Appearance is a Big Deal here. Although its easy to scoff at, I
actually don't mind going the extra mile; this (private) institution
has spent a lot of energy to look good and its paid off.
Anyway, the solution for us has been very simple.
Every AP gets placed either in a lanroom, maintenance area, above the
drop ceiling, inside a presentation podium, under a desk, and if all
else fails, above a hatch placed in the ceiling.
With the exception of the last one (metal hatch covers), coverage
impact is not really significant.
The only catch is you have to keep track of where the APs are, but
that hasn't turned out to be the nightmare I thought it would be. Its
also possible to put a small "sticker dots" (like people use at
garage sales?) on the metal drop ceiling strut to mark it. Done with
a muted (non-hot-pink) color is pretty forgivable and tends to last.
There are a few more implications to doing things this way:
1. You don't need pretty terminations. You can terminate straight
into a RJ45 clip without the extra $10/drop in wall plates, mod jack,
etc.
2. You don't need to hide cable going down to the jack in raceway.
3. Nothing gets stolen.
Only one bad thing: The wireless network won't advertise itself. We
have to tell people where it is, theres no reminder that "this
building has wireless". As we approach ubiquitousness this is less of
a problem...
-porkchop
--
Michael "Porkchop" Kaegler, Sr. Network Analyst
(845) 575-3061 Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY
**********
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