2802e ANT2524V4C-R vs Dual-band Dipole Antenna

[stein9700]

I am bidding on a job to install wifi in an office. The office is actually a house from the 1960's. 

During my site survey you can tell that the walls create a ton of interference.

Looking at install 2 2802e in the house and was wondering if a ANT2524V4C-R would give me better coverage over the standard Dual-band Dipole Antenna. In my opinion the standard antenna coverage was "ok".

The Attic is open so I can mount the ANT2524V4C-R on the 2nd floor ceiling in the main hall. 

1st floor will be a different challenge but another AP there does a good job.

thanks

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

Here is my opinion. You don’t want to use external antennas inside a home unless you can keep it looking neat. That’s antenna is fine as long as you can mount it properly. Also don’t look at external antennas to provide you more coverage with the AP’s at max TX power, because your clients might not hear the ap well. In other words, don’t blast the signal thinking that’s the best way.
Keep in mind that you want to utilize 5ghz and survey for 5ghz. Knowing that 5ghz attenuated more than 2.4ghz, you might need more AP’s to provide good solid 5ghz coverage. I would not even look at surveying only for 2.4ghz. If the floors are dense and signal loss is high, you are looking at a minimum of one per floor.

[stein9700]

I agree with everything you said, the reason I asked about ANT2524V4C-R was so I could mount the AP in the attic and the antenna on the ceiling for a better look.

This solution only fixes the 2nd floor and the coverage like I said is pretty good.

1st floor is going to have 2802i mounted in several rooms.

Thanks

[Scott Fella]

Well, that is extra money and is that necessary since all the other AP’s will be visible? There are enclosures that can be used in hard ceilings from Oberon and Tessco that hides the ap, but makes it also accessible for any maintenance. That is if you really want to make it look neat. If you have multiple AP’s on the first floor, it would seem that you would need multiple AP’s also on the second floor, just to provide good coverage and the same experience.