WiFi for 80-100 users

[rocky_cruise]

I have a motel which has 2 floors. Each floor is 180 ft X 70 ft with multiple rooms. I want to setup a WiFi network for 80-100 users accessing the network at any given time. Please advise on what devices should I buy that will perform seamlessly and wont be too expensive.

 

[BCFosheezy]

I have a motel which has 2 floors. Each floor is 180 ft X 70 ft with multiple rooms. I want to setup a WiFi network for 80-100 users accessing the network at any given time. Please advise on what devices should I buy that will perform seamlessly and wont be too expensive.

Speed/reliability/low cost ....... pick two.

If you're wanting to provide an enterprise grade network, you'll need enterprise grade equipment. I would recommend a Sonicwall TZ-400, and 4 sonicpoint N2's. This will provide a Secure way to allow access to your network using enterprise grade products. It will cost ~$2500.00 if you can configure it yourself and run the cabling yourself.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

You could also look into Ubiquity network equipment. They make a variety of networking products and access points. Overall, you don't really have a -huge- area to cover, and some of the access points they sell have ranges far in excess of what you're looking to cover. The tricky point is your router and bandwidth. While most basic residential routers can handle a dozen different devices, upping that by 10 creates some strain on them. Thus, having a commercial grade router comes in handy to take care of routing and such as it also generally has better control over traffic shaping, QoS and the like.

Assuming that you can run the wiring and hardware, I would say 6 wifi access points (three on each floor spaced out) hardwired to a good router would provide enough coverage and aggregate bandwidth to handle 80-100 people.

The other issue of course is overall bandwidth - as in the data rate that your internet provides. It's all well and good that you can provide enough bandwidth for them to connect with, but if you're feeding 100 people with a 20/2mbit connection to the internet, it's going to be pretty darn slow as your complete bandwidth available will be in the neighborhood of 200kbit/sec each if everyone is using it at the same time

Yes, that works out to 30KB/sec transfer rates. Which is slooooowwwww..

Of course, THAT'S assuming everyone is dl'ing at the same instant which usually isn't the case for most people as browsing the net is a bursty type of traffic. Still, you have to plan for worst case, so that would be your 'worst case'.

The internet you would need to support 100 users and have a 'usable' speed would be a minimum of 150mbit down, preferably you'd need almost a gigabit connection to really provide for that large of a user base.

That of course brings up the question, is gigabit service even available in your area? Hope this helps point you in the right directions.