Wireless AP for noisy (radio-wise) office

[roman.baron]

Hi,

I work at a small co-working space in Israel. Our office is located in a big building in Tel-Aviv, nearby many other offices. InSSIDer with a 1000mW Alfa card shows up to 40 networks within reach, spread almost evenly across channels.

We are looking for access points which can provide reliable connectivity in a noisy environment.

We need to support 40-60 clients at peak times, mostly working (browsing, remote desktop, skype and some youtube, no bittorent or HD streaming).

So far we've used 2 wireless routers configured as AP's and 3 DrayTek VigorAP 700 access points to provide this service. However, recently radio interference seems to have increased, and we are experiencing packet loss , huge RTT and many disconnects.

Browsing the internet for I haven't found any parameter to compare AP's by for our purpose, beyond vendor marketing statements.

I need your advice:
1. Can you recommend AP models which excel at such environments?
2. What parameters should I go by to compare AP noise resistance in advance?
3. Do you have any other suggestions which might help achieve greater reliability for connections in our environment?

Thanks!

Roman

 

[sfx2000]

From what is sounds like a first pass is that you're not noise limited, but capacity limited. Most off the shelf consumer grade routers, you're at the limit of what they can effectively route efficiently. Same on the access points, most start getting limited with 10 or so STA's attached on the wireless...

1) I would move routing off the draytek and onto something with more horsepower - pfSense is a good place to start if you want to go the low cost path...

2) Set up the other AP's as AP's only, not as routers, and maybe consider upping the quantity.

3) The Alfa is a good WiFi adapter for general scanning, but you also should consider using the standard wifi adapter - as long as you see around 20dB or so above adjacent AP's on the same channel, the neighboring AP won't interfere for the most part.

I would also consider bringing in a consultant to do a quick assessment of your network and needs - lots of really good folks in the Tel Aviv area.