houbmw

So today we had one hell of a thunderstorm in Houston and it blew out my router. I had 2 wireless g linksys routers.

I was doing a little research and found that I should definitely upgrade to wireless d routers.

So here is my scenerio and purpose of usage:

I have a 45 room, 23 story outdoor hotel as a business. What I did was pay for the standard high speed internet. I have to pay based on the number of rooms. If I wanted to get wireless internet from my provider, they would charge me on a per room basis. The problem is that paying per room for high speed Ethernet and wireless would be too expensive. Instead, I went out and bought 2 wireless routers about 3 years ago. I both routers on opposite sides of the building. I ran a wire from my main modem provided by my provider and into the wireless routers. This was a cheap and easy solution, but the speed was always low.

My questions are:

1) What wireless router have you guys heard about for long range and outdoor usage? The router is stored indoor, but I understand that the signal has a lot of interference due to concrete, steel and other things such as WALLS.

2) I always wanted to get a"booster" or "range expander" but never trusted that they would work. Would you recommend I install 2 of those in between the two routers to get maximum signal range and strength?

Please bare with me because I do not know jack shit about this kind of stuff. I searched google for information on wireless routers and I learned:

1) I need a good router ( N router)
2) Range boosters are helpful to an extent
3) Speed is also determined based on each computers wireless cards.

I found a bunch of reviews on brands such as NetGear, Linksys and D-link, but I could not narrow it down to what would be ideal for my situation. I could just go to frys or best buy, but I rather pay such the web and explore my options instead of being restricted to what they have in stock.

pjinca

Depends is this your business? If so you should be looking at a business solution. Currently D-Link has the DWS-3024 wireless controller switch. It has a built in Captive Portal allowing users to log in and access the network. They are also offering a free upgrade to the "N" solution when available at the end of the year. PM me and I can get you details.

houbmw

Hey,
It is my business and I looked up the DWS-3024 wireless controller switch. That is a great product, but that is more than what I need. It is a hotel...so the network would be for customer access that stay at my hotel. Its kind of like a Starbucks wi-fi set up.

pukka

If the cost for a high speed wi-fi business solution is a concern, why not just run an ethernet line into every room and set up wi-fi in the lobby\lounge?

Edit: I've had limited experience with range boosters/repeaters, but I can say that experience was bad.

luigi524td

Cabling a 23 story building would be a very expensive proposition. However, the structure (walls, steel, etc) severely reduce WiFi range. Even if set up in the core of your building any concrete & steel walls etc are real signal busters. That said, I have been in corporate offices where signal repeaters / boosters / relays whatever they are called were in place and permitted Wireless access.

I moved from G to a GMimo RangeMax Netgear router a couple of years ago and I found that over open space (my backyard) I have stronger signal and higher speeds.

houbmw

Ethernet is run into every room. My problem is that I need wi-fi in not just the lobby, but the entire hotel.

Brit_in_NJ

At home I've been using a Linksys WRT610N

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/WRT610N

It's a router but I have NAT disabled and so just using it as an access point.

It has ABG and N and is so much faster than using my old Belkin G router (what a POS that was).

If cabling every room is not feasable having a router at each end is probably the next best thing or perhaps locate them 1/2 of the way in from the ends of the building, hard to know exactly where without seeing the layout. I have an office building that is an L shape so placing my single router in the corner of the L gives the best coverage with only the furthest office out of range.

BTW if you place your router up in a suspended celing you need to make sure it's plenum rated.

kneemah

i would definitely upgrade to a wireless N router. i was having signal problems in my house going from downstairs to upstairs with my G router. since i got the N router, i've been very happy with the signal strength.

You may want to also add a 3rd or 4th router on the other two walls.

chris f

You could add wireless access points or WAP's. You dont need to purchase a wireless router, you do not need to perform any routing.
WAP's are less than half the price of a wirelss router (unless you go right up the scale).
You can get a reasonable WAP and just add a high gain antenna to it.

Dependant on your budget the sky is the limit, but you could get a couple of WAPS and some high gain antennae and that would help.

Ideally you would want one on every other floor, depending on the construction of the building, but if its 23 storeys I guess its concrete.

If the infrastructure was correct in the first place then you should have a fibre backbone, connect your AP's to that on every other floor.

Brit_in_NJ

I missed where you said 23 stories! An access point on every floor would be preferable or you might get away with one every other floor. Use power over ethernet to those access points and you can reset them from a single location. Business access points are usually more expensive than consumer routers but they should last you a few years.