Setting up WiFi in Apartment Building

Hello,

I am interested in setting up a WiFi network for use by the residents of an apartment building. The building is a medium sized, 3-story building with 16 units total. I was figuring I could have a switch or hub or something in my apartment then put a wireless router or two on each floor. My knowledge of larger networks is minimal.

What kind of hardware would I need to accomplish this?
What concerns do I need to be looking at in order to make it happen?
What suggestions can u provide in my venture?!

Thanks in advance,
B

You could set up one wireless router in your apartment, and then depending on where your room is located, you could put one router in a central location on floor two, then put the third router in a central location on floor three. If interference isn't too bad and the walls aren't too thick you could just stick with one higher powered router on the second floor. It would certainly be simpler than configuring a router and two repeaters.

On the plus side, you would have better signal coverage if you ran two repeaters with your router, however it would take a little more time to set up than just the router by itself.

What you will need:

Decent router with external antennas. Internal antennas normally arent as good as external antennas, especially when it comes to covering the area your trying to. The Linksys WRT54G and GL, although older, are both good routers and have a great reputation when it comes to stability. They both also support DDWRT and can sometimes be found on ebay or craigslist with the DDWRT firmware already installed.

Ethernet cables to connect your repeaters to your router, if you are going to use them. Running WDS (Wireless Distribution System, or basically connecting wireless repeaters to a wireless router, wirelessly) chops the throughput in half with every node the data has to pass though). With Ethernet connected repeaters, the throughput does not degrade. Most routers running DDWRT also support WDS, so these routers can be set up as repeaters.



I would start with a single router, and if that doesn't give you good signal in the far reaches of your apartment complex, then go ahead and grab some repeaters and get 'em hooked up.


Something I would recommend for security is setting up wireless encryption. Last thing you need is some passerby finding your open access point, and using your connection for illegal activity. Run WPA encryption, and hand out the password to everyone that lives in the complex.

Let us know if you have any issues. I kind of went off on a tangent. Hope I didn't throw too much info out there all at once.

Hello,
I have a networking project in hand. need to setup a wifi connection for a 20 story building. For the setup i have planned to put up a Layer 3 switch and 45 Wireless Access Points.

Is the plan format right for the setup? Can anyone guide me with this.

Do i require a Wireless Access Controller as well. If yes then y do i need to add a switch? as the functioning of both is same.

Any Ideas about this setup?

Thanks,
Rohan Shah

This is exactly the type of work we do please let me know if you still need assistance... Matt 704 987 6599...

Panoptic Technology makes some great solutions for this sort of project. If the building isn't already pre-wired with Cat5, they make some devices that will let you use the existing phone lines in the building. Panoptic Technology

You know, the router is a certain connection distance.so you can set wireless AP.

You can use a ceiling mount AP like the Engenius EAP350

Keenan Systems Wireless Store - Engenius 2500mW EIRP 802.11bgn EAP350 AP / repeater

you will need 2-3 per floor depending on building construction you might be able to skip a floor.

connect them back to a switch and then a business class router like the ESR9850

Keenan Systems Wireless Store - ESR9850 50mW 802.11n router with gigabit switch

it as gigabit ports and can handle hundreds of connections.

That router has has ports that supports connections up 820Mbps? wow!