new wifi setup

[McCloud]

So in a small hotel, I am planning to create a new wifi setup. Currently, there is an old main router, with 2 more access points throughout the building. 

The router is not located centrally, so the position is not ideal. 

 

There are few scenarios that I was thinking of.

- buy a new, strong router and place it in the middle of the house

 

- stick with the old, already configured router and replace the 2 old access points / extenders (which are not capable of fully covering the whole site) with a new AP.

 

- just replace the old router's antennas.

 

I am only providing solution to the client and won't be able to install the devices myself, therefore ease of configuration and cost is priority as well.

 

 

Now, I don't think 5dB antennas will be enough to cover a 2 storey house - but I have never tested antenna strength, so I am not sure on this one. 

In this case, would a router like this be enough, with the addition of stronger antennas?

 

For AP's, this is something that I've used in the past. It should support very long ranges, however, I cannot see the antenna strength in the specs. What is the Maximum TX power?

 

I am open to any further ideas/  suggestions from you.

Thanks for help.

[McCloud]

bump

[techguru]

what is the old router?

or do you know?

[McCloud]

what is the old router?

or do you know?

unfortunately no.. but apparently it's quite old.

[techguru]

id replace the router and add new access points...commercial level

[dzonidev]

So in a small hotel, I am planning to create a new wifi setup. Currently, there is an old main router, with 2 more access points throughout the building. 

The router is not located centrally, so the position is not ideal. 

 

There are few scenarios that I was thinking of.

- buy a new, strong router and place it in the middle of the house

 

- stick with the old, already configured router and replace the 2 old access points / extenders (which are not capable of fully covering the whole site) with a new AP.

 

- just replace the old router's antennas.

 

I am only providing solution to the client and won't be able to install the devices myself, therefore ease of configuration and cost is priority as well.

 

 

Now, I don't think 5dB antennas will be enough to cover a 2 storey house - but I have never tested antenna strength, so I am not sure on this one. 

In this case, would a router like this be enough, with the addition of stronger antennas?

 

For AP's, this is something that I've used in the past. It should support very long ranges, however, I cannot see the antenna strength in the specs. What is the Maximum TX power?

 

I am open to any further ideas/  suggestions from you.

Thanks for help.

 

Replace the router and the AP. You're in a tricky position where you have two bottlenecks, and if you remove one you only fixed half of the issue.

 

The Ubiquiti UniFi Enterprise is a great choice, get two of them. 

As for the router, you could get something like the Mikrotik RB750G it will provide good performance, it's cheap, secure and it has every possible option for anything you could think of.

[McCloud]

Replace the router and the AP. You're in a tricky position where you have two bottlenecks, and if you remove one you only fixed half of the issue.

 

The Ubiquiti UniFi Enterprise is a great choice, get two of them. 

As for the router, you could get something like the Mikrotik RB750G it will provide good performance, it's cheap, secure and it has every possible option for anything you could think of.

Ok, thanks a lot for the answers!

By bottlenecks, you mean that the wifi router itself is bottlenecking the wired connection to the APs?

 

So the idea here is, to replace the old wifi router and get a standard wired one, just to provide connection to the AP, that would be centrally located to cover the building?

 

I've installed a couple of the UniFi APs before and I can say the performance is great. However, there are two questions I was thinking about.. how does it work? I couldn't find the type of antennas used.. Also, since it comes with it's own control interface, it could potentially act as a router as well? I mean, just to provide a network name, security and DHCP to the clients.

You mention I should get two - that means, one will not be sufficient?

 

Regarding the router, how would the Mikrotik be different in the current setup, compared to some cheap sh*t I've linked to in my OP? Other than it's 4x the price :huh:

This is for sure a silly question, but I have zero experience with routers themselves, so I apologize in advance.

 

Thank you.

[techguru]

if your not gonna use the wireless of the router...then no you don't need a new router..just disable the wireless on the router

and get 2 really strong access points that are hardwired to the old junky router...tho personally id get a new router anyway..since the old one might die soon anyway

probably one compatible with DDWRT

[McCloud]

if your not gonna use the wireless of the router...then no you don't need a new router..just disable the wireless on the router

and get 2 really strong access points that are hardwired to the old junky router...tho personally id get a new router anyway..since the old one might die soon anyway

probably one compatible with DDWRT

thanks.

 

Ye, if it was for myself, I'd definitely use DDWRT. But I won't be the one doing the config and they have a hard time even logging in to the router.

Again, if you say 2 APs - why do you think 1 would not be sufficient? I have not measured precisely the range of the Ubiquity AP, but as far as I can remember, we have used 3 of those for the whole school building (at least 5x the size of the hotel building now).

[techguru]

try 1...if the signal isn't good enough ..add another

[dzonidev]

Ok, thanks a lot for the answers!

By bottlenecks, you mean that the wifi router itself is bottlenecking the wired connection to the APs?

 

So the idea here is, to replace the old wifi router and get a standard wired one, just to provide connection to the AP, that would be centrally located to cover the building?

 

I've installed a couple of the UniFi APs before and I can say the performance is great. However, there are two questions I was thinking about.. how does it work? I couldn't find the type of antennas used.. Also, since it comes with it's own control interface, it could potentially act as a router as well? I mean, just to provide a network name, security and DHCP to the clients.

You mention I should get two - that means, one will not be sufficient?

 

Regarding the router, how would the Mikrotik be different in the current setup, compared to some cheap sh*t I've linked to in my OP? Other than it's 4x the price :huh:

This is for sure a silly question, but I have zero experience with routers themselves, so I apologize in advance.

 

Thank you.

 

The UniFi AP's have a lot of options, but DHCP serving or Routing are not one of them. It has integrated antennas I think it's something like 2x2 MIMO, however don't quote me on this....

I am suggesting Mikrotik over the others because it very powerful and it offers quite a lot of features that other price matched routers don't. It can do very good QoS which you will need to do if you plan to provide any sort of connection and prevent certain clients from sucking up the bandwidth. Apart from QoS, RADIUS Server, DNS Server, DHCP, Proxy, VPN, Advanced Routing, Load Balancing, etc... A difference in $15 in my opinion is well worth it.