what's a good wireless hostpot solution? 1

[baronne]

Hi,

We're a school looking at putting in wireless access around the school. Currently we have some Linksys WAP54GP's which are proving to be a bit troublesome.

We're getting unreliable connectivity , ie. the machines appear to be getting an address and can see the access points but cannot ping or connect to any network resources.
We have a building which is 3 floors, with two APs on each floor. The channels are as far apart from each as possible to avoid overlapping. They are configured using RADIUS with a WPA PSK on the clients.

Ideally we'd like a solution much like how you see in public hotspots such as airports or hotels. So the wireless network is essentially open, any laptop can see the network -> they connect -> get an IP address -> then... when they try to access any network resources, they should be prompted for a username and password (via web interface or whatever)

Is it possible that we've got something wrong? Is RADIUS good for us? Are the Linksys WAP54GP's any good? Is there a better solution? Also... of course, we need to keep the costs down.

any ideas and suggestions?

cheers

baronne

:: baronne
------------------
"lekker, shot bru

 

[rstew3]

If you are looking to stay inexpensive, what you have should work, you probably just need more APs for the proper coverage. There are some tools out there you can use to walk around the school and measure signal strength. A good threshold would be -75db or better (-70db or better being ideal). Also remeber with 802.11b/g, you really only have 3 channels that don't overlap (1,6,11).

For a better solution, but far more expensive, you should look at some of the "thin AP" solutions, such as Trapeze or Nortel. They are far more reliable and secure, as well as easier to manage, since everthing is managed from central "Security Switch". They will auto assign channels and adjust signal strength to cover holes.

 

[baronne]

thanks... we figured most of that out... but after extensive testing it turns out our main problems have been the Linksys WAP54G's!!! Stay away from these things .. they're a nightmare... they claim to support WPA and RADIUS but they are so unreliable it's a joke. We replaced them with D-Link 3200's and all is sweet again.
We also experienced a problem with our non-standard laptops (Samsung) which are 802.11b - and these have been less reliable than our Dell laptops.
I agree a managed solution would be better... but I don't think the budget is available...
cheers


:: baronne
------------------
"lekker, shot bru