Which Wireless??

[silver]

The big boss has decided that we need to do something amazing and he wants to go to a reliable wireless solution. We do have some basic wireless access but it struggles with more than two or three machines logging on at once.

He is looking for a solution that will enable a whole class of 35 students to log on at the same time with ease.

So, what I am after is some companies/systems down here on the South Coast who can come and tell us all about it and recommend something.

I have a local MERU accredited partner but I need more for comparison purposes

 

Thanks

[Dom_]

Ruckus

[actech]

Another vote for Ruckus here

[steveg]

I've found the netgear managed kit to be quite reliable, and very good value. Not the simplest setup ever but isn't too complicated. Where abouts down south are you?

 

Steve

[diggory]

I've found the netgear managed kit to be quite reliable, and very good value. Not the simplest setup ever but isn't too complicated. Where abouts down south are you?

 

Steve

 

If you are talking of WAG 302 APs hmmf they are average.

Howver I don't rate Netgear stuff to high.

Had three netgear switches fail in the last few years.

 

Meru stuff we have seems good and you can pack the APs in close without worrying about channel overlap - which is very handy - especially if you have any wireless interferance (which we get).

 

As far as 35 students at the same time.... You might want to also check the wireless cards in the laptops are good enough to support handy things like packet fragmenting etc... some Intel ones are a bit limited even if you have brilliant WAP infrastructure.

 

Consider using a and g points too - a is quite nice but you'll need more APs - range is limited.

Edited April 3, 2009 by diggory

[jamin100]

+1 for Ruckus

& Net-Ctrl (sponsor on here)

[steveg]

If you are talking of WAG 302 APs hmmf they are average.

Howver I don't rate Netgear stuff to high.

Had three netgear switches fail in the last few years...

 

I meant the WFS709TP controller and lightweight access points, although I have used the WG302 points in one school for a couple of years with no problems. 1 point happily supports 20 laptops with no worries at all.

 

Steve

[actech]

I've found the netgear managed kit to be quite reliable, and very good value. Not the simplest setup ever but isn't too complicated.

 

The one advantage of Ruckus is that the setup is simple, easy to use and effective.

[silver]

Does anyone know of a Ruckus supplier down here in the wilds of Dorset (or near enough to want to visit)?

[contink]

I meant the WFS709TP controller and lightweight access points, although I have used the WG302 points in one school for a couple of years with no problems. 1 point happily supports 20 laptops with no worries at all.

 

I'm using the same kit in a school with 80 laptops and now that I've spent the time learning how to tweak it, it's working well... Choice of Anti-Virus was important too... Don't use a WLAN with Sophos... it just freezes.

 

Can't compare to Ruckus as never had the chance to play but there does seem to be a lot of happy customers..

[AWicher]

Apple Airport Extreme 4TW

[Ric_]

Net-Ctrl will travel for your wireless needs and the Ruckus stuff is good.

 

The Netgear kit is not scaleable to a large site. You will only get 32 APs on the solution (16 with fail over of the controller).

 

I use BlueSocket which is excellent but would swap it for Ruckus tomorrow if Mark at Net-Ctrl offered to do it for free

[Steven_Cleaver]

I looked at HP, Dlink & Trapeeze & Aruba before deciding on going for Aruba here, we have found this to be very good & once set up I have had no issues with it see below for some of the features it was installed by a company called Burconix & the information below is from their site.I have found this to be a very reliable & high performing system & it covers our whole sixth form block(12 classrooms,Conference Room & Lecture Theatre) with 4 access points upto 20 laptops at a time with no issues.We are looking at expanding this into the main school over the summer which can be done easily by adding extra Access points.

 

With advances in technology and centrally managed wireless networks where each access point is aware of neighbouring access points, these issues are now resolved and schools can deploy secure, fast and reliable wireless which runs itself with little or no input from the Network Manager.

