new building - seamless wireless access

I am building out a new office space. 7200 sq feet with many individual
offices. I would like to provide one seamless wireless network
throughout the space such that you can walk around the entire office
without switching wireless networks.
I will also provide many wired ethernet jacks throughout the space -
I'm comfortable with that setup. What I want to know is what is the best
way to have multiple access points operate together to provide great
coverage throughout the space with no deadspots.

A bit more info - In my current location I have a linux box configured
as a router with 3 nics one goes to the internet, one goes to a wired
network (multiple computers on a switch behind the router) and one goes
to a wireless router. In the new building I would like many wireless
access points to connect to a second switch just for the wireless access
points. I would like the wireless access points to be true access points
and not routers and let the linux box handle all the dhcp.

To summarize I would have a linux box connected to the internet acting
as my router / firewall. two internal nics each going to a switch. One
switch for wired connections and one switch for wireless access points.

Specific recommendations for access point brands / models and
information or links on how to set them up as multiple access points for
the same network.

Also, any guesses as to a good number of access points to use in order
to provide excellent coverage for a single story, 7200 sq ft building
with many 10 x 10 offices?

Thanks in advance


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On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 11:29:29 -0500, jswright61
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed)>:

>I am building out a new office space. 7200 sq feet with many individual
>offices. I would like to provide one seamless wireless network
>throughout the space such that you can walk around the entire office
>without switching wireless networks.

Use the same *unique* SSID on all access points.

It can be straightforward to provide complete coverage, but seamless
roaming tends to be problematic -- many wireless adapters will try to
hang on to access point A even when the signal from A gets weak and the
signal from B gets much stronger, and when switching from A to B, things
like VPN connections tend to be lost.

>I will also provide many wired ethernet jacks throughout the space -
>I'm comfortable with that setup. What I want to know is what is the best
>way to have multiple access points operate together to provide great
>coverage throughout the space with no deadspots.

Do a radio site survey
http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi..._a_Site_Survey
and test location of access points on the three minimally overlapping
channels (1, 6, 11)
http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi...ess_LAN_layout

>A bit more info - In my current location I have a linux box configured
>as a router with 3 nics one goes to the internet, one goes to a wired
>network (multiple computers on a switch behind the router) and one goes
>to a wireless router. In the new building I would like many wireless
>access points to connect to a second switch just for the wireless access
>points. I would like the wireless access points to be true access points
>and not routers and let the linux box handle all the dhcp.

Sure. Wireless routers are often cheaper than wireless access points,
and can be configured as wireless access points:
http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi...s_access_point

>To summarize I would have a linux box connected to the internet acting
>as my router / firewall. two internal nics each going to a switch. One
>switch for wired connections and one switch for wireless access points.
>
>Specific recommendations for access point brands / models and
>information or links on how to set them up as multiple access points for
>the same network.

Cisco Aironet. Excellent documentation available.

>Also, any guesses as to a good number of access points to use in order
>to provide excellent coverage for a single story, 7200 sq ft building
>with many 10 x 10 offices?

No real way to tell without a site survey -- much depends on radio
interference, attenuation through walls and partitions, reflections,
etc.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

Thanks for the excellent, comprehensive answers to my questions.

Do most access points provide for external antennas and are there any
recommendations on this front? The APs themselves will be sitting in an
attic above a hard (Sheetrock) ceiling. I'm sure I would get better
coverage if I could mount an external antenna in the ceiling below.

Is there a particular model of the Cisco Aironet recommended?

In learning more about this, I have decided to do my house as well so I
can roam with my laptop and also take advantage of Sprint's hotspot
technology which lets my blackberry use wireless networks for voice
calls (cell phone reception in parts of my house is spotty at best with
any carrier). At home I think I would like to use routers as APs. Since
I have ethernet jacks in various locations, I can plug the router into
the jack, use one of the lan ports for this, and still have at least 3
extra lan ports that I can use (there is already an ethernet device at
each of the jacks I would use).

I would prefer to learn just one interface and keep track of firmware
upgrades for just one device, so if there is a router that would do in
both locations, I'd probably go with that.

Thanks again for all the great help.


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On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 14:43:15 -0500, jswright61
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed)>:

>Thanks for the excellent, comprehensive answers to my questions.

You're welcome. Thanks for saying thanks.

>Do most access points provide for external antennas and are there any
>recommendations on this front?

The better ones do. Even some of the cheap ones.

>The APs themselves will be sitting in an
>attic above a hard (Sheetrock) ceiling. I'm sure I would get better
>coverage if I could mount an external antenna in the ceiling below.

Yep.

>Is there a particular model of the Cisco Aironet recommended?

Cisco has excellent planning documentation that will help specify the
hardware needed, but you'll still need to start with a site survey.
It's hard to know what you'll need until the task is defined.

>In learning more about this, I have decided to do my house as well so I
>can roam with my laptop and also take advantage of Sprint's hotspot
>technology which lets my blackberry use wireless networks for voice
>calls (cell phone reception in parts of my house is spotty at best with
>any carrier). At home I think I would like to use routers as APs. Since
>I have ethernet jacks in various locations, I can plug the router into
>the jack, use one of the lan ports for this, and still have at least 3
>extra lan ports that I can use (there is already an ethernet device at
>each of the jacks I would use).
>
>I would prefer to learn just one interface and keep track of firmware
>upgrades for just one device, so if there is a router that would do in
>both locations, I'd probably go with that.

The problem is that most people don't value their own time and quality
of service the way a business does, so they're willing to put up with
cheap gear to keep the front end cost down. That's not a good idea in a
commercial environment where the s___ can hit the fan when the network
goes down.

Here's an example: A friend of mine just spent an entire day of his
time getting a cheap wireless router working. Cost to him was zero.
But if that had been a business, the cost would have far exceeded the
price of commercial grade hardware that would have worked right from the
getgo.

Commercial grade access points start at about $500 and go up from there.
Cheap consumer gear can be had for 1/10 that or less. Which way do you
want to go?

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>