Wireless - Advice?

[intrigue]

I was looking into creating an umbrella type wireless solution for the school i currently work at and am wondering if anyone can point me inthe right direction.

 

Its been a while since i looked into this so any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[intrigue]

Having just read this thread http://www.edugeek.net/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=11262&highlight=Wireless it seems people are saying that each access point has to be on its own channel is there no way you can kind of bridge all the access points to create an "umbrella" effect?

 

Matt

[mattx]

We use an Aruba 800 switch with 15 AP61's hanging of it.

 

http://www.arubanetworks.com/products/mobility-controllers/aruba-800.php

 

http://www.arubanetworks.com/products/access-points/ap-60-61.php

 

Easy to setup and configure - [ had a few bedding in problems to start with but that was sorted quickly ]

The laptops which use it are Ergos MicroLite 411s - we have 48 of them in two lapsafe units.

 

http://www.ergo.co.uk/products/laptops/microlite411/

 

After dumping the Proset control side of things and letting windows manage the connection + a little tweak on the drivers they work really well and have been a big hit with both teachers and students.

[intrigue]

How much do those things set you back and do they all work on the same channel?

Matt

[mattx]

The AP 61s are about £269 each.

The 800 Switch was around £3,500

 

As for the channel aspect - not a problem as its all managed by the switch.

Some would say its expensive but as a proper managed solution its great.

 

The AP 61s are POE if you want too so if you want that then add some more for the POE adapters.

[intrigue]

Thats far too expensive for me, i have a budget of about £2000 so am looking at a smaller scale solution really, maybe access points are the way to go and manage them per unit i guess.

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[steveg]

How big is the site you want to cover? How many wireless devices are you likely to have in use per room?

[localzuk]

You are going to be hard pushed to get a managed system for that. However, you could use HP access points with Procurve Mobility Manager 1.0 and ProCurve Manager Plus, which are about £700 for the mobility manager and £700 for a 50 device license of the latter.

 

The only issue is that access points will cost you £200 a piece for the 420wl access points. So you'd only be able to afford 3... However, it is a good compromise for the system I think - 'semi managed' would be a good name for it.

[plexer]

How many access points do you wish to deploy?

 

We use HP 420 access points and Airwaves AMP management platform.

 

Centralised control is going to cost.

 

Otherwise get an access point that allows you to save it's configuration then you only have to set one up and you can copy the config to the others.

 

For £2000 you could buy

 

1 x 3Com unified gigabit wireless poe switch £1008

10 x 3Com 7760 Access Points £98.50 each

 

Thats straight out of a catalogue so you could probably do better on pricing.

 

This gives you 24 power over ethernet ports for the access points.

 

This is ok as long as the access points can be connected by copper from this switch.

 

Ben