 

This enterprise solution is highly versatile, and can be designed to your deployment requirements. To give you an idea, here are just some of the features you could expect:

 

 

- Broadcast multiple SSID's/Wireless networks from a single antenna, allowing you to create multiple networks for guest, multiple managed, and/or voice networks.

 

- Provide a single point of configuration, configure a set of policies for your establishment, or buildings/departments and push the configuration to all of your access points on the network in one go.

 

- Broadcast a guest network that securely allows visitors to gain access to just the resources you define via the built in firewall, such as an internal intranet or guest internet access.

 

- Configure your guest network so that when users associate, they will be required to logon using a web based portal. Users can be forced to first authenticate against your existing active directory and/or an internal guest database when they first try to access the internet.

 

- Setup guest manager accounts, so that receptionists/librarians can create temporary guest accounts with expiry times for visitors requiring temporary internet access.

- Distribute your managed wireless setting via group policy, so when you image a station it will automatically pull down the wireless configuration.

 

- Assign users to a specific firewall policies/VLANs or cabled ports based on the credential used to authenticate (or by group membership of that user integrated with existing Active Directory).

 

- Dynamically load balance your clients on the network with adaptive environment support. So that in the event of an access point going offline, or high load in one area, other nearby points will increase antenna strength to compensate.

 

- Centrally controlled automated channel adjustment to best cover areas defined.

 

- Real time monitoring, see which devices are connected to your network, and their physical location by triangulating their position from 3 antennas, or using the SNR values.

 

- Real time detection of interfering devices and live coverage maps, showing coverage and signal strength across the whole school from a single interface.

[FN-GM]

Don't use a WLAN with Sophos... it just freezes.

 

I found turning down the bandwith it uses helps allot.

[contink]

I found turning down the bandwith it uses helps allot.

Really? How would you manage that?

 

... curious as well as to how you figured this one out and what level "help" or rather reliability this gives as a result.

 

Thanks...

[john]

Really? How would you manage that?

 

... curious as well as to how you figured this one out and what level "help" or rather reliability this gives as a result.

 

Thanks...

You can do it in the updating settings, its a sliding scale about bandwidth usage.

[MicrodigitUK]

I have found the Aruba wireless system excellent and can’t fault it as a whole site solution.

 

We first implemented it in a new 6th form building that was being built with 4 classrooms upstairs and 4 downstairs and a large study centre room. In the building there are 2 trolleys of 16 laptops one on the first floor and one on the second floor and a study centre with 50 laptops. When all of the laptops are in use in the 6th form block the Aruba dose an excellent job of dealing with such a large amount of laptops in a small building.

 

This all runs off 11 Aruba 65 access points and a 3400 controller.

 

When roaming around the building with a permanent ping to one of our servers it didn’t even drop a packet it’s that good.

 

We are using Aruba 65 access points to tack advantage of both the 2.5mhz and 5mhz 802.11g and a radio frequencies. We now have 3 roaming trolleys of 20 laptops with 1 ap on each trolley and the 65 dose just a good job when roaming as it does in fixed rooms. We are slowly rolling AP65’s across the whole site (the roving ones are just a cheap temporary messier until we put fixed points up).

 

We are now in the process of rolling it out across the whole site and I am going to trial some pre 802.11n Aruba access points in two rooms where we are going to have classes of 30 laptops.

 

I also have an Aruba 800 controller running In local mode but you still configure the ap’s through the one 3400 master controller. It just uses the 16 ap licences from the 800 and they get all the config piped through the 800 from the 3400 master controller.

 

We used REACT technologies to do the wireless survey, support and quote on the equipment as they are the only official UK distributor but you can’t buy the hardware direct (all other distributors in the UK have to purchase through REACT). We purchased the hardware through Misco who sell it on REACT technologies behalf as a reseller.

 

The only downfall with the Aruba is the price. But there is a cheaper alternative with the Netgear managed system which is an Aruba 800 controller running a software restricted version of ArubaOS 2.5. Unfortunately these 2 systems are not inter-compatible as Aruba systems have moved on the ArubaOS 3.1+ which was a complete overall of the protocols.

