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Question

Old building Wi-Fi Solution

May 2, 2019 5:55AM PDT

Hey guys,

I have an old multi floor building that consists of apartments. I would like to offer the people living inside, a cheap wi-fi solution. Since the building is old, I cant run new wires through every room or even a few of them. I have a small storage room at the bottom of the building that the central switch and modem/router will be located. I have made colored references on the attached image, in order to help you figure out what i'm talking about.

https://imgur.com/A48v1Nb

The small orange square with the yellow outline, is the small storage room with the central equipment (switch, router, modem etc.).
Each color on the access points represent a different solution.
From there I have figured out three ways that i can implement this:

1) RED - Run outdoor wiring to the two long poles, where i can mount one outdoor access point on each one, that will be facing all the balconies of the complex. Usually the signal will go through the balcony and inside the apartment itself, depending on the AP.

2) GREEN - Do the same but only with one outdoor access point that transmits towards the building, if it should prove enough to do the job with only one piece.

3) PURPLE - Mount two access points on the walls of the balconies, however im not so sure on how good the wi-fi coverage will be.

Please give me your advice on which way would be the most efficient and what kind of access points do you recommend i should buy?

Thanks a lot!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
The problem is made worse by asking "most efficient."
May 2, 2019 9:57AM PDT

Because of how WiFi works you would need a site survey to see how WiFi propagates in those areas. This is very expensive and rarely done.

I will say your solution looks OK but I would also test out powerline WiFi.

I've run into old building restrictions yet they managed to let the phone company install their wiring. Ethernet cable is installed the same way so how did the phones get installed?

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PS.
May 2, 2019 10:09AM PDT

You can ask for most efficient, there's no problem there but most don't want to pay for the engineering study. Have you seen the cost of those studies? They can often cost ten or more times the cost of the actual work. In cases where life or safety is involved, that's cost effective but here I'd look at how much to create your system or try out a powerline link in a test case.

If it's not doable with consumer or office gear, time to call up Cisco.

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Not a bad idea
May 3, 2019 12:53AM PDT

Actually a bunch of powerlines with integrated wi-fi might prove to do the trick. It will certainly be more expensive, but a lot more efficient. In the worst case I might have to add 2 in every floor, which means 6 of them in total.
However, im still open to suggestions.

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I see this going a few ways.
May 3, 2019 8:38AM PDT

Either you do a test roll out using your ideas, you call Cisco or you find out how they ran phone lines and met the building rules.