WLAN vs Wired+AP for a housing community hotspot/CCTV setup

[superczar]

We live in a small gated community and currently use an old analog DVR CCTV solution which is practically EOL

We now intend to switch to an IP network for the CCTVs and while we are at it,we are also hoping to setup a community WLAN that can be used for provisioning Internet Access in the common/opean areas.

The total number of IP cameras is 8 with the possibility of extending it to say 12 if needed
The total number of residents is around 150 with say a maximum of 50 concurrent users and an average of 15-20

The attached image should help visualize it.
The server room is in the Community area while the cameras are mounted in the central area of Block A-B-C

All the houses are two floor units although some of the trees that can be seen just to the right of the Community area are fairly tall - However It's a single row of trees so while it impacts the line-of-sight but does not block it completely

I currently have two options

1) Run CAT6 from server room to Block A and B + OFC with media converter to Block C along the outer boundary - Then add a switch in each block that hooks wired to the Camera as well as few Access Points to provision WLAN access for that zone

2) Opt for a fully wireless model using AirMax . I spoke to a vendor today who said he could set allof this up using a combination of Ubiquiti Nanostation M2 and M5

While I would certainly prefer to avoid going the cable route , somehow I was not fully convinced by the technical capabilities of the vendor in question


Coming to my doubts now:

A) Would a Airmax setup in the layout be reliable enough for a CCTV NVR setup?
Are there any other wireless solutions I should be looking at?

B) Are Nanostations M2 and M5 really the right product for this kind of a use case?

C) What is the realistic stable throughput I can expect

It's probably worth mentioning that this is located in the middle of a big city in India and we are surrounded by several tall residential towers so expect a lot of 802.11 noise and interefernce in the neighborhood

 

[MichaelCG]

I would assume the Ubiquiti setup would for sure be preferred over trying to pull cable those distances. As for which Ubiquiti devices are appropriate? That I do not know...I only know bits about the UniFi products...not the AirMax stuff. I don't think I have seen much AirMax discussion on these forums much....never know though, so may just have to wait around to see what other options, ideas, and opinions come by.

You may also try the Ubiquiti AirMax forums directly as well. Generally quite a bit more detailed product and deployment knowledge over there.

 

[superczar]

Ended up using TP-Link Outdoor devices instead after afield test with both Ubi and TP Link equipment
Was surprised to see the TP-Link outperforming Ubi by a wide margin even though they are priced well lower..
I guess we can only wait & watch on the longevity of the equipment but for now, we have started the deployment with TP-Link
Here is the final topology in case anyone is interested

 

[Trikein]

It's too bad you didn't go wired/ethernet. This is going to be a nightmare to secure with the new KRACK vulnerability. Was the deciding factor price or were ethernet distances too far without repeaters?

 

[Razor512]

Are you trying to provide access for the residents also, or is the network going to be used just for the cameras?

Sharing a connection with residents, will be difficult and carry many risks. For example, what would you do if a resident does something that causes the FBI to come knocking on your door, how would you prove that you didn't do the illegal activity?

 

[System Error Message]

You can use both. Wire what APs you can, use AP to AP directional for those you cant. For example each site can have 2 APs, one with omni config, one with directional to link about.

Each AP can run a hotspot. You can have the entire network on the same segment but make sure to use a class B ip network and allocate a range to each AP's DHCP server. I doubt airmax has hotspot while mikrotik has. Perhaps you can combine both ubiquiti and mikrotik. The most important is your bandwidths and giving priority to your CCTVs so make sure the APs you buy are capable of LAN based QoS.

 

[superczar]

Are you trying to provide access for the residents also, or is the network going to be used just for the cameras?

Sharing a connection with residents, will be difficult and carry many risks. For example, what would you do if a resident does something that causes the FBI to come knocking on your door, how would you prove that you didn't do the illegal activity?

While we don't have an FBI in India , the local law enforcement obviously can come knocking
Using a pfsense router with hotspot authentication (and a disclaimer /TOS).. Checked with some cafes that provide hotspot wifi their customers and they said that as long as you have a ToS based signoff, you should be fine


Just an update after a few months - the system is chugging along nicely with no hiccups so far
The cameras are on a static IP setup on a dedicated VLAN
Hotspot clients are on a separate VLAN with a pfsense box (single xenserver running pfsense , Ubuntu for the community Apache server and Windows for other uses)
The pfsense box went down twice due to an overheated PSU (PSU fan was the culprit) which led to outage on the hotspot/community server etc but the traditional static IP setup for the cameras/NVR continued to work seamlessly throughout