Need a good way to have wifi for around 50-100 people in a place

[Agent181]

So I need a way to have internet on a place that will have at least 50 people in it at times and maybe more to 100.  What is a great way to do this while supporting things that college students do on the internet.  I saw the ubiquiti and ruckus access points but are there others as well?

 

Thanks for your help

[DavidTheWin]

Does it have to be wifi? The more people you can get wired up the better

[AMICLG]

You'd need atleast three UniFi AP (UAP) to nicely handle the traffic which then need to be plugged into something with a DHCP server, a consumer router would work for this but depending on the type of traffic and the bandwidth coming in/out you could choke the CPU on the router/switch. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1049766&gclid=CjwKEAjw2reiBRCaobK3udOj-Q4SJACXWyYmRqNUoUfegskTkQweCI4RLKimi0zR7FwpLtt8eQf_MRoC6O7w_wcB&is=REG&Q=&A=details

[RightfulNerd]

Gonna need a few routers my friend and even so there will be so much noise the signal will get congested and slow

[Aniallation]

Not really optimal if this is in a tight space, since all those devices running off one frequency will be a mess. Even off two will still be a mess. The more you can get off wireless and onto a physical wired connection the better.

[Agent181]

It has to be wifi since just about everyone is on a laptop and this is an old building without wall spots to plug into.  

[Agent181]

Does it have to be wifi? The more people you can get wired up the better

It has to be wifi since just about everyone is on a laptop and this is an old building without wall spots to plug into.  

[Blade of Grass]

How small is small? Depending on the size of the area, I would recommend 3-5 or maybe more Ubiquiti APs with the power set to low, and roaming enabled (try to spread the channel usage across the room), that way you would (theoretically) have 15/10-33/20 people per AP. (keep in mind, the more people you add to the AP, the slower the performance, but the more access points the more interference, hence why multiple APs at low power would be best).

[legacypreservation]

A single dual-band Ruckus AP can handle this load .  The 3x3:3 APs are recommended, but not required.  Ruckus APs have great signal coverage in both 2.4 and 5 Ghz, so you can assume coverage based on other AP coverage observations you've witnessed.  Good Luck!

[Eniqmatic]

What's the budget?

[Agent181]

What's the budget?

Right now whatever it can take, but keep in mind we are a bunch of college students.

[pspfreak]

For your main router I would suggest a pfsense box. Great power, reliability (if your hardware is good that is), many features, including caching.

[Darren]

Get a Linux box, run pfsense, pick up a three pack of the Ubiquiti UAPs, place them out sensibly, use the Linux controller for them, should be okay.