Hi, I've been asked to design a wireless network to provide internet access anywhere on the grounds of my friends RV/Cabin resort. I estimate the area is about 2sq miles large and will need to serve up to 1000 people. I've setup of plenty of office ethernet LANs wired and 802.11 wireless networks but I'm thinking I'll need something a little more here then a wireless router and a bunch of repeaters.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what kinda of wireless network designs I should be researching. Or if someone setup a simalar network and can give me some tips.
There are several commercial companies that do that for rv parks and marinas, you may want to check with them....
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the stuff under the heading HD24643 CAMPGROUND Wireless Design & Consultation Service
Just an aside, from trying to do it myself at one time, it's a bitch.. everything is usually outdoors, and you have huge vehicles/bulgemobiles that block/reflect signals if done wrong... Good luck!
Beware of friends bearing expensive and extensive projects. This does not sound like a trivial exercise.
Give up now while you're still sane. No single system can handle 1000 simultaneous users. Wireless is a shared medium. With 802.11b/g, there are 3 available non-overlapping channels (1, 6, and 11). Reliable range for wi-fi in a forest is zero, so you're going to need "hot spots" near the major campsites. With 1000 campers, my guess is that your soon to become former friend has about 50 campsites in the 5 sq miles with about 20 campers each. That will work with 1 hotspot per campsite. The good news is that the trees will provide some isolation between hotspots allowing frequency reuse. Please correct my numbers to resemble reality.
A big problem with the 50 camp sites is the backhaul. The internet access has to come from somewhere. The only effective way to do that is to run fiber or cable back to some central location that will have internet access. You can try to throw together a mesh network, but I don't think you'll have reliable connectivity between campsites in a forest. Even if you did, the tendency for ALL the traffic to accumulate near the network node that's closest to the internet connection is going to be fatal. Can you run wires? Do you have conduit at the campsites?
The size of the backhaul is also a problem. I doubt if all 1000 users are going to be on at the same time. How many campers bring their laptops camping is another open question. Methinks you need to get some projected usage numbers.
The real problem is going to be who's gonna deal with abuse, maintenance, and support? You can't just setup this system and let it free run. My guess is about 10% of the campers that shows up expecting internet service are also going to show up with viruses and worms. Someone will need to pull the plug on them or possibly help them out. Are you going to have passwords and logins? Encryption to prevent sniffing of private info? Most simply, who gets the call when the customer complains?
Repeaters suck, especially in crowded environments. Details on request. Actually, it's not as bad as it seems. What's missing are some real numbers as to usage, loading, and user count. You also have the huge advantage of having the trees isolate the hot spots.
Not me. I'm still sane and solvent. I also get 8 hours of sleep each night. However, I've previously done my share of coffee shops, hotels, motels, convention centers, events, and businesses. As I previously mentioned, the hardware is a minor problem compared to the cost of the backhaul and the administration overhead. (Incidentally, conventions are the worst because everyone brings a laptop and turns it on at exactly the same time).
As for topology, I would check on the availability of wiring. A fairly low power generic hot spot should work around the campsites. Don't bother trying to get coverage into or through the trees. Even if it works, it wouldn't be stable. Be sure to include some management software.
Figure on over 100 access points for starters. But now you'll have a nightmare with overlapping coverage from each access point.
Next, figure on marginal to zero signal penetration into a metal RV where the laptop is. A USB WiFi dongle stuck out a window up to the roof might be an idea
If your out in the boondocks, several T1 lines could be used for your backhauls. Figure on one T1 per 100 users. A rural T1 will run you about $700 EACH.
1,000 users huh? How will budget a full time staff of half a dozen techs.
You still have the internet backhaul problem. Fiber is most likely an option, so all you have left is DSL, cable, and T1, where the first two will have strict "no-sharing-allowed" in their TOS (unless you set up a commercial account of sorts). T1 could run you about $400 each per month if you order ten of them for $4,000 a month.
WiMax isn't set to deploy until the end of 2007, and that's only in major metropolitan markets (where RV camps usually aren't found).
"Mesh would be a mess" =A9 by me. Mesh works best when it can swap data around with other virtual access points mounted outdoors...not from a laptop WiFi cards inside a camper. Still, you have the backhaul problem.
I really really would sub-contract the whole thing out for a couple of tens of thousands of dollars (that might give you an idea of the magnitude of the project you were asked to setup).
You still have the internet backhaul problem. Fiber is most likely an option, so all you have left is DSL, cable, and T1, where the first two will have strict "no-sharing-allowed" in their TOS (unless you set up a commercial account of sorts). T1 could run you about $400 each per month if you order ten of them for $4,000 a month.
And what contention factor are you using to figure you need 10 T1's
WiMax isn't set to deploy until the end of 2007, and that's only in major metropolitan markets (where RV camps usually aren't found).
Actually Wimax base stations and CPE devices are already on the market and being used as we speak.
Not talking about using the laptops as part of the mesh network. Using multiple low power access points to cover the area in question. And as for the backhaul depending on what QOS you would offer and the contention ratio used, 3Mbps to 6Mbps is all that would probably be needed to offer 256k download.
I really really would sub-contract the whole thing out for a couple of tens of thousands of dollars (that might give you an idea of the magnitude of the project you were asked to setup).
Well if I was you, I would contract it out as you are showing you are not very familiar with the technology and the design and implementation of such a network
Commercial WISP operators generally agree that 100 users per a 1.5 Mbps is the maximum feasible.
But only in a few markets, so that's not likely an option for him yet.
OK, I didn't understand that you wouild be using a mesh group of APs
So are YOU suggesting that a 3 to 6 Mbps backhaul would be sufficient for 1,000 users??? It would seen that you are the one not very familiar with WISP deployments. How many APs do you have up and running now?
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