Access point recommendations for laptop trollies

[north-ict]

Hi Peeps,

 

We have some laptop trolleys with access point about 3-4 years old I think even longer (before I started). And there is always an issue of flaky wireless reception sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. With me looking to buy some new laptops and laptop trolleys I wanted to know what you guys would recommend for a wireless AP's on the trolleys. Whatever I do end up purchasing I will also purchase the same AP's for the old trolleys as replacements.

 

Scenario:

Each laptop trolley will(proposed new ones)/has(old set) 16 laptops and a printer. When the trolley is in use the network cable is connected to the wall data point to establish a wireless point for that room.

 

Since theres many users would like something that is reliable so any recommendations are welcome. Thanks in advance!

Edited November 8, 2012 by north-ict

[north-ict]

anyone?

[Steve21]

Honestly never even thought about using an access point on a trolley Got site wide wifi so not sure it'd do any benefit.

 

Do you not have site wide wifi, or is it more ensuring there's a single point for all the machines to run off of?

 

Steve

[north-ict]

Apart from the laptops nothing else is wireless or in the immediate future requires it that i know of. I mean when it works its fine its just i think those wireless points are old from 4 years ago and newer improved tech is out there hence why i thought i would ask.

 

Just to clarify no site wide wifi.

[Steven_Cleaver]

Ubiquiti Unifi then as mentioned above look a good option I have been looking at these myself as the school isn't to yet interested in full Wireless system.

[robyholmes]

Ubiquiti Unifi then as mentioned above look a good option I have been looking at these myself as the school isn't to yet interested in full Wireless system.

 

I have found the UniFi AP's go in to a 'No body loves me' mode if they can't ping the default gateway or management server. So you would have to make sure the network was plugged in before powering up otherwise they don't broadcast.

[Chris_Cook]

I would really recommend installing wifi permanently using a managed system. We used to have netgear home grade access points in our trolleys, but they went wrong more often than they worked. I think the problems we had were part rubbish APs, part rubbish laptop drivers, and part people plugging in the network cable after the power, which probably will stop a lot of access points working.

 

Going with Ruckus was probably one of the best ict investments my school has made, and has allowed us to make good use of mobile devices. Having said that, most of the popular managed wifi systems will probably do you a good job. Maybe see if you can get a free demo from one of the suppliers on here.

 

Could you install some APs in areas wherethe laptops are frequently used, then expand at a later date? Rather than going completely site wide? I think each of our access points covers about 3 classrooms, but it would depend on your building.

[north-ict]

Currently 4 year groups share 2 trolleys between them we are looking to add an additional 2 so that each year group has its own laptop trolley. The year groups are based on 2 floors in an old victorian style school. I am thinking its probably a possibility later down the line to do area wide wifi but apart from the laptops for now theres nothing else that would require it (For now).

 

It is definitely food for thought in regards to area wide wifi.

 

I mean apart from area wide wifi any opinions on any decent trolley AP?

[familiarrealms]

If you like Lapsafe, there are a few added extras you can purchase with the Unocart range and i think that one is the option of turning your trolley into an access point.

[FragglePete]

You can run a Ruckus AP without a controller; I know that's what my kids Primary school does with a whole load of netbooks.

 

We don't have site wide coverage here, so have an Access Point with the laptop trolley that travels round with it and plugged in where we know coverage is lacking. Would love to increase the number of APs on our Ruckus setup but we're at the licensing limit on ours and it's a lot of wonga to pay the license for the next step up.

 

Pete

[FragglePete]

Honestly never even thought about using an access point on a trolley Got site wide wifi so not sure it'd do any benefit.

 

Do you not have site wide wifi, or is it more ensuring there's a single point for all the machines to run off of?

 

Steve

 

Tsk Tsk @Steve21, have you forgotten your glory days here pushing the trolley around and plugging in an Access Point!!!

 

Pete

[north-ict]

If you like Lapsafe, there are a few added extras you can purchase with the Unocart range and i think that one is the option of turning your trolley into an access point.

 

The current 2 trolleys we have are lapsafe ones and have the wifi unit inside but £3000 for a unit roughly I am considering other laptop trolleys.

[north-ict]

You can run a Ruckus AP without a controller; I know that's what my kids Primary school does with a whole load of netbooks.

 

We don't have site wide coverage here, so have an Access Point with the laptop trolley that travels round with it and plugged in where we know coverage is lacking. Would love to increase the number of APs on our Ruckus setup but we're at the licensing limit on ours and it's a lot of wonga to pay the license for the next step up.

 

Pete

 

Had any issues with the Rukus AP in the trolley coverage etc? Ruckus has been mentioned to me a few times.

[FragglePete]

Had any issues with the Rukus AP in the trolley coverage etc? Ruckus has been mentioned to me a few times.

 

We don't run it inside the trolley; my tech wheels the trolley to the room and plugs the AP in any available network point - coverage not really a problem, except for our 'modular' builds that have so many air con/heating units in that no wifi works in that area at all!

 

Worth adding at this point, the Latest firmware on the ZoneDirector allows grouping of APs and set different profiles for each group. For us, the AP that roams with a trolley doesn't have the BYOD SSIDs associated with it as I can't guarantee the port he plugs the AP into is setup for BYOD VLAN on the edge switches. Works well.

