Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Need help finding a harden Access point

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Wireless
    14 Posts 8 Posters 7.6k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • F
      fastcon68
      last edited by

      I have a to deleop a proposal for a company that is at the beach in North Carolina.  We have a 100' to 150' building (2 floors).  There is a walkway between rooms down the center of the building.  We are going to use pf-sense for the firewall.  I need to know what type of access point we could use in a beach type enviroment to prevent damage.

      Any thoughts?
      RC

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • H
        hoba
        last edited by

        Checkout some of our recommended vendors:
        http://www.netgate.com/index.php?cPath=31_61
        http://www.titanwirelessonline.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=118

        Besides that there are outdoor solutions from vendors like cisco or siemens but they are rather pricey. Another option is always to get an outdoorhousing with built in antennas and place an ordinary accesspoint (a cheap netgear for example will do) in there and power it via PoE. I don't think cold temperatures will be an issue at your location but you maybe should check the higher temperature ranges of the hardware to suit your application.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • jahonixJ
          jahonix
          last edited by

          NOT to stirr up something here…
          Beware of products with the Netg... brand on it!

          Several forum users (including me) had nothing but trouble with APs and switches from that company.
          For a cheap W-LAN AP use a Linksys WRT54GL. Works 99% of the time.
          You can easily get rid of the housing and put that device in an outdoor housing on a pole somewhere.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • H
            hoba
            last edited by

            I personally really never had any issues with netgear products. However dlink didn't work very good for me. In fact I'll never buy anything from dlink again ;-)

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • F
              fastcon68
              last edited by

              Great looking products.  How many per building would you you recommend?
              RC

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • GruensFroeschliG
                GruensFroeschli
                last edited by

                Depends on your building.
                If you're in a bunker you'll need one for every room.

                I'd take a look at where the WLAN is needed and plan from there how you might have best connectivity.

                We do what we must, because we can.

                Asking questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • jahonixJ
                  jahonix
                  last edited by

                  Another important part is the antenna, of course!
                  A high gain omni might be well suited, but WLAN coverage basically is YOUR homework and largely depends on building structure and area to cover.
                  Sectoral antennas are another possibility.

                  Having said that, if you have to design coverage patterns and need flawless handover between the cells nothing beats Cisco Aeronets.
                  I have home owners with wireless Crestron touchpanels that need seemless handover urgently. The touchpanels cannot cope with it otherwise…

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • R
                    rsw686
                    last edited by

                    @jahonix:

                    For a cheap W-LAN AP use a Linksys WRT54GL. Works 99% of the time.
                    You can easily get rid of the housing and put that device in an outdoor housing on a pole somewhere.

                    Guess everyone has something bad to say about every company. My WRT54G wireless will randomly crap out. I have unplug / plug it in to get it working again. With DD-WRT firmware it does this once every couple of months. Still unacceptable in my opinion.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • B
                      b00gz
                      last edited by

                      Use Tomato instead of DD-WRT it won't lock up on you.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • jahonixJ
                        jahonix
                        last edited by

                        The hardware of the different versions slightly differs. WRT54GL has more flash and ram like the old WRT54G v1 had.

                        We use DD-WRT on it in a mil. environment acting as APs for Crestron touchpanels. Those panels are known to be quite picky about APs but work flawlessly ever since. (Well, once Crestron sorted out their W-Lan problems…)

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • F
                          fastcon68
                          last edited by

                          Has anyone taken a business grade access oing and put it in a exteral housing?  Also does any know of a N class device with removable antenna's.

                          RC

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • L
                            lsf
                            last edited by

                            You might want to check out wilibox.com, they have boards, firmware, cards and outdoor enclosures, as well as PSU with builtin PoE feeder. Expect to pay 500$ + for such a solution, it's better then most other stuff tho.

                            -lsf

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • jahonixJ
                              jahonix
                              last edited by

                              @fastcon68:

                              Has anyone taken a business grade access oing and put it in a exteral housing?

                              What about an ALIX3c3  http://www.pcengines.ch/alix3c3.htm  with appropriate W-LAN card
                              and put it into an outdoor housing  http://www.pcengines.ch/case2c.htm

                              Don't know if one can call it business grade but I'd suspect that. Are draft-N mini-PCI W-Lan cards available?

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • dotdashD
                                dotdash
                                last edited by

                                @jahonix:

                                Are draft-N mini-PCI W-Lan cards available?

                                They're starting to show up. Here's a rebranded Wistron draft-n card with an Atheros chipset:
                                http://discountechnology.com/Netegriti-802-11n-802-11g-802-11b-802-11a-Turbo-Mini-PCI-Wireless-Card
                                By the time there is software support for N, they should be pretty easy to find.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • First post
                                  Last post
                                Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.