The problem with scaling with consumer grade APs is that they lack - manageability - automatic channel management - coordinated RF power control - support for smooth handoffs - coordinated load balancing of traffic and clients - PoE-based powered - plenum rating - support by Voice over Wi-Fi handset vendors - technical support
Frank -----Original Message----- From: tech-boun...@lists.lopsa.org [mailto:tech-boun...@lists.lopsa.org] On Behalf Of David Lang Sent: Saturday, April 06, 2013 2:48 PM To: Roy McMorran Cc: tech@lists.lopsa.org Subject: Re: [lopsa-tech] Wifi <snip> In short, I like to go with cheap (i.e. consumer grade) APs because they give me great flexibility when loaded with openwrt 1. they can be managed with the normal *nix management tools (including logging) 2. since they are cheap, you don't agonize over how many you deploy, if you think you need a few more, you just put them in place. 3. by picking ones that can run openwrt, you future proof yourself by not locking yourself into any one vendor's equipment or any one vendor's management. Yes, it's nicer to have all the APs the same, even with openwrt, but it's like your linux servers. It's nice when they are all the same, but it's not that much worse if you have a few different generations of systems where each generation is a different vendor. You absolutly do want to use one SSID, not several. For the staff, you can either add an additional SSID, or you can have the staff use VPNs to connect from the general use one. There are advantages to both. David Lang _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list Tech@lists.lopsa.org https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/ _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list Tech@lists.lopsa.org https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
