Wireless access points

[Brandon]

So currently I'm looking for a brand of access points to push to my bosses, currently I'm not exactly sure what to use.

I have a few I'm looking into, but I want to know what people that have used them think. Currently we would like to have wireless around our Confrence rooms, walk-in and break room areas. Our phone/network system is wired using a CAT-5/6 Punch down (Like a phone system.. don't ask..) which makes for easy port configuration in segmenting the access points out of our network, however being able to reach each would be a plus.

I'm looking for access points that have good range, and good encrypted throughput. I will be taking a double hit on throughput as some users will be using a VPN from our DMZ into the wired network (This will be a major factor).

Wireless G will be by focus for now, as none of our laptops have N built in.

I would really like a repeating setup, so as to make them easy to spread through our building if we decide to go for a bigger setup at a later date.

Let me know what you guys have used that works well!

 

[scotty]

How big is your setup? How many access points would be needed? How big is your building?

I've had pretty good success with D-Links DWL series AP's (DWL-3200AP), as a stand-alone AP solution. I can't really speak for throughput or exact numbers though.

Depening on your size, it may or may not be worth it to start looking at a managed wireless environment. For fairly small project in small offices I've had fairly good success with just installing a couple individual AP's, but if your wireless infrastructure is going to be used extensively by anyone, it starts to make sense to throw in controlling switches.

I've used Cisco's 4402 and its capabilities are absolutely stunning, albeit at $13K just for the controller and $350 per AP, it's not for everyone. You can get a D-Link flavored wireless controlling switch for about $3000 and $120/ap. One thing I've come to learn is don't cheap out on wireless. If you're going to have lots of people relying on it, moving about the office, etc, go with a managed solution.

 

[Brandon]

I would say around two access points to start off. The building is fairly large (Houses ~140 workstations).

As for usage, it won't be open to the public, or even to employees (For useage outside of meetings and such). So at most we're talking a few rooms covered. No more than 10 users at a time, 15 max. It's just annoying to take an older (Our older equpment is huggee!) 16 port switch around to connect to the network for half an hour.

At some point it might be worth covering the building with, but at that point we will probably go Cisco.

 

[scotty]

Yeah like I said some of the D-Link DWL's should work in that case. They won't be compatible with a Cisco solution down the road though. The Cisco 4400 controllers are really slick though. You can practically watch your boss walk around the office if he has a WiFi enabled phone!