 

There is an access point limit to ArubaOS 2.5 witch I think is up to 48 access points by using the max of 3 x 800 style controllers that the Netgear is based on. Also there is no AP grouping functionality in ArubaOS 2.5 its either Whole Site or signal AP configuration. I use this functionality in ArubaOS 3.1 to group ap’s into faculties and pumping out different SSIDS so that a MFL laptop doesn’t try to connect to my maths block AP’s.

 

So overall I strongly recommend the Aruba system but if funds are tight and you need less than 48 access points I would also strongly recommend the Netgear WFS709TP system.

[MarkPower]

Does anyone know of a Ruckus supplier down here in the wilds of Dorset (or near enough to want to visit)?

 

Hi There

 

I would be more than happy to discuss your needs relating to Ruckus, I have schools in the Devon and Dorset area that have already purchased and installed the Ruckus kit that are very happy with the performance and reliability of the solutution....and I think I am right in saying happy with what Net-Ctrl have done to help them achieve there goal.

 

I would be more than happy to travel and see you, I have other clients in the Devon and Dorset area that I am due to meet shorly so drop me an email, PM or call me to start making some plans.

 

Cheers for now

 

Mark

[email protected]

01472 281211

07525 785 278

[MarkPower]

Net-Ctrl will travel for your wireless needs and the Ruckus stuff is good.

 

The Netgear kit is not scaleable to a large site. You will only get 32 APs on the solution (16 with fail over of the controller).

 

I use BlueSocket which is excellent but would swap it for Ruckus tomorrow if Mark at Net-Ctrl offered to do it for free

 

Nice words Ric cheers mate, new upgrade offers are being anouced this week so will let you know if I can do something to help you mate.

 

Cheers

 

Mark

[soapyfish]

I have heard great things about xirrus

 

High Performance Wi-Fi - Xirrus

[BooBoo]

We use Cisco here. 1100 and 1200 series with A and G. A root bridge connecting to two non-roots. All controlled by a Wireless Lan Solution Engine Express. One of the access points is set as a WDS and we use Certificates for authentication. Very quick, scalable and cheaper than you might think.

We tested Netgear, 3Com and Cisco and found that even though we were paying more for Cisco the throughput and range on the Cisco kit outweighed the cost.

[FragglePete]

Another Vote for Ruckus. Very expandable.

 

Running it mainly for 2 Laptop Trolleys, put the AP in the room before setting out the laptops and users log in with no problems. Solved a lot of our issue we were having.

 

Am hoping to expand it across the School in the future, so the Tech doesn't have to put out an AP for each trolley, but budget has been slashed so that's something else on the back burner.

 

Pete

[richardelphick]

Silver - I'm glad to see that someone has already introduced Meru to you. Meru is the only vendor that we've found that works in high density environments such as education. If you need white papers or anything else, drop me a message and I'll respond as quickly as possible.

 

many thanks

[mhowell]

Hi Silver,

Good to hear you have a local supplier supporting you with your wireless needs for Meru.

Ask your supplier to put you in touch with local schools and colleges already using Meru and ask those schools about their performance with Meru and go and see the schools using Meru.

Meru has many installations in the south with a number of very professional suppliers with considerable experience of the intracacies/problems of wireless, which Meru solves with their unique architecture.

Have a good look around the websites for case studies and make your own mind up based on real world examples / case studies rather than tests you might see with a few APs and a few clients.

The key is to replicate your own environment, or see schools / colleges with your environment and make your choice from there. Ensure you've looked to the future too by catering for 11n and voice capability too.

Good luck.

Warm regards

Mark

[Guest blacksheep]

Use Cisco Aironet 1200 here, have no Wireless controller. I have 10 and 2 are repeaters and it works fine. It has to be reliable as staff doing lesson registeration. The are all on G since the last upgrade.

 

School isnt that big, 750 pupils (capacity 900) with around 100 wireless laptops