how to set up "computer suite" with laptops

[peterv5]

Hi,
We don't have a computer room in our SLD special school, but occasionally we need to use all of the laptops (10) together in the same room for staff training on the VLE. I'm wondering if there is a faster way of networking them, say with a switch, rather than relying on the school's Wifi.
Anybody any ideas?

Thanks

[kmount]

Hi Peter,

You hit the nail on the head there; you could run them to a switch which is uplinked to a physical network port.

Does this room "change" or is it always the same one?

[powdarrmonkey]

If the power in that room is any good and the laptops are a bit more spread out, you could try these or similar.

[p858snake]

Wired network will work better in most cases.

How is your wireless system currently done?

[dhicks]

I'm wondering if there is a faster way of networking them, say with a switch, rather than relying on the school's Wifi.

A cheap 16-port switch should do it. If you don't have a network port to plug the switch in to get network access you can always use a wireless-to-ethernet router and plonk that on top of the switch.

--
David Hicks

[peterv5]

Hi Peter,

You hit the nail on the head there; you could run them to a switch which is uplinked to a physical network port.

Does this room "change" or is it always the same one?

Hi Kim
Thanks for your quick reply. That's what I thought. I've got to train staff on our new VLE and set up the infrastructure to do it. It will change i.e different numbers of laptops/OSes different days different rooms you name it.

[peterv5]

Wired network will work better in most cases.

How is your wireless system currently done?

It's a set of mostly belkin acces points dotted round the school up near ceilings.

[mac_shinobi]

unless you had the cash for a ruckus type system ??

[peterv5]

Er Woss wunna dem den Eh?
I'm sorry I've never heard of a ruckus type system. Can you explain?
Peter

[dhicks]

I'm sorry I've never heard of a ruckus type system. Can you explain?

The general term you want to Google for is "managed wireless system" - instead of individual access points all competing with each other for bandwidth you have a central controller of some kind that makes them all work together. This can actually make wireless useable. Ruckus managed wireless systems are used by many people on this forum, and they come recommended, as do (I think) Extricom.

Note that managed wireless systems don't come cheap - just a basic Ruckus controller and a single access point will cost around £2,000, and up to around £10,000 for something capable of covering the whole of the average school, but other systems can cost way more than that. The managed wireless systems market seems to be populated with overly-expensive systems that don't really work all that well, which is why lots of people here recommend Ruckus or Extricom as they've found them to work well in practice.

Managed wireless is a topic that comes up quite often here, and several forum sponsers supply managed wireless systems, so you'll be able to get good advice on the most appropriate managed wireless system for a school here, along with prices.

--
David Hicks

[peterv5]

Ah yes now I realise what we're talking about. I had blanked this out because I had had a rep on the phone some time ago quoting me £20k for my school which gave me amnesia! I shall certainly look at that sort of system again as we are due for some sort of re-evaluation here.
Thanks
Peter