Cisco Access Point (WiFi)

[saroj pradhan]

Hi,

i am searching  for a  Cisco  AP (wifi)  which will support atleast 100 concurrent  connections .

Please advice.

Thanks,

Saroj

[Jeffrey Keown]

Hi Saroj,

All current Cisco AP's don't have a maximum client per ap limit.

Most do however have a 200 client per radio limit.

This is the maxium allowed, but not always advised or practical.

In application, the usuable limit is usually between 80 to 120 clients.

An equally as important factor is client application characteristics.

For example, you could probably do well with 100 wireless clients on a single ap radio with the clients running telnet sessions or light, sporadic web browsing.

100 clients on the same ap streaming video?  Don't expect good performance.

The key thing to keep in mind is that each wireless cell is a shared half duplex medium, and regardless of what your AP is capable of, that always has to be accounted for.

To try and directly address your question, your best bets for ap models that would perform the best would be 1260 or 3500 series AP's:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10981/index.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/ps10980/index.html

hth

Jeff

[Leo Laohoo]

Please don't take any offense with my response.

Your question is similar to the question "What 24-port switch model can support 200 clients."

An AP can support between 1 to 1024 clients (theoretical).  But understand that a wireless access point (WAP) behaves like a hub:  When one talks, everyone else stops to listen and waits for their turn.

Cisco recommends that no more than 25-clients-per-WAP ratio.  So if you have 200 clients then you need a minimum of 8 APs.  Depending on your other environmental factors (such as size of the areas, walls, height of the AP to be installed, etc.) you may have to consider disabling the 802.11b data rates.

Next question is what model.  Well that's going to be difficult without knowing what your budget and requirement is.  But I will presume that you will need 802.11n support so here goes:

1.  Go to the Cisco wireless website (link).

2.  The 1040 is the most affordable WAP.  The main difference with the rest is that this model support 2 x 2 MIMO while the others will support 2 x 3 MIMO.

3.  The WAP models 1250 and 1260 are industrial grade models and require external antenna.  The 3500e requires external antenna too but can support up to -6 dBm gain.  The 3500p also requires external antenna but has it's own special antenna.  This model is designed for stadium installation.

4.  For optimum performance, the 1250 requires a 20.0 PoE or PWR-INJ4 power brick.  Other APs requires 15.4w PoE.

5.  The 3500i/3500e/3500p is the only model of it's kind to support Cisco's CleanAir.  This model requires a Wireless LAN Controller (WLC).

6.  1140 is the baseline WAP.

7.  The 1040, 1140, 1250, 1260 and 3500i/3500e/3500p has GigabitEthernet wired interface.

The 1130 is an AP that will only support 802.11a/b and g.