Question : Wireless Access Points - Home vs Commercial grade

I am planning a wireless network in a 10,000 square ft. warehouse with a 20ft ceiling. The area is mostly wide open.
I’ve never used commercial grade access points before so I don’t know how much better it will be than some random access point i can pick up @ best buy.
Nothing special about the network needed, just a standard 802.11x for windows laptops.

Any tips?

Answer : Wireless Access Points - Home vs Commercial grade

Home\End-User access points:
Brands: Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Apple, etc...
Typically have the bare-minimum memory and proccessor to support the access point and support the users. Have more than 50 clients on these access points and they may barf and crash. The radio power is very low, designed only to cover the average house and minimize interference with other devices like cordless phones (though usually its the cordless phones interferring with the access point). The controls in the access point are simple. You can set up encryption, change the SSID, change the channel, and have a MAC address filter. The hardware is also limited. The antenna are usually permenetly attatched (Linksys being the special one here, you can change them out), and if not permenent, they ususally have non-standard connectors. The actual radio unit is also integrated into the access point and cannot be removed or changed. The tech support is also bare minimum, and ususally oursourced with staff that are trained only in basic troubleshooting. Thats about it for a home access point.

Commercial\Buisnuiss Class\Mission Critical
Brands: Cisco, Avaya, Proxim etc...
These usually have very beefy proccessors and memory to support hundreds of clients, though that is not recommended for bandwidth reasons. However, if needed, the capebility is there. The radio power can be adjusted to cover a small bubble around the access point to almost a mile in clear line-of-sight conditions. Speciality access points can cover spans of many miles. The control systems are very advanced. I have experience with the Cisco access points, and when you log into the web interface, you can see exactly where each access point is, their status, rogue access points (unauthorized access points), all connected clients, and such. The interface is amazingly powerful. Our particular AP's can be set to change channels to destructively interfere with rogue access points, making them useless and disabling any clients that connect to it. They can be setup to authenticate with a central server if your company has one. Some models have removable radio modules, allowing you to upgrade to new standards, or more powerful radios if the needs come up later. Antennas can be removed, and you can install custom antennas that project a small bubble, antennas that envelop an auditorium, or spot antennas that only provide coverage to a certain area such as a help desk. The technical support staff is usually highly trained, and ready to assist in deep technical problems. Some access poitns also have a nifty feature called Client Isolation, which isolates each wireless client so they cannot directly access each other (good for hotspots in a coffee shop and such) - there are many more unique features to a commercial access point. Give your distributer a call and they can help you out.


--AtomicFire001