Cisco Aironet Wireless Access Point for House

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Ice2Cool

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Hey guys,

So Ive just moved into my new house and am having wireless reception issues. The house is 2 stories, and the ADSL modem and switch sits pretty much in the middle of the hosue on the bottom floor. I am using a Linksys Cisco X3000 router and the wireless reception is pretty poor around the house. I used this router in my previous house and always had great performance from it, so I am assumign that due that the steel support structure used in the house is causing the poor signal quality. I cant even get decent signal in the room next door to my router.

At my work place, our IT department installed a Cisco Aironet 1040 Wireless Access Point - and this thing is bloody brilliant. I get good wireless access about 200-300 meters away from the device on a different floor, through several brick walls and the concrete floor, and severe RF interference created by the printing presses in the factory below me. I would like to use this same device in my house due to its great performance.

Firstly, do you think this device will give me better reception than the regular Linksys Cisco home-use routers? Where do I buy this device in SA? I could ask my IT guys to order one on my behalf, but I would prefer to buy it on my own. Lastly, which model should I go with, and how easy is it to install? I have a Linksys Cisco 8-port switch to which my whole house is networked to, and this is currently connected to my Linksys Cisco X3000 adsl model router. I was thinking I would disable wifi on the X3000, and connect the aironet device to the X3000, which would serve the wireless to the house. What do youll think?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
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Hi there I did a quick initial search. The Aironet starts at USD385 so is not an inexpensive item to consider. This may of course be why it is such a good device in the office.
I will do some more looking for you but a couple of other ideas.
Why not get the IT guy round to your house to have a look and (maybe) bring an Aironet with them to try it out. If it works you may be prepared to spend the money if not then you have saved it.
Steel in houses can be a problem I have a steel girder along the roof with supporting beams at 5m intervals. I get good wireless throughout the houses with a Netgear DGN 2200N.

When it comes to connecting multiple routers this may help

Regards

Tim
 
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Tim the Techxpert said:
Hi there I did a quick initial search. The Aironet starts at USD385 so is not an inexpensive item to consider. This may of course be why it is such a good device in the office.
I will do some more looking for you but a couple of other ideas.
Why not get the IT guy round to your house to have a look and (maybe) bring an Aironet with them to try it out. If it works you may be prepared to spend the money if not then you have saved it.
Steel in houses can be a problem I have a steel girder along the roof with supporting beams at 5m intervals. I get good wireless throughout the houses with a Netgear DGN 2200N.

When it comes to connecting multiple routers this may help

Regards

Tim
Click to expand...

Thanks TIm. Unfortunately my IT guys arent very good and they actually outsourced the installation etc of the access points. Does anyone have any experience with these access points? Your help would be appreciated.
 
How many AP's are at your offices? The Cisco Aironet AP's can be used as a standalone device, but because company offices are usually big they deploy a few of them controlled by a controller. Maybe your office has more than one that's why reception is so good....

We have one cisco controller and 6 AP's at our head office, and another controller and 12 AP's at our warehouse...
I never setup one as a standalone AP as it needs a different IOS image to function as a standalone device, but they are far better than any cheap wireless device you will find... and can be setup through a web interface so should not be to difficult

When you order the AP you need to specify what image you want on, either to function as a standalone AP or one that will be controlled by a controller... (LWAP image for the controlled one)

You can always flash it yourself but that's a pain to do....
 
ShawnStar said:
How many AP's are at your offices? The Cisco Aironet AP's can be used as a standalone device, but because company offices are usually big they deploy a few of them controlled by a controller. Maybe your office has more than one that's why reception is so good....

We have one cisco controller and 6 AP's at our head office, and another controller and 12 AP's at our warehouse...
I never setup one as a standalone AP as it needs a different IOS image to function as a standalone device, but they are far better than any cheap wireless device you will find... and can be setup through a web interface so should not be to difficult

When you order the AP you need to specify what image you want on, either to function as a standalone AP or one that will be controlled by a controller... (LWAP image for the controlled one)

You can always flash it yourself but that's a pain to do....
Click to expand...

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for the reply! We have 2 AP's at the office - but only 1 is used for staff. The other is used by Guests, they are both located next to each other.

Do you have any idea who I can order from in SA as a non-business customer?

Thanks
 
Why don't you try an aerial? I have fixed problems like this with an aerial
 
Ice2Cool said:
Hi Shawn,

Thanks for the reply! We have 2 AP's at the office - but only 1 is used for staff. The other is used by Guests, they are both located next to each other.

Do you have any idea who I can order from in SA as a non-business customer?

Thanks
Click to expand...

We order all Cisco equipment through Dimension Data...

You can try one of these:
http://www.switches4africa.com
http://www.biosonline.co.za
http://www.pc-direct.co.za

I see they have some of the older Aironet models there, maybe mail them and ask if they can get the one you are looking for....
 
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