some good wireless network access points?

[mlbasso]

I am the network Specialist at a school district. We will soon have our network evaluated and get recommendations for a wide area wireless network. "Soon" will not be soon enough, so in the meantime I want to setup 4 AP's to cover a wing at my High School location. We have a laptop cart with 20 Windows 2000 laptops. I have used single Linksys WAP54AG AP's. They have worked OK but not great. For the most part they work, but on occasion, connectivity is lost and systems need to be restarted to pick up an IP address. I have used WEP (128 bit) for security.
Has anyone had much luck with similiar setups?
What I need is as follows:
multiple AP's with same SIDD
WEP or WPA

Thanks

 

[bcastner]

Any available wireless router or AP will allow you to set the SSID to your choosing; all will allow WEP; most will allow WPA.

For your existing Linksys WPAs, it sounds like a possible channel interference issue. You keep the SSIDs the same, and select different, non-interfering, channels for each. You also want to be absolutely up-to-date on the adapter software and firmware. Quite frankly, XP does a better job of wireless in your setting than Win2k can every do. But I understand you may not want, or cannot upgrade. Check frequently with the wireless vendor to see if newer software for the wireless adapters has been released.

For the near future: Stop purchasing APs. Purchase routers and use them as APs. They are more flexible, they offer greater firmware features, and are always cheaper than APs (for reasons that are a mystery to me).

. Since you are using Linksys, continue to do so for the near term. This allows you to use a range of firmwares -- from Linksys, Sveasoft, HyperWRT, Wolf, and several others. No other SOHO class router offers the firmware choices available for Linksys.

. Explore the use of WDS. It might be a good fit in your setting. You can do so with your Linksys APs and the purchase of WRT54G or WRT54GS and Sveasoft firmware. See: thread916-837246

. Several firmwares allow you to adjust the output power - and hence the AP density - of the AP and/or wireless Linksys router. This is a key feature in a setting in which there is overlap in the coverage zones of the APs employed. This is another good reason to continue with Linksys in the near term.

Longer Term Considerations

. The wireless field this year (2005) should see 902.11"N" standardized. MIMO enabled routers and APs will become commonplace, with or without "N" features. (You can buy the pre-"N" from D-Link now (I would not), or MIMO now from Linksys (very hot stuff). I think you are right to take short-term steps. But it would be a serious mistake at this point in time to do a site survey or make an RFP based on current wireless technology. The MIMO schema is quite impressiv in extending the range of a single Acces Point or wireless router. You likely will need fewer devices and obtain a more reliable connection with the product introductions by all wireless manufacturers this coming year.

Resources:
For all Linksys firmwares - official and 3rd party

http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/equip,16

http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php

Sveasoft firmware:

http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/index.php

 

[cdlvj]

>>>>>For the near future: Stop purchasing APs. Purchase >>>>>routers and use them as APs. They are more flexible, >>>>>>they offer greater firmware features, and are always >>>>>>>cheaper than APs (for reasons that are a mystery to me).

So you would piggy back of the wired router from the bank of ports, or would the wired router have to have a special port, would the cable be the one with the reverse pins?

 

[cdlvj]

It is called a crossover cable, so simply connecting one port to the port on the wireless router with a crossover cable would do the trick.

 

[bcastner]

Exactly, you ignore the WAN port. If you want to be thorough about it, I disable DHCP on the wireless router, set a fixed IP outside the DHCP scope of the principal router, and set the Router configuration from its default of "Gateway" to "Router" all in the web set-up pages of the WRT54G/GS or other wireless router.

A good tutorial about using a wireless router as an Access Point:

http://www4.tomshardware.com/network/20030716/index.html

I have used both Linksys wireless router family products and the true WAP54G APs in WDS mode using Sveasoft. (See my threadlink above). I have used in setting nothing but WRT54x as Access Points using Sveasoft and other third-party firmware in both WDS and controlled power output as APs.

Honestly I do not buy WAP54Gs anymore, as the WRT54G/GS family works perfectly well in this role and is more featured with firmware.