Public WiFi AP in a mall

sachin0235 · Apr 14, 2014

Hi,

Pardon me if i sound stupid but i know nothing about wifi. Here is my question -

I had visited couple of shopping malls recently, all offering free public WiFi. I tried locating an AP or router inside and outside mall but couldn't find any. Can someone help me understand what could have they done to have a strong wifi signal available throughout mall without putting up a single AP in open area inside mall? I checked all the walls and roof for any device but couldn't find any.

neon neophyte · Apr 14, 2014

if you have a strong signal everywhere, why are you looking for an access point? =d

Someone Somewhere · Apr 14, 2014

Behind a ceiling panel maybe?

Industrial APs don't look much like residential ones.

neon neophyte · Apr 14, 2014

Someone Somewhere :

don't they still look like boxes with antennae?

Someone Somewhere · Apr 14, 2014

My school had a bunch of these:

Beamforming means lots of antennas. In this case, internal so they stay in exactly the right spot, and keeps the size down.

sachin0235 · Apr 14, 2014

there were no ceiling just a fiber roof......i was looking for APs because i was curious to know how did they made their networking. Not much sure about industrial grade routers as i only had dealt with wifi router at home

Can someone suggest me some industrial grade wifi router which can spread signal in a shopping mall spread over 1 mile? I have read about omnidirectional antennas......do they achieve the same purpose?

Someone Somewhere · Apr 14, 2014

Wouldn't do it over a mile. They'll have dozens of WAPs, at a guess. Stick them every ~20m.

The trick with handling WiFi for absurdly dense areas is to have tons of APs, each covering a very small area.

sachin0235 · Apr 14, 2014

Make sense......i wish there could have been a device/hardware which can spread signals just like mobile towers do

BTW, do u know what is the maximum range(in diameter) of an enterprise grade AP? I am assuming they have it placed some where near the roof in the middle of mall

Someone Somewhere · Apr 14, 2014

Depends on how much load there is. As you get more people, the noise floor rises, so you can't get a signal as far.

Max range would be 50m+.

Cellsites use sectors, significantly higher power, and typically aren't as fast and have lower loads.

sachin0235 · Apr 14, 2014

Got it!! Can you please suggest me some good wifi router to work with max 30-45 people logged in at a given time within the range of 50m? Anything which is available on amazon will help me.

Pooneil · Apr 14, 2014

sachin0235 :

Cellular networks don't "spread (radio) signals", they tightly confine them in cells, making sure adjoining cells have non-overlapping radio frequencies. That is they have a relatively large number of individual areas using the lowest feasible power radios and the user transitions from one area to another seamlessly. WiFi networks in building work like this too on a smaller scale, and like cellular networks the back haul to the router is typically done by a wired network.

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Public WiFi AP in a mall

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