Wifi setup for a office

[crisscross]

Hello,

I am setting up an office on a single floor with around 3300 sft as the carpet area. We expect to have 40 people working there with around 2-3 devices each (laptop, smartphone) etc.

We wanted to do wifi only as setting up networking is a challenge and most of our users are on Macs with no ethernet.

Can you recommend a setup that would work well for this? We will be using gigabit Internet and often do video calls for conferences. I have 3 Ubiquiti AP's with Edgerouter but setting it up has been a challenge with all the different options.

I have attached the office plan as well. Thank you so much for your help.

 

[netwrks]

IMO, you current selection of hardware is a good one, but you only indicate 3 Ubiquiti AP's with Edgerouter. I would suggest going to the Ubiquiti forum and ask for assistance, or hire someone (can usually be found on the Ubiquiti ste) to do your router / AP setup: https://community.ui.com/

 

[coxhaus]

I would try to use as much wire as possible. Wired connections are much faster with less latency. Isolate the wired from the wireless using VLANs as much as possible. The wireless will slow down the wired connections. The same goes for different speed wired connections.

PS
I just looked at the diagram. It looks small enough for just using wire and no fiber. You need cabling. Hire it done.

 

[crisscross]

Thank you both for your replies. I will look for help on the Ubiquiti forum. Coxhaus, as mentioned we will probably only have 2-3 devices which are wired. The rest will all be fully wireless.

 

[MichaelCG]

The wireless will slow down the wired connections. The same goes for different speed wired connections.

Not this again. No it will not. Please stop with this non-sense. In a properly fully switched environment, WiFi itself will not impact the rest of the environment. A device on WiFi will be slower than a device on wired. But WiFi in general will not slow the rest of the network.

 

[coxhaus]

Not this again. No it will not. Please stop with this non-sense. In a properly fully switched environment, WiFi itself will not impact the rest of the environment. A device on WiFi will be slower than a device on wired. But WiFi in general will not slow the rest of the network.

I think you are crazy if you configure your wireless into the same network IP address space as your high speed core. A switch will not save you at layer 3. Yes you can configure so it will not have an impact but you do not throw it all in 1 IP network.

PS
The only saving device in a high speed network is a layer 3 switch. You can not build a great network without one. If you think a router can you are very small scale. Big fast networks are built with layer 3 switches. And you need to know how to set them up to build a good network.

 

[MichaelCG]

In an Enterprise network, no argument....access, distribution and core are completely different. In a small office or a home setup, they are usually the same. All depends on your goals, budget, and risk tolerance. Telling me my WiFi being on the same subnet as wired clients will slow it all down is a load of BS though. There are other reasons to not have them share, but speed in a small office environment is not one of them.

 

[coxhaus]

I build all my networks based on enterprise systems as I was taught in my Cisco classes many many years ago, probably 20+ years ago. I scale the equipment based on the size of the network with future expandability. I don't build my networks based on what you can get by on. I like network structure. You probably can tell as I run a layer 3 switch at my house. I have turned off my rack of servers now days as of a couple of years ago. My Exchange mail server went by by about 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[MichaelCG]

And I am a security guy for many years which is why I am not a fan of L3 switches.

I prefer all flows to go to the firewall for inspection. We both have valid points. We just approach networks from different sides.

Like you, most of my home lab environment was powered off or greatly simplified in the past 5'ish years. I work enough during the day, I don't want to come home and continue the same thing. So the home network better be fairly flat, simple, and stable or I have to deal with an irritated wife.

To the OP, sorry we hijack from time to time. The only other note I have is make sure you have enough redundancy to deal with failures. Either deploy extra gear or have spares handy. You didn't mention what your plans were for a controller. Since you have lots of Macs, there is a good chance you have 3x3 capable clients so stick with the higher models (PRO, Nano, etc) to get the best speeds.

You never did mention if the smartphones were expected to be part of the main network or not. Depending on your security requirements, consider a Guest/BYOD WiFi segment to keep those devices off the network.

 

[netwrks]

Wireless clients on the same subnet as wired clients (although not ideal) does not impact a wired client. Wired clients are not contending for wireless air space.

 

[coxhaus]

latency latency latency. At some point it will bite you. Wireless clients are the slowest of traffic. We get away with it at home because of the small networks kind like layer 2 networks. I don't mean layer 2 is slow but large networks are run at layer 3.

 

[crisscross]

And I am a security guy for many years which is why I am not a fan of L3 switches.

I prefer all flows to go to the firewall for inspection. We both have valid points. We just approach networks from different sides.

Like you, most of my home lab environment was powered off or greatly simplified in the past 5'ish years. I work enough during the day, I don't want to come home and continue the same thing. So the home network better be fairly flat, simple, and stable or I have to deal with an irritated wife.

To the OP, sorry we hijack from time to time. The only other note I have is make sure you have enough redundancy to deal with failures. Either deploy extra gear or have spares handy. You didn't mention what your plans were for a controller. Since you have lots of Macs, there is a good chance you have 3x3 capable clients so stick with the higher models (PRO, Nano, etc) to get the best speeds.

You never did mention if the smartphones were expected to be part of the main network or not. Depending on your security requirements, consider a Guest/BYOD WiFi segment to keep those devices off the network.

Thank you Michael. Yes there will be smartphones who would want to connect to the Network. I will setup a Guest setup.

One question. Are Ubiquiti the only option? I always found the configuration options quite overwhelming.

 

[MichaelCG]

One question. Are Ubiquiti the only option? I always found the configuration options quite overwhelming.

No, there are many options out there. Ubiquity just does a good job of balancing the price point, features, performance, and stability nicely. It happens to be what I use so I can't easily give other recommendations. Pretty obvious coxhaus is a Cisco guy so that is where his guidance goes. You have to shop around and see what works for you.

What exactly do you feel makes the Ubiquiti stuff difficult? The UniFi stuff or the EdgeRouter stuff? Or both? If the EdgeRouter, consider a USG to manage out of the same controller as the WiFi.

 

[coxhaus]

My only thought is if you get 40 people running HD streaming you may want to be switching your traffic instead of routing. This is probably an extreme example but plan on the worst case. I would want my wireless in a separate VLAN not on the main VLAN talking to the router working with the internet.

PS
My VLANs are always setup at layer 3 with IP networks.

 

[derselia]

Experts please I seek your advise please. My office setup is similar. 5000sqft, 50 users or 150 devices (assuming 3 device per user), trying to go completely cableless.
I have a 2 options here.

5 x Ubiquiti UAP-AC-PRO + Cloud Key
4 x Xirrus (Riverbed) X2-120 with 3-year wireless management.

The price point are almost on par. If anything Xirrus is more expensive for an lower spec (X2 - 2T2R vs UAP - 3T3R)
I am inclined to get the Ubiquiti, but is there any reason to choose Xirrus instead?