Need to build a wireless network for an office

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Hi there, I am working for a small company and am going to propose a plan to install a wireless network. Let me give you a little info about what we might need. I have about a max of $5000 to spend, $1600 of which is reserved for the Server that I will build. I'd also like to leave room for an OS, thinking Win2k Server. Which will probably cost about $1000. So I probably have about a max of $2300 to spend on the network, but I'd like to keep it as low as possible, for obvious reasons.

 

Ok the building is about 150X125 meters (~492X~410 feet) (quick estimate). It is two stories. A majority of the computers (I'd say 20-30 computers in this place) are upstairs, but there are some downstairs. There are probaby about 6 computers on the first floor, 5 all within 30 meters of each other in separate rooms, one on the other side of the building. The upstairs consists of computers in offices in an L shape, part of the L goes over the first floor, where the majorty of those computers are.

 

So is what I need to find out, is if this can be done first, how many WAP's (Wireless access points) I will need. I'd like to set one downstairs in the middle where the majorty of the computers are. And then upstairs, on at the beginning of the L shaped area, over the computers below, a WAP there, one at the corner of the L, and one at the other end. At the end here, the computer downstairs should be able to get to this WAP upstairs. So with the little I know about wireless lans, I think maybe this can be down with 4 WAPs. But can they all work together? And can everyone in their offices, using wireless NICs, be able to connect to the server downstairs, which will be conected to a WAP via a 100MBPS wired connection. Downstairs will have a high speed DSL 1MBPS up / 1MBPS down, and the server, with a router connecting to the DSL, which connects to a WAP downstairs, which connects to the server, and wireless to the other 3 WAPs upstairs.

 

So do you think this will work? I am going to attempt to get skimatics on the building and perhaps map out a diagram of what can be done. This building is quite old, and has relativly thin walls (14 cm. or so (4 inches)), so wiring it with cat5 cable is not really an practicle option, and would probably cost more anyway to do it.

 

Right now they have NO network what so ever. The only network is a telephone network, which each person is using a 56K AOL connection!!! Each paying for it! So that is a mess right there and I want to get rid of that.

 

So is this plan practicle? Can it be done? About how much do you think it might cost? What equipment should I look at buying?

 

Please let me know what you think and what you suggest.

 

Thank you very, very much.

 

PS, right now they are paying me $15 an hour, just to come in and help out getting their computers running better, which is fine with me. But I want to propose this plan to them, and I have talked to the boss about it and she seems to want to go for it, but I need help setting it up. Also, should I charge to install this network and server and everything? How much?

 

Thanks in advance.

[three 0]

hmm...have you considered HomePNA as an alternative? With around 20~30 pcs all wireless, i think it would exceed your budget.

[JP- 0]

Just watch the speed/range, as im pretty sure that as the speed goes up the range drops substantially.

[DosFreak 2]

Whar kind of security do you need? If you need security for this network then forgetdaboudit. ANY commercial wireless network can be cracked easily as was proved pretty recently. So if you plan to go through with it try to minimize the distance that your LAN exctendes from the building and keep confidential information away from the wireless!

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Hi. Well I don't think homePNA would work to well, their phone lines don't work well and go down some times. So I think that won't work.

 

And I think wireless can be secure, on most of these devices can't you only allow computers on by their MAC address? That would solve the security issue would it not?

 

Anyway I don't think people would be attempting to hack this network, there is no mission criticle data being transfered.

 

Thanks for the responses, keep'em coming.

 

Thanks

[clutch 1]

If you properly encrypt the traffic, you would be fine as far as encryption goes. You will also want to keep your WAPs as far away from the exterior walls as possible (while still give all the systems a good connection) so as to cut down on traffic bleed through to the outside world. In addition, installing wireless NICs on all the systems and getting the WAPs you need (probably 3 or 4 depending on internal structural and noise interference) you might exceed your budget as suggested earlier. We have an Intermec WAP here for the handheld barcode scanners in shipping (and my iPAQ ) that works rather well at all points of the building, and it's 192ft X 192ft, with about a third of it dedicated to a 2-story office space. However, this WAP was about $1200US or so when we got it, and it's commercial grade for our production floor. We use 802.11b (WiFi) and it has worked out quite well.

 

Now, as for charging, it sounds like this is your first time doing contract work (and maybe computer work professionally) so the best thing I can say is to charge for all the work you perform, but to charge the time that it *should* have taken to complete, rather than how long it took you to do it. This is a concept borrowed from the automotive service industry, where shops use manuals that dictate how many man hours it should take to complete a job (you can vary on this of course, such as when a client has defective hardware and you find this out halfway through an installation). Also, make sure to dictate any warranties on your work, as well as with the hardware that you have brought in to their company.

[DosFreak 2]

Can you post a map?

 

Also make a map BEFORE you make ANY changes to the current (nonexistent) network. Then make a map AFTER you are done. Keep it updated too because this will help you out and anyone else who makes any chnages in the future.

 

Also are absolutely 100% sure that the walls are just plaster/wood and not concrete/steel/lead or whatever. Wireless obviously works best when you have LOS but without it you have to be sure of what your trying to punch through.

 

Akso how exactly are your computers situated? Would it be possibile to stick a switch downstairs and upstairs. Connect Cat5/Fibre between them? Or are the computers situated in such a way as to make this unfeasible?