Questions about WAP321

[Maxim Foru]

Hello everyone

Before buying one of these I would like to know afew questions.

Whats the WiFi rage of the 2.4ghz in a open field with no obstacles?

Does it support Voucher creation and authentication for guests?

Does this product perform well with all devices? (smartphones, laptops, etc)

thanks

[Michal Bruncko]

> Does this product perform well with all devices? (smartphones, laptops, etc)

In general Wifi is based on standard, which means that every Wifi cabable device should be able to talk to eachother (but we both know that this is not true in reality and there are examples). Secondly I didn't found any issue/report here in this forum related to compatibility problems with some kind of devices with WAP321 (neither with similar WAPs). If there are connecivity problems (disconnections, or performance related), they are mainly general (without focus to specific device) related.

> Does it support Voucher creation and authentication for guests?

if you mean support of Captive Portal, then yes, this device supports it.

> Whats the WiFi rage of the 2.4ghz in a open field with no obstacles?

seems this is not WAP321 related question, but rather general wifi question. Here is very nice explanation about Wifi channels and overlapping and planning. Commonly it is better to use 5 GHz range (802.11a) (and WAP321 supports it) whenever possible as this is not heavy used like 2,4 GHz range. But of course with using 5 GHz we restrict possible group of client devices which could connect. But you can decide for WAP371 model which support both ranges simultaneously (within WAP321 you can choose only one from them). Lastly the 5 GHz range have a bit more signal lost while crossing walls in comparison of 2 GHz range. But this could not be your case as you mentioning "open space".

[Maxim Foru]

Thanks for the response.

I will be using 2.4ghz to have better compatibility.

The range is important to me just because I have an area to cover and thats why Im asking.

- but if there is no info on it.... does the WAP123 is similar to the Linksys E4200 v2 ? (signal strenght and range)

- Do you have a tutorial page somewhere about the Captive Portal, so I can see the features and the tutorials?

Thanks

[Michal Bruncko]

> Do you have a tutorial page somewhere about the Captive Portal, so I can see the features and the tutorials?

Please have a look on article id 2937 inside Cisco Knowledge base - there is nice article about Captive portal installation and configuration. I have not to forget to mention second article 3036 related to Captive web customization.

> does the WAP123 is similar to the Linksys E4200 v2 ? (signal strenght and range)

Now I am a bit confused as now you are asking about WAP123 instead of WAP321 :). Hope we are still talking about WAP321 (even more WAP123 doesn't have Captive Portal). Ranges are definitely same as this is again defined by standard and on per country basis and they are same if you select same countries on both of them. Regarding signal strength this is not very clear from any documentation. But both devices WAP321 and E4200 have internal antennas . Yes, E4200 have two more times of antennas but this is because E4200 supports both frequency rages simultaneously thus for same range the number of antennas are same (3). Also forms and dimensions of antennas from devices seems to be similar (focus on that one's connected with black cable on both pictures).

In summary all those info points me to verdict that both devices provides same similar signal strength.

[Eric Moyers]

My name Eric Moyers. I am an Engineer in the Small Business Support Center.

You say that you have an area to cover. To better help you determine what would be the best solution for you, how big is the area? Is this inside or outside? Business or Residential? How many connections do you intend to support? I say connections because most wireless networks have to deal with cell phones and personal tablets and gadgets today. Do you want to support only 2.4 GHz?   

Eric Moyers
.:|:.:|:. CISCO | Cisco Presales Technical Support | Wireless Subject Matter Expert

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