Reliability in Access Points

[mentormike]

The problem I have with wireless, is that they always seem to lock up, regardless of using Netgear, Linksys, Apple, or Etc. When my clients are an hour's drive away, I need something implemented that doesn't require frequent resets.
I have a Sonicwall on location to handle routing, and have no intention of moving away from them. I need a wireless device to push out the same IP Scheme as the router as we have mobile users who use an application connecting to a sql database.
Looking for suggestions - Range is not a big issue, I need speed and reliability, and seamless transition from one AP to another.

 

[Emerald]

seamless transition from one AP to another.

this is nearly impossible due to the way wireless network cards work.
wireless network cards will not switch to the stronger signal until they loose signal to the AP they are connected to; therefore, you will loose connection for a few seconds.

you could use any router and configure it as an AP

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/36406-43-convert-wireless-router-wireless-access-point


or look into Ruckus wireless devices

 

[mentormike]

I'll clarify a bit more then, having a handoff from point to point is not necessary, just would be nice. In place currently is a linksys range extender, the thing has to be reset at least once a day. I'll look into the Ruckus devices. Thank you Emerald.

 

[bill001g]

What you need to do is not run cheap range extenders. The cheap ones have a single radio and just basically take any traffic they hear and retransmit it. This pretty much sends it back to the machine that sent it as well as everyone else. When you start to run more volumes of traffic it degrades very quickly.

The best way to run extenders is to use commercial ones that have 2 radios. They are fairly expensive. In this case they use one frequency to talk to the end devices and a second to run the back haul back to the main router. This is very similar to running a AP on a wired connection except you are using wireless instead of a cable back to the main router. You can build one of these yourself with 2 units. One to act as a bridge back to the router and a second to act as the AP. You just plug them together with a short cable. You would configure them to run on different radio channels.

Most the large AP vendors...cisco, avaya,hp, etc have systems that will let you remotely control the AP. They have features that integrate the AP into one network that let you do hand off from AP to AP without interruption and still keep the network secure. Of course they want big money for both the AP as well as the control appliance.