Using ADSL+wireless for a conference

We're organizing a conference (not in the University - it would be
much easier in that case) and we want to provide wireless access for
those attending. We expect that there might be 50 people using the
network simultaneously from their laptops, and we don't expect them to
be doing anything particularly demanding: mostly just checking their
email and reading Dilbert if a talk gets boring.

There's a 1Mb/s ADSL connection available. I think this would need
upgrading to 2 or preferably 4Mb/s. One thing I'm not sure about is
how well ordinary access points handle that many simultaneous users.
Do we need multiple access points in each (large) room, or can a
single access point handle it? If we install one or more access
points in each room, will they handle switching from one to another
automatically?

Any advice would be welcome.

-- Richard

On 28 Apr 2005 11:40:30 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) (Richard Tobin)
wrote:

> One thing I'm not sure about is
>how well ordinary access points handle that many simultaneous users.

255 is the technical limit on most, not sure what a practical limit
is.

>Do we need multiple access points in each (large) room, or can a
>single access point handle it?

we don't know how big they are, or how far apart. One access point
would cover a room, walls etc degrade the signal so one per room might
be better.

>If we install one or more access
>points in each room, will they handle switching from one to another
>automatically?

the client software will pick up the strongest signal, if they have
the same SSID the transfer should be relatively seamless but they need
to be several channels apart to avoid interference between the access
points. Channels 1,6,11 or 1,5,9,13

Phil
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices :-)

--

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Phil Thompson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>> One thing I'm not sure about is
>>how well ordinary access points handle that many simultaneous users.

>255 is the technical limit on most, not sure what a practical limit
>is.

The practical limit is what I was wondering about - does anyone have
experience of this? And whether any particular access points are better
for this than others?

>>Do we need multiple access points in each (large) room, or can a
>>single access point handle it?

>we don't know how big they are, or how far apart. One access point
>would cover a room, walls etc degrade the signal so one per room might
>be better.

The signal should easily cover a room, the point about the size was
that we could easily have 50 people using it all in one room. And
we'll certainly need at least one access point in each room, because
the building has thick stone walls.

Thanks,
-- Richard

On 28 Apr 2005 12:50:10 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) (Richard Tobin)
wrote:

>And whether any particular access points are better
>for this than others?

something expensive by Cisco perhaps.

the hotspots, libraries etc I've seen seldom have more than 10 or 20
users on an acces spoint. If you're sharing a 1 or 2M connction it
will be self limiting to some extent.

Phil
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices :-)

--

>something expensive by Cisco perhaps.

Or something as good but not so expensive:
Draytek Vigor 2600G is a 'office class' kit, IIRC they claim it can handle
50 users ~£150
from wireless4u.co.uk
Regards
Martin
(just satisfied customer..)