Lots and Lots of 2.4ghz devices

[LlanoPete]

What would your ideas be for setting up a Wi-Fi home network with approx. (75) 2.4 Ghz smart devices?
Thanks LlanoPete

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @LlanoPete.

My idea? Don't do it.

But if you must, wired (cheap) 2.4GHz AP's are what I would use.

These devices wouldn't be allowed on the main router/network at all here.

 

[sfx2000]

Probably 3 AP's - turn the power down on them < 18 dBM - put them on a dedicated switch, and vlan them out.

Each 2.4GHz radio can take about 25-30 clients - common SSID and subnet range for all AP's.

If possible - disable 802.11b - run in G/N mode - frees up airtime.

 

[LlanoPete]

Does a mesh system add more available 2.4GHz slots than normal routers?

 

[sfx2000]

Does a mesh system add more available 2.4GHz slots than normal routers?

Challenge with Mesh systems in your usage scenario is that you'll essentially double the traffic in the 2.4 GHz band - first from the client to the mesh node, and then the hop over to the primary node.

With 75 clients - I wouldn't recommend it - you'll run out of airtime and 2.4GHz will be a mess...

 

[Trip]

Adding onto @sfx2000's suggestions of multiple hardwired APs running at low power (provided you have the square footage to spread them out enough), I'd look into used Ruckus R500's off eBay running Unleashed (can be had very cheap, like $50 or less each). By utilizing radio/antenna tech such as PD-MRC (whitepaper) to increase gain on the uplink, it cuts airtime/re-transmits down to a minimum, especially for legacy 2.4/N-class clients (ie. lots of IoT stuff), translating into a fair bit better performance that your typical sheet-metal origami and commodity code.

 

[EmeraldDeer]

Are the smart devices stationary?
Ordinarily, smart devices are cloud only and should not have LAN access. Are you willing to allow the smart devices LAN access anyway?

I have no experience, but I gather that consumer wireless radios can handle about 25 WiFi clients.

I have gone through the experience of buying a layer 3 switch and writing my own protective rules for a guest access point. This was challenging financially and technically. I would not throw the idea out there casually. I heard a rumor that AiMesh will support guest networks on Mesh AP's. This is important because AP's allow LAN access on the router despite any settings you have enabled which give another impression.

The most flexible implementation would be 3 AP's (Ethernet connected to a main router) on channels 1, 6 and 11 with the same SSID to allow roaming from one AP to another. However, I am not sure consumer wireless equipment via mesh could balance the assignments among them. I take it this is what the AiMesh Optimization button does. Would it work in this scenario?

Another idea is, if the smart devices are stationary, to have unique SSID's and assign them manually. You could avoid the trial and error of adjusting power.

Concerning if you cannot Ethernet connect the AP's, I do not know if Mesh AP's support this, but perhaps they could serve 2.4 GHz clients but use 5 GHz backhaul to the main router.