 

Pete

[familiarrealms]

The current 2 trolleys we have are lapsafe ones and have the wifi unit inside but £3000 for a unit roughly I am considering other laptop trolleys.

 

Did you pay £3000 for a Lapsafe unit? The ones I mentioned are half that...

[familiarrealms]

Did you pay £3000 for a Lapsafe unit? The ones I mentioned are half that...

 

Saying that the mentor range are around that did you get those ones.

[3s-gtech]

We wheel our wireless around on the trolleys - we did have the APs in place in the department that owns the trolley but it limited the trolley to that area, and the laptops loved connecting to the AP with 1 bar of signal. We use a pair of Netgear Prosafe APs - WG102 - which are now years old but do the job fine. There's a small switch in the trolley so the teacher only has to plug in one cable. Seems to work okay, and fairly cheap. 802.11n would help I think, would need separate LAN connections really.

[Steve21]

Tsk Tsk @Steve21, have you forgotten your glory days here pushing the trolley around and plugging in an Access Point!!!

 

Pete

 

Never! Just was assuming it was in addition to site wide, just to ensure there's enough through-put for the whole trolley in an area without impacting others.

 

Did you ever get those handles replaced that Mr Gary and James killed?

 

Steve

[difinity]

The APs that are in the Lapsafe trolleys are usually Cisco. Seems counter productive mounting them inside a metal trolley though.

 

The Netgear mini switches they have in them occasionally need rebooting.

[north-ict]

Did you pay £3000 for a Lapsafe unit? The ones I mentioned are half that...

 

 

Those lapsafe trolleys were here before i started so I do not know how much they were. But i got a rough ballpark figure and an estimate was £3000 each for a lapsafe for some additional ones.

Edited November 12, 2012 by north-ict

[pmdc199]

We wheel our wireless around on the trolleys - we did have the APs in place in the department that owns the trolley but it limited the trolley to that area, and the laptops loved connecting to the AP with 1 bar of signal. We use a pair of Netgear Prosafe APs - WG102 - which are now years old but do the job fine. There's a small switch in the trolley so the teacher only has to plug in one cable. Seems to work okay, and fairly cheap. 802.11n would help I think, would need separate LAN connections really.

 

We use HP they cost more but are much better at sharing the load, Meraki are very good too. They are not cheap but if they follow the trolley then it's far cheaper than whole school wireless.

[paulgriffin]

Just set up 2 laptop trollies (30 laptops in each) - ClassBuddy from Lapsafe ClassBuddy | Laptop trolley | Lapsafe

Cheap but very big and heavy. Also took forever to deliver.

Products | EcoCarts are worth a look at esp as they can take laptops vertically.

 

One minor detail that makes life easier. Check to see where the charging led's are located on your laptops- if you can see them when the laptops are stacked in the trolley you know they are on charge. This was a problem with our old trolley and there was always a couple of laptops that had not been plugged in properly.

 

We are using Netgear WNDAP360 access points. Although we have whole site wifi, having a dedicated access point lowers the overhead for the rest of school. Still in testing stage but seems to work ok.

[paulgriffin]

Just set up 2 laptop trollies (30 laptops in each) - ClassBuddy from Lapsafe ClassBuddy | Laptop trolley | Lapsafe

Cheap but very big and heavy. Also took forever to deliver.

Products | EcoCarts are worth a look at esp as they can take laptops vertically.

 

One minor detail that makes life easier. Check to see where the charging led's are located on your laptops- if you can see them when the laptops are stacked in the trolley you know they are on charge. This was a problem with our old trolley and there was always a couple of laptops that had not been plugged in properly.

 

We are using Netgear WNDAP360 access points. Although we have whole site wifi, having a dedicated access point lowers the overhead for the rest of school. Still in testing stage but seems to work ok.

[glennda]

So you already have the trollies and your just looking to replace the actual AP's? I think Meraki would do the job well? Especially if you only need 4 or 5 as you don't need to bother with the controller and you still get a great easy to use management system in the cloud.

 

I could arrange a free demo for you if you like? where are you located in the UK? I have a MR12 demo AP which should be good for your 16 nodes. You could have it for a day or 2 to see if there would be any value in it for you.

 

pm me or email me at [email protected] if your interested.

 

Regards

Pete

 

MR12 would be underpowered for what they want. MR16 at Least IMHO

 

And Another vote for Meraki, will be interesting to see how many people pay more attention to it now they have been bought by Cisco. I've been using them for the last 8 months and been flawless.

[north-ict]

Well I had a few demonstrations from some laptop trolley companies and have opted for one company. So I will have 4 in total. Looking at how the current 2 lapsafe trolleys are setup is :

 

Cable from data point on wall>>>>Lapsafe data point on trolley >>>>netgear unmanaged switch >>>>> AP & Printer.

 

So for the new 2 trolleys I am buying I need to buy some unmanaged switches 4 x AP's (2 to replace the current ones in the lapsafe trolley)

 

Blanket wifi for now is a no Hopefully later down the line I can do something about that but for now its a no.