Wireless Equipment

[JDangl-p40]

I just finished installing network cabling in the last of our 3 buildings in our stake. (No, I do not do this for a living. )


For us, we ran two lines to each clerk’s office – one was used as a direct connect to the computer running MLS and the other was wired to a PoE (power over Ethernet) Access point. Power over ethernet is a great way to do since power is supplied to the AP via the network cable thus you can easily mount the device wherever you want.


Network cable for each building was run from a family history room (or a nearby phone closet) through the attic (crawl space) to the clerk offices. We used Cat 5e plenum grade cable as this was required by local code. I was particularly careful to mount the cable away from the bottom rafters as the attics in our church buildings have problems with rodents and I was afraid that they might start chewing on the network cable.




The stake covered the cost of cable installation – the wards equally paid for the cost of the wireless access points. (yes, the firewall came Salt Lake.)
For the access points, we used the TEW-434APB 54Mbps Wireless G PoE Access Point by TRENDnet. I know that they are cheap ($35 - $50 via Amazon.com) but they really work well and have provided us with excellent coverage . In fact, they are cheap enough that I bought an extra one just to use as a backup… though I haven’t had to use it yet.

[schester]

The biggest thing I've learned is that you typically get what you pay for. My advice would be to purchase a Cisco Aironet. The church supplies 1242ag's for some uses. I don't know if they get a good discount on them or not. If the cost seems too high, consider purchasing used one's from a reputable source or even ebay. I know it is tempting to go with consumer grade products you can get off the shelf at Best Buy, but that is really not the best investment for the church when considering in the life span, duty cycle and security requirements.

[aclawson]

I prefer the EnGenius devices above and beyond any and all others. They have much higher power (for tx) and sensitivity (for rx) and provide the most flexibility of any wireless devices I have tried. Bar none.
Linksys, Zyxel, Netgear, Belkin, Tenda, 2wire and probably a couple of others I can't recall off the top of my head - I have tried them all. I cannot recommend EnGenius strongly enough.

[MattWorley]

Tonight I set up an Access Point in our chapel. The FM group ran an Ethernet cable from the clerks office to the space in the back of the chapel, I picked up a refurbished WAP54G from Linksys for $16.99, works like a charm. The plan now is to run 2 more cables to different parts of the building and install 2 more access points.

http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/outlet ... ewprod.htm
Use the 15% discount code they offer on the page too.

[harddrive]

Tonight I set up an Access Point in our chapel. The FM group ran an Ethernet cable from the clerks office to the space in the back of the chapel, I picked up a refurbished WAP54G from Linksys for $16.99, works like a charm. The plan now is to run 2 more cables to different parts of the building and install 2 more access points.

http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/outlet ... ewprod.htm
Use the 15% discount code they offer on the page too.

I recently put a DLink 3200AP wireless access point in one of my buildings. The unit is $150 and it gave me the ability to do power over ethernet (POE), which means that I could hide the AP in the ceiling, so unless you have an electronic device, you won't know it is there. My stake president wants things to look professional, which is the ONLY way to do it.

The building that I put it in was built in the mid 1970's. It is a U-shaped building with all the mechanical equipment in the middle. Each hallway is about 60' long. I put the access unit on top of a concrete block wall, so that it wouldn't be on the ceiling tile. To my surprise, it was able to cover the entire building. The rooms that are the farthest away only get a 1 megabit per second speed, but it is still good enough for streaming video. So I was pleasant surprised and very happy.

I will probably use this in another building down the road.

[abcampa]

i got a cisco aironet device from the church and put it in one of our buildings. I got 2 bars on my laptop, while i was in the same room.

i previously tested one of my old wrt54g and i was able to make it almost all the way accross the building with a good signal.

I dont know what the deal is with those aironet devices, but this was even after lds tech configured it with their script.

I dont think the device is even capable of doing wpa2.


We ended up wiring up the building.

[MattWorley]

We have the U shaped building too with a wing for primary, I got approval to move on my plans for a install. I have a in at the FM group, Phase 1 of the plan, see if we can get Ethernet cable to the 2 clerks offices on either side of the chapel. Phase 2 run said cable. Phase 3 install Linksys AP's in clerks offices. Phase 4 be done with it all!
Now the tick is seeing if I can get them out of this AT&T contract that someone set up with out consulting me. The church is paying nearly $50 a month for 1.5mbs, we can get something better elsewhere.