commercial wireless networks?

Question

What does the network infurstructure look like in commercial sized wireless networks? in a hotel for example.

If the building is about 8 stories high with 30 rooms on each floor.
How many wireless routers will be used on each floor?
How are these routers setup and what configurations are used to?
How can they display the same SSID?
How many rooms can each router cover?

any suggestions or recommandations on brand names of equipment can be helpful.

Answer 1

my company is using wireless in the office to minimize the need to run cables and to give more freedom to people to gather in a conference rooms or other area they choose--even the lunchroom, with their laptops and no need for enough wires for all of them. We are small in comparison to other installations of wireless.

The way it is set up is multiple AP's with the same name and security setup to facilitate AP hopping. Each AP is connected to our switch............

A hotel would set up the same way. Multiple AP's advertising the same SSID and security setup.
--I would set up 2 - 3 (one per 20-30 feet of corridor) AP's per floor which would be sufficient to cover all rooms
--There would be Access points, not wireless routers
--Each AP would be configured identically to advertise the same SSID to facilitate AP hopping...each floor would be on different channels to eliminate RF interference.
--Each AP is paired. The SSID and the MAC address identify each access point. When you connect to an AP, the computer knows which one it should be on based on the MAC address. Should you move out of range, you would automatically connect to the next AP
---Each router would cover about 30 feet of corridor. If in the open, you could possibly cover 2-3 times that range, but with walls attenuating the signal, 30 feet would be even pushing it. 30 Feet should be considered the absolute maximum range
--Cisco, Dlink and Linksys have solutions to make this work. The main thing is to not use residential grade wireless routers as you do not need routing on this level, but Access Point connectivity. Your router would be a commercial grade router to the internet....each AP would connect to a switched network backbone.

Answer 2

You can only use 1 router for a start. It will be useless using a wireless router, a wired one will support the rest of the system. You will need very fast broadband for a building this size. You will need to run cables to each floor and use wireless access points. The number you need will depend on the construction of the building, probably 4 per floor. This means 4 cables to each floor from wherever the router is, you will need a switch with enough ports for the router and each access point. Alternatively you could use a smaller switch on each floor connected to another switch in the router area. The channels of the closest routers must be well separated or you will suffer interference. You need to set a simple encryption password, anything too difficult will too easily cause confusion. They can all have the same ssid, but should not really be set this way.

Answer 3

One main router, multiple access points, in some cases the AP's connect to each other on a second channel. One router can cover 254 rooms on a single subnet. If the APs offer seperate subnets each AP can then handle 254 etc etc. Usually these commerical AP's use a radius validation system thus you can preset usernames and passwords (or even pull them from the registration information)
Therefore you can cover several thousand users with very little infrastucture.. just need to be sure the backbone is there to cover the loading!

Motorola, Proxim, AirEpoch, and many others these days.

Answer 4

That building is small enough to use one wireless router. If you find no other ssid's near then it most likely is the case. remember wireless signals propagate in all three dimensions....

the configurations and so forth are for the administrators to know and hackers to have fun with.

Answer 5

First you will could desire to get carry of a licence to furnish this provider, in any different case using this greater powered kit will make you vulnerable to an prolonged reformatory sentence. 2d you will choose a splash allowing such use from an ISP, or returned could desire to finally finally end up in reformatory. to get carry of the licence you will could want for example to the regulatory authority which you have the technical understanding to provider and shelter your kit, an you would be held to blame for any of your clientele breaking the regulation.

Answer 6

no self respecting network engineer would implement Wi-Fi only in a hotel building with that many floors.