Hello everyone,
I’d like to set up Wi-Fi at a public outdoor pool area (12,000 m²). The problem is that the area around the main building is all paved, so I can’t run any cables there. Powerline isn’t likely a solution either, since the electrical system powers expensive pumps that must not be disrupted under any circumstances. That’s why I thought I’d set up a mesh network for the first 30 meters using two Asus ZenWiFi BT8s running OpenWrt, and then I can expand the network via LAN using smaller, hopefully more affordable hotspots. Does that sound plausible? It would be good if the other hotspots supported PoE. There are probably rarely more than 200 people in the area. What do you think—how much area can I cover with the two ZenWiFi BT8s, and which additional PoE hotspots can you recommend for this purpose?
I will probably have a ton of questions about configurating this network but thats another topic...
Best regards
Fisi
Just in general, those of us who know wireless, prefer a wire, always. So please reconsider your options first. For outdoor usage, fibre in a 8mm speedpipe (or garden hose, easier to get connectors through) is preferable, as it sidesteps all issues around lightning strikes or potential differences - and that is often feasible these days.
I agree but hundreds of kids will be running there barefoot and the construction manager will not allow that. It's a regulatory nightmare... On the lawn I can bury the cables
Can't use air ?
Fiber got no ~100m limit.
I don't think they'll allow that, I will ask next week. But the question remains: which and how many affordable PoE hotspots would you recommend for the remaining area of 12,000 square meters?
Set outdoor to Y, set flash min 16MB, RAM min 128MB, put Wifi AP in device type field.
Check what you can source locally.
Mikrotiks are usually tricky to flash.
You might want PoE too.