Wireless Access Points for Summer Camp
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I've got a customer who has about 25 acres they are looking to give wifi coverage to. They currently use about half a dozen access points, but it doesn't meet their needs. The equipment is all consumer stuff from circa 2008.
My first thought was Ubiquiti equipment for the task but I could use some advice on the best way to do this using the APs or whatever is necessary. It's probably going to take at least a dozen of whatever we use, and I'm not sure if some may be outside but covered or the exact scenarios yet.
I will be going to install a printer for this customer in a couple weeks and said I could do a walk and evaluation at the time but I thought I could get some ideas ahead of time. I'm not stuck on Ubiquiti but I know they aren't overpriced, as a rule, and my store sells them online. At least some models. But if I HAVE to go through someone else to get the actual equipment that's best, I will.
Any suggestions would be great!
Thanks,
A.J. -
Ubiquiti for sure. Make a map and get measurements.
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Ubiquiti has an outdoor model. It's only wireless n however. The new ac models are priced well and have are smaller than the old APs. I get pretty much everything from Amazon since I have prime so the prices are on there. AC lite is ~$100 and the outdoor model is ~$150.
The AC Pro is also weather proof apparently. I just took a look.
For that size of an area, I'm assuming they are going to need some bridges as well unless they have each building wired.
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They really should just pick key areas to give coverage.. 25 acres is a lot to cover with any kind of density unless they have a multi-million dollar budget to install, replace/maintain all these APs out in the weather.
What happened to summer camps being unplugged (aside from staff/office use).
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@Jason said:
They really should just pick key areas to give coverage.. 25 acres is a lot to cover with any kind of density unless they have a multi-million dollar budget to install, replace/maintain all these APs out in the weather.
What happened to summer camps being unplugged (aside from staff/office use).
Agreed, I can see providing access to WiFi in a few key areas, but it's a camp, complete coverage seems to be against the camp idea.... but what do we know
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@Dashrender said:
@Jason said:
They really should just pick key areas to give coverage.. 25 acres is a lot to cover with any kind of density unless they have a multi-million dollar budget to install, replace/maintain all these APs out in the weather.
What happened to summer camps being unplugged (aside from staff/office use).
Agreed, I can see providing access to WiFi in a few key areas, but it's a camp, complete coverage seems to be against the camp idea.... but what do we know
Sounds like a challenge to me. Out of curiosity, do they have a website with a layout for the camp?
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So are they planning to run cables all over 25 acres? Probably not. You likely want a WiMAX mesh or similar to handle backhaul and Wifi for connections.
http://www.open-mesh.com/
https://www.ruckuswireless.com/technology/smartmesh -
The plan was basically a mesh. Have repeaters for the repeaters. I agree that covering all 25 acres seems unnecessary and counterproductive, but until I go out there, I won't know all the details. Just getting ideas to begin with.
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@thanksajdotcom said:
The plan was basically a mesh. Have repeaters for the repeaters. I agree that covering all 25 acres seems unnecessary and counterproductive, but until I go out there, I won't know all the details. Just getting ideas to begin with.
That's scary.
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@johnhooks said:
@thanksajdotcom said:
The plan was basically a mesh. Have repeaters for the repeaters. I agree that covering all 25 acres seems unnecessary and counterproductive, but until I go out there, I won't know all the details. Just getting ideas to begin with.
That's scary.
Not so bad, mesh is built for that.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@johnhooks said:
@thanksajdotcom said:
The plan was basically a mesh. Have repeaters for the repeaters. I agree that covering all 25 acres seems unnecessary and counterproductive, but until I go out there, I won't know all the details. Just getting ideas to begin with.
That's scary.
Not so bad, mesh is built for that.
I don't know why it copied the whole thing, but anyway I've never had success with repeaters. Maybe I just haven't spent enough money on them but they've always under performed or just sucked.
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Mesh wifi is not repeaters. And it isn't silly consumer gear. It is enterprise point to point networking. It's not repeating, it's a real bridge.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Mesh wifi is not repeaters. And it isn't silly consumer gear. It is enterprise point to point networking. It's not repeating, it's a real bridge.
Oh then I agree. I said this above:
I'm assuming they are going to need some bridges as well
I thought he meant repeaters like, receive and send wireless from the same antenna.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Mesh wifi is not repeaters. And it isn't silly consumer gear. It is enterprise point to point networking. It's not repeating, it's a real bridge.
What Ubiquiti equipment would I use to accomplish this? Some exact models would be a helpful starting point.
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Look at Open-Mesh, not Ubiquiti.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Look at Open-Mesh, not Ubiquiti.
Preferably not something that is on any kind of a subscription model. Looking at it looks good, but I'd like a non-subscription-based option as well.
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@thanksajdotcom said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Look at Open-Mesh, not Ubiquiti.
Preferably not something that is on any kind of a subscription model. Looking at it looks good, but I'd like a non-subscription-based option as well.
You must know something that I don't, what subscription are you talking about?
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksajdotcom said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Look at Open-Mesh, not Ubiquiti.
Preferably not something that is on any kind of a subscription model. Looking at it looks good, but I'd like a non-subscription-based option as well.
You must know something that I don't, what subscription are you talking about?
Open-Mesh said it's cloud-managed, so it looked like a similar structure to Meraki, where you have to pay a subscription to have access to the cloud system?
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@thanksajdotcom said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Look at Open-Mesh, not Ubiquiti.
Preferably not something that is on any kind of a subscription model. Looking at it looks good, but I'd like a non-subscription-based option as well.
Their management software is free http://www.open-mesh.com/index.php/solutions/cloud-controller.html
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