

All tested routers have no problems inside each room so I won't bother detailing dB.

All devices deliver barely any signal in neighbouring rooms.
5.0Ghz: -80dB
2.4Ghz: -65dB
TP-link is, again, delivering a better 2.4Ghz signal @ -60dB
Remember, walls are 2 meters thick with metal mesh holding them together.

So no change to the dB figures, inside, regardless of I measure with laptop (inssider) or phone (wifi analyser).

Matters change a lot outside:

All routers do, in fact, reach 200m but at very much lower "perceived" strengths by the apps on the phone.
All routers:
5.0Ghz: -80dB
2.4Ghz: -65dB
Asus RT-AC66U (w/ booster antennas):
5.0Ghz: -80dB
2.4Ghz: -55dB

WiFi should cover:
1. As much of the garden as possible (about 300 mt in all directions). We are not worried if it is not all covered.
2. The pool (200mt north of the building). There are a few trees between it and the building but no constructions.
3. The main hall (about 200 square meters with extremely high ceiling)
4. Four or five rooms on the second floor.

My idea was to put 1 AP in the hall and 4 APs, one per room on the second floor, looking out to the garden, each one towards one of the four cardinal directions. This, to me, seemed to me the most logic, simple and elegant solution as nothing would be visible.

However, after testing, I am starting to revert to my original idea of installing 5 AP inside and 4 AP outside...


Perhaps, I should install 4 outdoor AP under the balconies of the villa, each one with a 180° directional antenna pointing outwards. Maybe, only on one side, I could lay a 100 mt cat 6a cable, underground, half way to the pool, and then install there a 360° AP to increase coverage at the pool side...

@ 100mt the gain of the Asus RT-AC66U was much better (2.4Ghz = -45dB).

What do you think? Still pointless because clients antennas won't send packets back @ 100mt and @ 200mt?


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[pege63]

I would not even waste money on UAP-AC-LITE or UAP-AC-IW (100 m) in the rooms, it have less range than the UAP-AC-PRO (180 m).
The UAP-AC-PRO gets you longer range and faster WIFI just for 20 bucks moore, and if you aske me you dont need AP i every room.
I can say you would just need 3-4 of the AC-PRO to cover the house area
Outside i would put a single UAP-AC-M-PRO to cover outside area, its not about how many AP you have BUT how you use and put them in your network to best cover the area you need.

 

[ascanio1]

I thank everyone for all the help that I received.

This is the layout of the property:

And this is what I've decided to do:

where 4 APs with directional antenna will broadcast outwards, in directions 1, 2, 3 and 4 and, internally, 5 AP will broadcast 360° inside each room.

If clients will not be able to send packets back sufficiently well and if I will not be able to see good throughput, then I will leave the 5 internal APs as they are and I will reposition 3 or 4 of the external APs as you suggested:

I want to try to avoid having to lay underground cables but... I might not have a choice.

--------------------------------
Inside, this is the layout:

I need WiFi in room 3 on the first floor and in rooms 1, 2, 4 and 5 on the second floor.
Please note that walls are extremely thick (2mt) and with metal mesh inside, so there is no hope to receive any signal (-80dB) from one room to the adjacent one.

 

[pege63]

Do you have a real pic on the building?

 

[ascanio1]

Do you have a real pic on the building?

I'd rather not post actual photos as it is known locally. I can post images of very similar buildings if you wish to understand the structure.

 

[pege63]

Yes do that if you dont mind.
Here you can read about real life storys how ppl did to manage good working wifi.

 

[ascanio1]

Yes do that if you dont mind.
Here you can read about real life storys how ppl did to manage good working wifi.

This image only shows the balcony layout and how simple the building plan is but the structure itself is much much older and made of thick stone, not bricks:

These images give an idea of internal walls:

These images give an idea of external walls:

 

[ascanio1]

Yes do that if you dont mind.
Here you can read about real life storys how ppl did to manage good working wifi.

I am reading through some of these examples. Thank you for sharing them.

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[pege63]

It is a challenge for a real network of professionals with great knowledge of WIFI in such an environment, It's something else then the buildings of plaster walls that a home user can handle.
Here is a UniFi install for a castle and a B&B, the environment you have requires a proper planning from a professional who knows what he doing to get the best solution.
Its a real challenge belive me.