Setup a wide ranged wifi network for ~3000 people

[MarvinKlar]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum and I hope that I'm here correct with my question. And sorry for my english.

I want to setup a wide ranged wifi network for a 400x150 meter wide area with some buildings on. This area should also be connected to another 150x150 meter big area, which is ~1km far away. The area looks like this:

I already have a Internet access router in the big area, but I want to connect devices to be able to have wifi internet access on the whole area (including the small area). I alread read something about access points, antennas and much more, but I'm still unsure how to setup the network and devices, cause the network should allow up to 3000 people (spread over the 2 areas) to connect to the wifi network. The wifi network don't have to supply a high bandwith for each individual person on the area, connected to the network.

I currently have the idea of setting up one omni antenna at the big area to supply the big area with wifi. For the small area I would setup a dish antenna at the big area and one at the small area to get the signal to the small area. At the small area I would also setup another omni antenna to supply the small area with wifi.

So I only need 2 dish antenna and 2 omni antenna.

What is your opinion on this? Is this possible and can this work for me? And can you recommend any models to buy?

Thanks for you time and advices!
Marvin

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Hi Marvin

I would suggest you get some professional services from a wireless company local to you.

you need a point to point link between two sites and properly design WiFi for indoor use at these two locations. To determine how many APs and what type of antenna (Omni may not be a good idea if you thinking of high-density requirements like you got), you require someone to do a site survey and recommend a design based on that.

If you like to go through some of Cisco high-density WiFi deployment, pls go through this session (you can create a free account if you do not have an account with ciscolive.com already)

https://www.ciscolive.com/global/on-demand-library.html?#/session/1564527368538001caoa 

HTH

Rasika

*** Pls rate all useful responses ***

[MarvinKlar]

Hi Rasika,

thank you very much for your reply, I really appreciate it.

Sorry, but I missed one detail, the WiFi should not be inside the buildings, but mostly around(!) the buildings. There is only one buildings which need to have wifi inside (it don't have much walls on the inside, so I think a access point would do his job).

So, could I use omni antennas for this? And would they support thousand of connections, or do I have to use multiple antennas/access points?

I'll have a look at the link! Thank you!

Thanks and regards

Marvin

[Rasika Nayanajith]

When you design WiFi, think about how many devices you would like to connect to a single AP. typical radio can handle 200 clients, but you do not want that many devices on a single radio. In a typical enterprise, we design to have 20-30 clients per radio. In high density that can increase, but not to max around 200. May be 50-75 clients.

In wireless it is not all about AP capability, end of the day it is determined by client capability, so you have to power down AP to match client capability.

For example, if a phone device power capability 11-14dBm, then you should try to keep AP power level in a similar range (ex max 17dBm) to avoid power mismatch (ie client can hear AP, but AP cannot hear client well)

HTH

Rasika

[Leo Laohoo]

How important is the link to the small building?
With what Rasika said, if it is "that" important, get a wireless site survey done correctly.

[Scott Fella]

One way to tackle this is to get a high bandwidth point to point link so you can extend network to the other building. Then place access points outside of the building to provide coverage to the exterior. I don’t know what throughput you are looking for, but you might want a full duplex point to point like bridgewave sells. They are not cheap and you will have to mount these on a rooftop or mast. Still needs a professional to configure it properly and align them.