This is sort of a general question, but...

I'm looking for a wireless solution that's far more durable and reliable than linksys home products but can't spend nearly the amount for a something like Cisco's Aironet series of solutions

More specifically, I'm wanting to set a mid-sized hotel for wifi delivered to every room.

I wonder if enhanced firmware on Linksys products make it more reliable (while adding cool functionality), but I tend to say not b/c the hardware is still home-quality.

Any recommendations?

[Edited on September 13, 2005 at 10:31 PM. Reason : ]

9/13/2005 10:30:05 PM

what are the costs

you could get several wireless aps and connect them together for complete coverage if it is cheaper

9/13/2005 10:37:38 PM

linksys wrt54g's work as range repeating access points and have some pretty nifty firmware options. unfortunately they come in shitty linksys trim and are hit or miss as far as durability. my us robotics has always been solid for me and I do things not so typical and it usually sees a fuckton of constant throughput with no ill effects.

9/13/2005 11:06:09 PM

Quote :

"I tend to say not b/c the hardware is still home-quality. "

What makes you say that?

9/13/2005 11:12:14 PM

your last name is patel and you're dealing with hotels.

ha!

9/13/2005 11:20:31 PM

get a firmware that lets you raise transmit power
http://www.dd-wrt.com/
also put some nice 24dB antennas on there
then a linksys will work fine

9/14/2005 12:00:02 AM

what firmware is out there for the wrt54gs?

9/14/2005 12:59:04 AM

Lots of information on firmwares for all of the hardware versions here:

http://forum.bsr-clan.de/viewforum.php?f=12

9/14/2005 4:34:21 AM

Get a Cisco employee to buy you stuff from Cisco.

9/14/2005 6:44:02 AM

^
haha.

cdubya, I'm just reasoning that there's but so much enhanced firmware can do to what is, in the end, Linksys hardware...but I definitely haven't tested or researched that, so I could be wrong. Any one have good experience with something like the sveasoft firmware?

most of my frustration with linksys isn't transmission power (b/c they're cheap enough that I could just buy a couple extra APs if necessary), just their consistent crashing/freezing - I need a solution where I can expect the devices to stay online for at least a few weeks at a time without intervention

[Edited on September 14, 2005 at 8:04 AM. Reason : ]

9/14/2005 8:01:20 AM

^ what did that first sentence say ??... it doesnt make sense and I even put in a real effort to figure out what you were saying.


ok... nm... i think i figured it out

[Edited on September 14, 2005 at 8:34 AM. Reason : .]

9/14/2005 8:33:59 AM

sorry Rob...I'm just saying I'm doubtful that even the best enhanced firmware can make a linksys box reliable enough for me to use because at the end of the day, it's Linksys hardware

9/14/2005 8:42:16 AM

i've had the crashing problem with linksys and belkin...but my netgear has NEVER done it...to be honest, i always thought it was some dhcp settings or something that was kicking me off randomly, but since using a netgear wireless router, it's been nothing but smooth sailing...or surfing

9/14/2005 9:23:13 AM

netgear

9/14/2005 9:23:41 AM

Basically, what you're trying to do is offer wireless access with a business class of service with hardware that can be attained at the home networking pricepoint.

1) Buy linksys/netgear/d-link APs and keep several spares and replace as needed, and deal with customer sat on the backend

2) Buy more reliable hardware and pay the premium for it. Cisco 340 APs are pretty cheap on ebay and surplus sites, as they are EOL.

Quote :

"'ve had the crashing problem with linksys and belkin...but my netgear has NEVER done it...to "

and you'll find just as many anecdotal situations with a different permutation of manufacturers. If you were to take a broad statistical sample of all home networking gear, they'd all come in about the same in terms of reliability, ease of use, and overall customer sat.

9/14/2005 9:46:46 AM

We use Netgear workgroup switches for all our small-scale switching needs at work, and have found them to be very reliable (FS105 and FS108 primarily). Can't really speak for their wireless products, though.

9/14/2005 10:40:51 AM

I've been running OpenWRT on my WRT54GS for a while now and have had zero problems. You can easily overclock the AP which takes care of 99.9% of the random freezes. Also, if you get a Linksys, get a GS (twice the RAM and flash space than the G). The firmware gives you all sorts of other cool options as well. I am running EAP/TLS + WPA/TKIP right now, but you easily set up something like chillispot for use at a hotel.

9/14/2005 4:56:04 PM

There are a lot of wireless access points that are much more reliable than the dlink/netgear/linksys variety sold at best buy.

Check out:
http://www.deliberant.com
http://www.tranzeo.com

9/14/2005 6:06:02 PM

Quote :

"and you'll find just as many anecdotal situations with a different permutation of manufacturers. If you were to take a broad statistical sample of all home networking gear, they'd all come in about the same in terms of reliability, ease of use, and overall customer sat."

truer words have never been spoken

people would always want to argue that netgear/linksys/belkin/dlink sucked with me when i worked retail, and that one of the 3 that didn't suck was infinitely better and 100% reliable

to which I'd always just say "YEP YOU'RE RIGHT, X IS CRAP AND Y IS GREAT, PEOPLE LOVE IT." and let them walk out of the store with whatever brand it was they had a mega hard-on for, because it just isn't fucking worth it to argue with people who have their minds already made up

9/14/2005 6:44:40 PM