After school Program, do we need a mesh system?

[Adonner]

One more quesiton: We have a lot of wifi noise in the building, from within and outside. So I am evaluating going to an enterprise-level system rather than another AP. With 90+ devices connecting around our Gym, is it more effective to go to an enterprise-level system? Again this is basic google suite work, not even much basic web surfing. woudl the ubiquiti or Cisco WAP581 be a better solution? Thanks

 

[Trip]

It will absolutely be more effective to move to an enterprise solution, 100%, for all the reasons I and others have touched on previously. However, it must be deployed properly, and if you're not up to it, then hit a pro to come in and do it. If you don't have the capacity to do it right the first time, you likely won't be able to do it over, either. That's not a dig at you; it's just us wanting to make sure you get the result you're looking for -- and one that's perfectly attainable, provided you use the right gear and approach.

Regardless of the type of traffic the endpoints are generating, you still want the baseline physical connection quality to be there. A product that's purpose-built for high user density, plus proper deployment based on RF and network admin best practices, will address your issue. Consumer products may, but I wouldn't leave that up to chance.

If it were me, I would hardwire in one (or a pair if co-interference is low enough) of Ruckus R710's, running Unleashed. Buy refurb/working-pull off of eBay or a surplus site if you have to. Just make the investment and get those radios in there. Your problems will all but disappear.

 

[Adonner]

Can our nighthawk 6700 can handle being the router for the Cisco WAP581 AP

 

[Trip]

With a 1Ghz ARM CPU and 256GB of RAM, the R6700 certainly has the hardware potential to handle that many clients and tcp/ip sessions. But you'd need to get a firmware on there that would stay rock-solid stable with than much activity -- no memory leaks, no beta-ware bringing it to a screeching halt. Maybe that's Netgear's stock firmware; maybe that's DD-WRT. Not sure, never tried.

If you're already thinking WAP581, I'd see if you can't somehow carve out an extra $180 for a Cisco RV260, flash Cisco's latest firmware on both, set them up and call it a day.