High Rise ISP

[Myerin]

What equipment is needed to service a 20 to 40 story building with a 80211b-g system? Are there any good links with formulas to figure out a system before installation. I am looking at about 20 customers to start. I figure that should at least pay for the T1. I'm a total newbie. I have also have a 195 foot tower at another location that I want a T1 and wap. I have resources to get anything I need wholesale. I just need to know what I need.
My average customer will have a 10th floor apartment and want to use a laptop at the ground floor pool.


Thanks,

Myerin Petersen
Myco Electrical Services

[hard2hold]

There are so many variables and no real quick answer. Is the building a recent build? I did a site survey for the South Mountain Resort in Phoenix and the build cost was atronomical. It took over 200 Access Points...get the idea? At the very least, a site survey would be in order. Are you going to manage the network after the install or are you going to sub it out?

[JimGeier]

Before doing an RF site survey, you need to have a good idea of the performance and quality of service you need to provide to users. That will help you define propagation requirements (i.e., define the effective range of access points).

[oshea85]

Got a CAD drawing of a typical floor you can forward?

For sheetrock/drop tile commercial environments, one 100mW AP with possibly 6 dBi angtennae can easily cover 5K sq ft, but residential is often much less.

You need to get into the space and at least test a floor or two to figure out the building.

[oshea85]

Got a CAD drawing of a typical floor you can forward?

For sheetrock/drop tile commercial environments, one 100mW AP with possibly 6 dBi angtennae can easily cover 5K sq ft, but residential is often much less.

You need to get into the space and at least test a floor or two to figure out the building.

[geek]

This is a very interesting and realistic topic.

First of all, the performance and quality of the wi-fi service are really to rely on the main functionalities of the email exchange and web page surf (for most of the users).

From my experience, the signal strength is 35 then there os no problem with connection.

Is there any formular we can use to calculate the coverage and the number of the AP?

Best,

Geek

[hard2hold]

No quick formula...and I will tell you why - there are several factors in each building that must be taken into account (density of walls, structures, etc). You can guestimate the placements of each AP and the number needed but to truly KNOW, you need to be there, doing a site survey. If you have a 12 story building, it is not a necessity to go on every floor and walk through every room. You could do the 6th and 7th floor to get an idea of the coverage and draw your survey from there, keeping in mind that the channels (1, 6, &11) cannot overlap. You should also get with the owner to find out if there are any firewalls in the building. A good copy of the blueprints wouldn't hurt either.

[geek]

Good point.

If we take all the factors (density of walls, structures, etc) into consideraton and figure out an approximation number of AP and coverage (performance) using a formular which would be wonderful. Even we do not need to go there.

Is there any standard to define the quality of service?

Best,
Geek

[hard2hold]

You (or someone) will need to physically be there to do the site survey. You may save some time on your end but if done incorrectly, the relationship with your client & your reputation will suffer. Yes, if you want to do a survey based on paper, you can do that - but I would strongly advise against it. You can't just plug an AP into an ethernet port and go. It is not that simple.

[geek]

I did not misundstand at all. I agree we need do RF. But before we sell this product we need give customers an estimation. Of course this topic could be a research direction.

Because the good design of AP sometimes that is that simple. Hook APs into T1 or any broadband, configure SSID. we are ready to go.

Best,

Geek

[hard2hold]

OK...just wanted to be clear. You are trying to get an estimate to give the customer before doing the RF. I am the one who is clear now...lol.