Dean Johnson wrote:
That's why I think that the Linksys WRT54 series would work nicely, especially given its hackability. Its purpose-built for the access point task, very cheap, and can easily be hacked for higher power than it is released with.
Higher transmit power, to be sure, but that doesn't help with supporting many users in parallel on the scale that's needed here. In fact, even amping up Tx power isn't an option in large-scale deployment, as it decreases the MTBF unpredictably. There's a reason Linksys ships the settings it ships.
That's one more thing that can be put into the "done" column.
I think you are grossly underestimating the logistics and management costs of introducing separate hardware to serve as an AP, particularly when it's a single point of failure. If the server/AP laptop dies, it can be immediately replaced by another laptop. If a dedicated AP dies, a new one needs to be ordered and shipped in, or the units need to be distributed with spares, which doubles the cost outright.
Even if you solved the above, the nightmare of security / update / configuration management across a global deployment of dedicated APs makes me cringe. It's doable, but very hard and to be avoided if at all possible.
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