Manage a business, need to provide wifi to 100+ people. What hardware?

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Honeybadger12

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Dec 22, 2012
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Hello, i currently manage a large accommodation business and I have had the idea of installing a new NBN connection for the guests. My set up proposed of a basic omnidirectional antenna on a pole a few metres up withing the centre of the property, connected to an AP that is receiving from the main office.

Researching what captive portals are for a few days led me to a website that offers a custom firmware to your router called Tanaza. for $480 and $80 per AP, it allows me to print coupons with one-time use codes and an expiry time once used and that would differ depending the amount paid.

I assumed this would be a good option as it is simple and receptionists should be able to work with it once I configure it.

The only problems are:

What sort of specs/things matter with a router to support possibly 100 people using it 24/7?
Needs to be reliable obviously but could someone give me a crash course on the basics and some suggestions of a route I'd need to buy. The NBN connection speed is 100mb up, 50mb down as well.

Would this program be suitable or am I paying for something that another program can do better?

Thank you very much, any replies would be helpful.


 
Solution
RealBeast
THIS: "For this setup you want to hire a profession to configure it, and you would likely need someone on hand to fix issues. You can't just dump a wireless setup to connect 100 people over a large area and do it without any experience. If you do it yourself you will be spending half you time troubleshooting slowness and no connectivity issues on the network rather than actually doing your job. "

AND THIS: "Do you want to manage the business, or do you want to manage the network?

When you need a new AC unit installed, you call the AC guy
When you need major plumbing work, you call the plumber
When the parking lot needs repaving, you call the paving people

Building a large wired+wireless network is no different.

A "crash course" in...
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sam1275tom

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Oct 13, 2014
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First, I've never heard "Tanaza" but I can say that is definitely a SCAM.
You didn't mention what hardware are you using, but reflash firmware is not like reinstall OS on a computer that you can do whatever you like, most routers are embedded design and not meant to let user flash non-factory firmwares. There are some 3rd party firmware available, and they are free, such as my favorite OpenWrt, or you can try Tomato or DDwrt, but they are not promised to work. And no, a very expensive firmware will not increase the success rate, if they really send you any.
To answer one of your questions, most home routers will not handle that much users well, some low end Chinese rubbish will even have a hard limit at 32 users.
The best way to do it is just buy proper APs/controllers made for enterprise, the ultimate choice would be Cisco, however there are alternatives that don't cost an arm and a leg, such as UBNT, Mikrotik...
 
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Honeybadger12

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Dec 22, 2012
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They provide a 15 day free trial so i'm not sure if they are a rip off or not. I have not decided on them anyway i will keep looking. https://www.tanaza.com/

I understand that i would need to buy a high grade router such as cisco etc, but have been reading other threads and have a few more questions regarding it.

1. What should i look for in a router, spec wise to know which one to get?

2. If one router can handle roughly 50 people hypothetically and am in need of 100 people, could I buy 2 of the same router and join them together, bridge mode possibly?

Set up as follows: Router > Router > Cat5 > Switch > cat5 cable > AP > omnidirectional antenna.
Or would a switch not be the right thing, would I need a load balancer?
 
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Honeybadger12

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Dec 22, 2012
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I've found a few options from Ubiquiti for Wireless APs, but If I buy a router specifically this one (WNDR3800 NETGEAR) could I not just connect the router to a powerful omnidirectional antenna on the roof and all connections would go through the antenna directly to the router?


I understand the stress on the one router would be high with many users. Would the use of an access point between the router and the antenna overcome this or are wireless access points a device used to receive/transmit the data from the router at a further away location?

Edit: Would buying that router and two Ubiquiti wireless AP's be a better option.. from my understanding a router can handle a certain amount of clients before it crashes but if i connect an AP to the LAN then the AP can handle it's own number of clients, increasing the overall amount of clients that can go through the router.
Is this correct or incorrect?

Assuming set it up as such > Router > Cat 5 to AP and then another wired AP > Switch> Omnidirectional antenna.
Or: Router > Cat5 to switch > AP, AP > Switch > Antenna

or can the switch not transmit over to an antenna, resulting in needing two separate antenna.. one for each AP.

 
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Scottray

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I really think your mixing up soho equipment and commercial networking equipment. I also doubt that your NBN bandwidth would be adequate. This is the type of situation where you would be better off hiring a networking company to architect, install and provision a solution for you. You'll end up with better results and probably save money. Get a couple quotes. A good company will provide you with a detailed quote and you'll see the complexity involved in building out a solution.
 
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sam1275tom

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I looked at that website and it definitely is what I expected, a expensive paid version of 3rd-party firmware, which must be WORSE than the major open source versions I mentioned, there's no reason to get that by any case.

Your Q1. Normally, consumer router won't tell you max concurrent users, however in your case, you'd definitely want some professional equipment anyway.

Your Q2. Normally there's no hard limit on a decent router/AP, even on a home router, and it's better not to bridge them to add complex level.

The WNDR3800 maybe okay for the performance, but be aware that's a consumer level router with a very BAD security, I have to give a Netgear away because it have a major bug and Netgear refuse to patch it.

Sorry to say but your setup diagram is a bit mess... May I just suggest a setup?

Get a Cisco/Mikrotik/other-enterprise router as your main gateway, then buy a few enterprise level APs and connect them to your main router by Ethernet cable in parallel, then put them evenly through the building to avoid dead spot. Done.

That is a reliable and simple way to do it. I don't think you really need any company and pay them $$$ to do it.

For 100+50 Mbps wired connection, most home router will do it without problem, but serve 100 wireless users reliably do need some considering.
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

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For this setup you want to hire a profession to configure it, and you would likely need someone on hand to fix issues. You can't just dump a wireless setup to connect 100 people over a large area and do it without any experience. If you do it yourself you will be spending half you time troubleshooting slowness and no connectivity issues on the network rather than actually doing your job.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Do you want to manage the business, or do you want to manage the network?

When you need a new AC unit installed, you call the AC guy
When you need major plumbing work, you call the plumber
When the parking lot needs repaving, you call the paving people

Building a large wired+wireless network is no different.

A "crash course" in this results in a broken network, or worse.
 
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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Sep 13, 2010
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THIS: "For this setup you want to hire a profession to configure it, and you would likely need someone on hand to fix issues. You can't just dump a wireless setup to connect 100 people over a large area and do it without any experience. If you do it yourself you will be spending half you time troubleshooting slowness and no connectivity issues on the network rather than actually doing your job. "

AND THIS: "Do you want to manage the business, or do you want to manage the network?

When you need a new AC unit installed, you call the AC guy
When you need major plumbing work, you call the plumber
When the parking lot needs repaving, you call the paving people

Building a large wired+wireless network is no different.

A "crash course" in this results in a broken network, or worse."

A large accommodation business that offers wireless, should offer good dependable wireless, you cannot DIY that job.
 
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