[afnog] Wireless Network

[Hervey Allen]

On 1/5/10 3:46 PM, Benjamin Cobblah wrote:
> Hi,
>  
> How does one determine the number of users,  a wireless network can
> support. I need to buy a wireless router to support 2000 users within an
> organization. The problem is how do I determine this capability given
> the specs of the wireless router.
>  
> To put it in a better way "what determines the number of users a
> wireless router can support"
>  

>From what I've experienced wireless router specifications and claims
often do not match what you will experience in real-world use. I
know of several large-scale installations (10,000+ users and above)
who ended up using Cisco Aironet series routers with Power over
Ethernet capabilities (PoE).

I will double-check, but last time I was on-site the upper limit for
one of these wireless routers was around 50 concurrent users with
light to moderate use. That is, a single user running a torrent can
make an access point almost unusable for the other 49 potential users...

It would be interesting to hear from others on the list who have
large wireless installations what their experience has been, and
what hardware they have used.

The points that Chris Wilson brought up are all excellent. Issues of
giving out addresses, roaming, recapturing addresses, etc... are
quite important.

Cheers,
	- Hervey Allen


-- 
-------------------------------------------------
Hervey Allen      Network Startup Resource Center
hervey at nsrc.org GPG Key Fingerprint:
AC08 31CB E453 6C65 2AB3 4EDB CEEB 5A74 C6E5 624F