Need a wireless router recommendation to server 40+ people

[Myles Braithwaite]

I agree with everything Colin just wrote but would like to add two suggestion

Only have one router (both the 802.11g and 802.11n routers if you are
going that route) broadcasting an SSID. Having multiple access points
broadcasting the same SSID will cause a lot of background noise, and
will take down you signal strength.

Also don't bother with repeaters they only extend range and don't help
if you are adding more people to the network.

On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Colin McGregor <colin.mc151-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 9:53 AM, William O'Higgins Witteman
> <william.ohiggins-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> I am providing tech support for a meeting next month, and we want to
>> offer wifi to the attendees - 40+ people.  I've got wired gigabit to the
>> room, so the question is, which router can I buy that I can configure as
>> an open access point and will not barf under 40 people hitting a website
>> at once?  Thanks!
>
> You have a bunch of problems here each with different flavors of ugly.
> You should be able to assume all your attendees have laptops (or other
> devices) that support 802.11g, and you can tell anyone that has an
> 802.11b only device, sorry, but tough... Okay, I don't care who builds
> it or what it is running, there are NO 802.11g routers out there that
> could support 40 people hitting a media rich (read video) websites
> without barfing, the 802.11g standard just doesn't offer enough
> bandwidth. You could go to 802.11n but there are several issues here,
> starting with the near certainty that some significantly large
> percentage of your users will not support 802.11n so, 802.11g support
> will likely be a must. Further, while 802.11n in the 5 GHz band might
> be enough enough to support your people, there is no requirement that
> 802.11n use the 5 GHz band, meaning some 802.11n devices use just use
> 2.4 GHz other support 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The 802.11n devices that just
> support 2.4 GHz will be battling for bandwidth the 802.11g devices
> (yuck!).
>
> Bottom line, if money wasn't a concern I would set-up multiple routers
> as follows:
>
> - 1+ x 5 GHz 802.11n router(s)
> - 3 x 2.4 GHz 802.11g routers on channels one each on channels 1, 6 and 11
>
> The above would get your attendees as much bandwidth as is possible.
> Get the people who have 5 GHz 802.11n support to go to 5GHz and then
> try to get the 802.11g/802.11 2.4 GHz  only people to spread out among
> the 2.4 GHz channels.
>
> Beyond that, one of the Unix Unanimous group regulars (a big *BSD fan)
> will happily tell you how he can make the Linux TCP/IP stack fall over
> (under semi-extreme conditions).  So, while not perfect, I do trust
> the Linux TCP/IP stack far more than any proprietary software stack.
> There are several 802.11g routers out there that can be made to run
> 3rd party Linux distros, best known, but hardly only being the Linksys
> WRT54GL...
>
> My $0.02
>
> Colin.
>
>> --
>>
>> yours,
>>
>> William
> --
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-- 
Myles Braithwaite
http://mylesbraithwaite.com | me-qIX3qoPyADtH8hdXm2+x1laTQe2KTcn/@public.gmane.org
--
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