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Wi-Fi Times Sixteen
2Stupid2KnowIt writes "eWeek has a cool review of Xirrus' XS-3900 Wireless LAN Array. The unit consists of 16 Integrated Access Points and a wireless switch....all in one device. According to their website, Xirrus can achieve 800+ Mbps of bandwidth and handle 1000+ users. Finally enough bandwidth for us all to cut the cord?"
This is really a good idea. From TFA: ...permit only a single concurrent station to connect to each IAP...
... that might be a challenge. Like I said, similar, but not identical. Still a neat idea.
It's a wireless *switch*! Typical wireless deployments are like a hub-- 10, 20, 50 people connecting to the same AP. This is a really cool idea when you think about it. You're bridged solely to your own integrated access point, much like a port is your part on the bridge of a switch.
I say, get 12 WRT54G's at $60/piece, and a used/refurbed Cisco 2912, for about $200, load up the WRTs with OpenWRT, and you could probably do the a similar thing for about $1000. A little configuration and tweaking might be necessary though.
Also, don't know about the overlapping channels thing
FLR
They are all directional. In the 16 channel version, the 802.11a channels are directed at 30 degrees to the previous one, and each has a 60 degree spread. That should extend the range a bit - even if the diameter of the total covered area only doubled over using a single AP with an undirected antenna, that is still 4x the area covered. If the diameter of the wireless range was 3x larger, that is 9x the area covered. 4x - 16x more area.
Anyone here know what range increase is more likely with a solution like this?