A Wireless Network for a 4-Story Apt. Building?

zzzreyes asks: "I live in a 4 storey building, and pretty much everyone in this building is into gaming and computers. I have just received, through the death of a great aunt, about $7,000. I want to know how and what I should buy, to provide wireless access through out the whole building, so we can all share one connection. There are 6 double-room apartments on each side, and we only have four floors. I'll hopefully have access to the elevator shaft, in case I need it. Will $7,000 be enough?" How cheaply could you do something like this, assuming you had access to much of the building? What would be the best way to set up the access points to guarantee the best coverage for the whole building?

Comments

Equipment cheap. Labor NOT

[fnord123]

Before you spend any of that money, check if you owe taxes on it. With whatever is left, plan on spending a lot of the $$ on labor.

You will need access hardware from/for your ISP (e.g. cable modem, DSL modem, etc. Usually Most likely you will need at least one wireless AP for each floor. Depending on the thickness of walls and size of the building, multiple APs might be necessary. Budget around $100 (rough number) per AP for consumer grade equipment, which is all you probably need. Don't forget to put each AP on a different wireless channel - and stagger the channels to minimize frequency overlap (e.g. Floor 1: Channel 1, Floor 2: Channel 9, Floor 3: Channel 4, Floor 4: Channel 11).

You probably need a NAT since you will have many people needing IP addresses, unless you want to get a subnet prefix from your ISP (at $7k that isn't likely). So at least one NAT box is needed.

If you are comfortable with Linux networking, take a look at a Linksys WR54G as described here - one of these on each floor would allow you to have a cheap AP + detailed control of banwidth (i.e. make sure that no one guy hogs all your Internet connection).

At the access point you will need to put that NAT mentioned above, plus a switch for between floors. The Linksys could act as both and is a cheap solution. If Linux isn't your bag, then a decent low end (SOHO router) such as a D-Link DFL-300 would be a good thing (with built-in firewall to boot, which would help).

In terms of wiring, get at least CAT 5 cable run ("CAT 6" is even better) to every floor. A separate wire to every floor, all culminating in the basement (or wherever your Internet access is) gives a measure of reliability in case of a wire fault or router fault on one floor. A patch panel at the termination point of all the wires is a good idea.

Expect to spend a large amount of the money on the labor for getting the wiring done. Professional cable pullers can charge high 2 digits to 3 digits/hour. If you hire a professional company to do the whole thing including picking equipment, setting it up, etc., then $7k isn't near enough.

Re:Equipment cheap. Labor NOT

[lucifuge31337]

In terms of wiring, get at least CAT 5 cable run ("CAT 6" is even better) to every floor. A separate wire to every floor, all culminating in the basement (or wherever your Internet access is) gives a measure of reliability in case of a wire fault or router fault on one floor. A patch panel at the termination point of all the wires is a good idea.

While I'm sure you're well intentioned and really trying to help (and the rest of your suggestions were good), this is a perfect example of why NOT to ask /. how to do technical things. Especially if they involve layer 1 or tools of any sort.

A 4-story building most likely would cause significant issues (especially from the 4th floor to a basement) with ground potential differnces. That's why professionals use fiber for risers now. The old school way would still require STP for a run like that.

Failure to determine if this type of thing is a problem can result in: poor connections, no connection whatsoever, blown ethernet ports, etc. etc.

From firsthand experience on this, I was diagnosing an issue on an 8-floor STP run where some cable monkey moron (probably an electrician claiming to be a data cabling specialist) grounded both sides of the run. Being an idiot myself, I accidentally brushed the back of my hand on the shield after clipping it off on one side. It almost knocked me on my ass. And the connection ran without fault after that.

Bottom line....anything more than 2 floors is not a job for an amateur. Actually, anything on different floors/potentially different electrical services should be carefully considered.

Re:Pay off debt or buy a house

[zzzreyes]

I really didnt want to talk abuout this since some cryingpants above made a big deal out of it. She was worth close to 35Million. I got that money because I attended the funeral, everyone that attended got at least 7g. She is the one that bought me my first computer and I know she would love it if spent it in technology and everyone can enjoy something that she has left behind as part of her legacy. Anyhow, I know that I dont have to use the whole 7G but if I can buy everything top of the line and make sure it is as zero fault tolerance as it can be, I will be happy. If this offends you, sure, cry, but dont post. I don't need to use to pay bills or buy a house, thanks for the idea, I want to build something in memory of her and more importantly in memory of what I will remember her for. She introduced me to technology!

Re:Pay off debt or buy a house

[Tassach]

The on-topic part: Sure you can network a 4-storey building for 7Kilobucks, easy. Assuming everyone buys their own NIC, your initial hardware outlay for the inside network is going to be something like one switch, a box of Cat5, and a WAP for every floor. To connect to the outside world, figure adding a good router (business grade; a SOHO router probably won't cut it) and a DSL modem. If you want to go the full ISP route and provide email and webspace, add in the cost of a pair of real servers (not desktop PCs running a server OS). With some smart eBay shopping you should be able to do the whole thing for well less than 1/2 your budget.

The expensive part is going to be getting the building on the internet. You're going to need something like a 1.5Mbit business SDSL or T-1 with 64 or so IPs and a SLA. This is probably going to wind up being around $600-$800/mo depending on your provider.

If you really want to honor her memory, why not donate the money to a school (college or private HS). Then you can have a nice plaque with her name on it put up in the computer lab. That's a lot better way to honor someone's memory than throwing a year-long LAN party for your neighbors. Networking your building, while a fun geek project, probably isn't the best way to honor her memory. If you want to do that, get your neighbors to pitch in (labor, $, or equipment) and make it a community project.