> If you have more than one AP, don't you need ones that can do > mesh-networking, so you can hand-over a connection to another AP, in case > the user moves?
The hand-off has nothing to do with whether it's a mesh network and everything to do with whether the individual APs carry the same SSID and keying. It also helps to have the same DHCP server behind them, but isn't utterly necessary. > I'm not very familiar with building large-scale WLANs, but AFAIK, it's a > little more than just buying enough APs and placing them in the right > spots... I am, and it actually is just that. If you already have UTP ports within 300' the AP locations, it's by far the most effective route - then you only have to worry about channelization and overlap. Mesh networks are great for cost-sensitive, mobile, or temporary deployments where the expense of deploying a wired backhaul is prohibitive but they're a pain for anything else due to the relatively less reliable (than wired ethernet) backhaul and increased complexity. As others have indicated (although I can't say I'd espouse this idea myself), you can make most consumer wireless routers into what is effectively an AP without modifying the factory firmware by simply connecting your backhaul wired network to one of its LAN ports. As such, you're not really going to be concerned with the actual hardware beyond whether it can shuffle L2 packets between wireless and wired. If you intend to manage them, though, make sure they have unique LAN IP addresses configured - most can only do static assignment and have no automated configuration tools, so it'll be a somewhat painful process if you're going to do more than a handful. One other thing you really should consider is security - it's cheap and easy to hook a bunch of APs at L2 and let your users run wild, but unless you implement some upstream controls (PVLAN, ACLs, etc.) preventing inter-client traffic at some level, your users are just as likely to run wild on each other as they are on the internet. Not too much of a concern if you already have monster L2 spans, but I couldn't discuss this without at least engaging that. RB
