A Simple Question

[Gillivray]

Greetings,

I am kind of new to the wireless scene. I have one setup at home and I have been testing it for the security end of it and stuff, but my question is....

There are a lot of Access Points out on the market and I have been tasked with setting up the wireless network for our warehouse, how do you know what the signal radius is of Access Points?

I have looked at quite a few on the market, but none state just how far the signal will reach to the next Access Point. Is there a formula you use?

Thanks in advance...

[golfnut]

The stated range and speed of any wifi product should not be the deciding factor in planning your wireless network. There are way too many factors that affect the signal and overall network performance.

If there's a lot of machinery, a spectrum analysis would be a good starting point to determine any existing RF noise. If that checks out good, a site survey would be the second step to determine AP placement, signal distance, multi-pathing, other wireless networks in the area, etc.

It does take some planning, especially in a warehouse.

Greg

[Gillivray]

Yeah, we have an old RF AP in the warehouse at the moment, But there are new scanner guns out there that support Microsoft Windows CE and that is the route my company wants to go. Our warehouse is huge, but not a lot of machinery. Mostly assembly. One side of the warehouse is recieving where all the parts come in and are stocked, the center of the warehouse is where our product is assembled, and the last part of the warehouse is stock and the shipping department. There is in the middle of the warehouse a Cisco Catalyst 3000 Fibre switch that connects the PC's out there to the rest of the network.

I was going to tie in the AP's with that switch. Just have to figure out what the range is of all the different AP's out there. I heard the Cisco Aironet's were pretty decent.

So Golfnut, what's your game? I have a 21 handicap. Sad, very sad.

[wirelessoceans]

I must agree with Greg, this type of install should be handled by a wireless pro, unless you realllllyyyy want to learn alot about wireless. Because it is going to be used in a mission critical situation it needs to be a lot more than an AP it to a switch. It sounds like you have the network equipment that can support this type of use and I would definatly stick with the cisco gear, becuase it can do some advanced networking with the switch that you have, VLAN's, etc..... But to get the most reliable and useful network you should go with a pro for installation. Good luck

[golfnut]

My golf game this year is almost as bad. Work keeps getting in the way...

Good luck with your project.

Greg