inhousetech

Thanks for your reply. Which netbook was it that you used? I assume that the content filtering, etc was then dealt with via the normal network routes? CP

Hi all We have a school that has a wireless LAN ad is looking at getting some netbooks. However the netbooks are likely to have Windows 7 starter, or equivilent. I assume that most of the netbook's wouldn't be able to support a higher versi of the OS? They arent happy with just encryption and want higher security, such as RADIUS. Has anyone else come across this issue, and if so how did you navigate this? CP

Every application/enviroment reacts differently with regards to networks, whether its wired or wireless, and as you say, larger files can take longer. Are the users tyical files going to be large or small, how frequent, etc. If you really wanted to design a network this should all be gathered and analysed first, however foer a couple of AP's it probably isnt needed. in regards to the 20Mhz going further, I agree, in the same way 5GHz doesnt propegate as far, but it has its uses with N equipment because its less congested/more channels. Again you are ferering 80-90Mb, isnt this the wireless speeds? Once overheads, security, etc have been added, I dont think any manufaturer would argue against achieving a mucher lower throughput. I personallay havent seen any enterprise N kit with only 100Mb ethernet. If they do then the kit must surely be badged wrong as gigabit switches dont have 100Mb uplinks! When putting traffic on to the wired network you should be aiming to improve performance, rather than maintain or even impacting performance? @ kipling, never used Ruckus, but seen the stuff and would agree with what you said. @Simon, check which spectrum (2.4 vs 5GHz) your laptops operate in before buying any AP's, so you can match them correctly. Just my opinion! CraigP

I would disagree, as the one third ratio you are talking about is the speed between the wireless devices, not the wired side of the network. Also with g you should be getting 22-26Mb throughput. witha 300Mb N link you should be achieveing speeds of 120-150Mb wireless side. N AP's have gigabit connections on them as the data can be sent at gigabit speed on the wired network. The number of AP's needed will depend on the usage of the laptops as just because there is an N AP, the laptops maybe N as well, thus there usage may well increase. CraigP

Ha ha, Kipling caught me out... Should have stipulate 5GHz I suppose I am used to deploying SCA wirelsss, thus completely forgot about the channel bonding and issues in 2.4GHz for cell based CraigP

Hi Simon Are the laptops being used in only one room or across the school? If only one room, consider whether it is likely to expand across the school and plan for that now, otherwise you will invest in kit that may be of no use to you in 12months time if you need to expand it to a managed system. You mention two AP's; so you have two options (IMO), 1) configure each AP with a different SSID and assign teh SSID to half the laptops, then the same with the other AP, 2) the AP's sort them selves, however you are describing a managed solution, rather than two unmanaged fat AP's. N can run up to 300Mbps, so you will definately want gigabit back to the switch otherwise the cabling will be the weak link. With regards to teh OS, I wouldn't imagine many would recommend using a home OS in a corporate/education network. HTH CraigP

Unfortunate that is typical of cell based (as opposed to single channel) wireless as it is so difficult to get t he channel spacing right with RF being a constantly chaning medium. I would start by turning off a couple of the AP's in the area and see if that improves the situation. I would also do a scan of the area to check that there aren't any other wireless networks that have popped up and using available channels. I have been back to schools where teachers have brought in a new AP and just plugged it in so they had better wireless, but this screwup up the rest of the wireless. How long has the system been in ad when did you notice the issues? CP

Hi Jamo The area where you are receiving low sucess rates, are clients complaining about the slowness of the network? What is the density of AP's in the 'slow' area. If it is high, this may be beacuse of co-channel interference. CP

Hi Jamman The main consideration of FSO is the area its installed in, i.e. the real killer of FSO is fog, which is apparent near the coast. We install FSO (although not in your area) and agree tha is is a really good technology, especially if you want gigabit. What we tend to also affer a radio backup, subject to required response times and how critical the link is. You shouldn't be looking at more than £2k for a decent throughput backup. Some manufacturers incorporate the abaility to connect the backup link in to the FSO and automatically switch over, but you will pay a premium for this. Cheaper to get a couple of failover WAN routers, or just patch it in manually as and when required. HTH CP

Hi Matt Have you had costs for each depoyment yet? If not that could make a BIG difference! just speaking from my experience. The Extricom could be seen as being limited because all AP's have to be linked dirctly back to a switch, however dependant on your campus layout this may not bean issue. They also have range extenders allowing up to 200M from the controller. The Meru AP's doen't have to be directly linked to the controller, however that means they put 802.11 traffic (approx 3 times the size of 802.3) straight on to the network, meaing a lot more traffic on your network. Great if your running very high bandwith backbones!

TMCD35 is correct. Laptops are so cheap now and address the mobility point of view. Afterall, how long would it take to dismantle 100No PC's, monitors, keyboards, etc, compared to laptops. I would also say that there are a few wireless systems such as Extricom and Meru that are designed to support classroom full of laptops at a time. And with the ratification of N, you can easily achieve log on speeds that would appear the same to users as a wired network. Sure, you can 'lash' a switch and patch leads in (had to do it a ew times as a temporary fix) but before you know it, it becomes a permamantWithout using a swith at each data point, you can only service a single device, where as a WAP can service many more. CP