Wireless access point to cover school grounds

[Bern]

your contribution seems rather snide and quite fanboyish,neither of which is particularly useful when trying to advise somebody who doesn't require the extra functionality

+1
eCLIPSe you are being a bit of an ass with your snide remarks - did you not see the R3000 budget? Its a school FFS, not a corporate, they don't have much money. It is to be able to get simple access to an ADSL line and maybe a server, nothing more. If you are going to add something please try make it useful, not just "can't afford my time" - what is wrong with you?

 

[eCliPSe]

Yes it is a school but R3000.00 is a lot of money to waste. Especially for a school. I am sorry but I will not put an ASUS network product in any size client's network. Home use great as that is what that product is designed to do. Sorry for being blunt and you gentlemen not liking it.

 

[eCliPSe]

Truth be told. I have had to deal with so many clients that had people do what is suggested here because they are on a budget. In the end of the day they always find that perhaps waiting and then spending a bit more would have benefited them much more than dealing with the frustration of inarticulate equipment spec'ed to do higher end work.

Also blowing Enterprise solutions out of the water because of budget is foolish. I know that 3 of the main network vendors do give a massive discount to educational institutions and in some cases refurbed products for free.

My point of view is just that there are products designed to do certain things for a reason. When cowboys go an push the limitations of these products to make a quick buck then it gets me in arms.

I hope just to bring to light the pitfalls of these "cheap" solutions.

 

[Bern]

My point of view is just that there are products designed to do certain things for a reason. When cowboys go an push the limitations of these products to make a quick buck then it gets me in arms.

I hope just to bring to light the pitfalls of these "cheap" solutions.

eCLIPSe, I am 100% with you on irresponsible people selling crap solutions, but a simple setup to connect four laptops is fairly simple, especially since there is unlikely to be much interference nearby (the site survey will confirm). I think you could just have made your point in a more constructive manner, but I can imagine how manner idiots you have to deal with who don't understand the complexities of wireless.

To be clear to Sl33py:
The suggestions all made above are for best effort type solutions, if you want to have a guaranteed strong signal with proper handover you will need to use proper kit. Make sure you do a proper site survey and the customer understands it is not a corporate grade service.

 

[eCliPSe]

I agree that i struggle to carry across my msg's in a constructive non criticizing way.

As clearly this job is only to build some good contacts and not for making money.
Here is what I would do personally due to budget constraint. I will schedule a meeting with the school myself and a local WISP. Get the WISP to supply the wireless network in exchange for running a wireless hotspot and a billboard on the sports field about there wireless network partner.

Thus building a better relationship with the school and a new partnership with a local WISP that can supply you with a larger client base.

Both parties score.

 

[Bern]

Get the WISP to supply the wireless network in exchange for running a wireless hotspot and a billboard on the sports field about there wireless network partner.

Both parties score.

Nice idea for a compromise solution eCLIPSe, Sl33py let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out.

 

[Glingfram]

Forgive me if I've missed something here, but why do you specifically need a wireless connection? I'd be rather hesitant to spread a wireless network across classrooms unless it's a primary school.

You might want to consider the reliability, security and sustainability of the CAT5 option.

 

[bekdik]

Good luck with the tin hat brigade.