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Building a Wireless Network for an Apartment Complex?

Posted by Cliff on from the wave-of-the-future dept.

itwerx asks: "I've been asked to design a wireless infrastructure for an apartment complex. Tenants will pay an 'access deposit' and a monthly surcharge to get a PCMCIA/PCI/USB network card along with free installation and, of course, wireless Internet access. The buildings are arranged such that 2 WAP's per building should cover all the tenants (one WAP per side, far enough away to get line-of-sight through the windows). I do have a few concerns, however. All help is appreciated and when we're done we'll put up a HOWTO!"

"My concerns are the following:

  • Interference between WAP's (there's several buildings) - there are enough channels if we go 802.11a but cost is a concern.
  • Management of 'hitchhikers' - we're planning on manual assignment via DHCP/MAC address for tenants with others having all their HTTP requests get directed to an info page. Anybody done something different?
  • Interference from WAP's and other devices that may be owned by tenants! Should we just avoid the default channel and hope for the best?!?
What other things might I need to worry about?"

2 of 294 comments (clear)

  1. Can't you guys agree? by lycono · · Score: 5, Funny
    Gotta love 'em.

    LowneWulf states:

    Put your entire complex on one SSID and one channel - each WAP will form a BSS, and devices should seamlessly roam between them.
    To which MarkKomus replies:
    If you have WAP's on different sides of buildings they most likely won't interfere with each other. Just keep the WAPs with the same channel as far apart as possible.
    LowneWulf states:
    Other peoples' devices shouldn't interfere with yours unless there is a LOT of devices.
    Which is rebutted by MarkKomus:
    Interference from WAP's and other devices that may be owned by tenants! Here could be your big problem.
    I need to know who has more money or a bigger house so I can know who to believe!
  2. Re:Wi-Fi by gmkeegan · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am an assistant network engineer at a large midwestern university...

    I never thought a wireless project like this would happen to me. I was sitting in the study lounge in my dorm when this sexy coed network engineer walks up and asks, "I see you have a seven layer OSI model. That really turns me on..."