# IT newbie!! need urgent help with hotspot setup, uniFi package!



## i-am-legend (Jun 3, 2014)

Its 4am here :smileymad:, I’m very confused & little desperate as I’m working against a deadline (start of world cup 2014) to get our entire Wi-Fi network up and running at our little Italian restaurant.

on top of that I got my Mrs who is laughing at me predicting that im going to fail and I got an IT firm trying to charge me 4,000$ + a really expensive maintenance contract to sell me 3 outdated Xirrus units with insulation with no networking on site, they want to control the access points with IP address from their offices meaning we have 0 analytics & no access to any network parameters.:nono:

I’m guessing this was to tie us down long term to the maintenance contract & lots of random invoices to follow for no reason which is really a norm in the big metropolitan im living in now. I have learned the hard way since I been here that you get scammed more than most places by companies if you don’t know what you are doing, its certainly not Scotland where its easy to find people you can trust your small business with.

I need to have WIFI hotspot system running ASAP, I been researching online for about 14 hours straight as I got 0 experience with IT & setting up networks but I think I have come with the right solution for our restaurant but need your help just to make sure I buy all the right things & I don’t make any mistakes. Once the stuff arrives here from the US I will obviously need your help to set it up as from what I been reading buying it is the easy part.

After understanding the basics of what all the hardware does I have decided to go with a Unifi package from ubiquiti.:ubnt_banana:

Our restaurant has an indoor & outdoor terrace, all on the same floor with one glass wall separating the seating the two areas & a big olive tree in the center of the restaurant. 

The entire area inside + outside is about 4000SQF (roughly 400sqm), the router will be placed at one corner of the restaurant which is the opposite end of the outdoor seating area. its about 20meters from one end to the other.

I plan to have 3 Access points, one close to the door of the inside dining area & one outside on the terrace about 5meters from the ap inside, so there will be about 7-9 meters between the first ap & router and another 5meters between the first Ap & second Ap outside. its 220-volt AC where i live & i will need to get the worldwide Unifi hotspots, not the usa version, not that i know what is the difference but im guessing if im not in the US i should get the worldwide access points.

its also very hot and humid, hot summer days can get to 40celsius ( 104f) with 90% humidity, thats another concern i have with the outdoor units, can they handel that? the area is covered, its shaded outdoor area no direct sunlight or rain will ever hit the outdoor unit. 

We will never have more than 30 users at the same time, thats if we are really busy. I have let the internet service provider tomorrow know what speed we are going for as they will activate the connection by the end of the week,

this my first question, if you cant answer all my questions, answer what you can so i hope to have all my worries answered by different people.:mad2:

how many Mbps will I need for the restaurant? I plan to get amazon Tv and will be streaming live video on a projector outside + say an average of 15 people using the wireless, casual surfing.
Options are 4mbps – 8 – 12 or 16 starting at 100$ going to 300$ for highest speed per month?

the cat6 we pulled from the hotel server room to the restaurant, its about 84meters as we had to go through lots of bends and ceilings!! I didn’t know long distances is not good till after installation, we managed to reduce it from 130m to 84m, it was tested by the IT guy with signal testing thing where he placed something on the end of one line and we went to the other and the meter reading was very good. The cable is good quality branded.

Regarding Unifi package, from the reviews and comments I read here im going to avoid the AC model + long range model so I was thinking

2 x unifi ap pro 1 x unifi ap outdoor +

if the unifi ap LR has been fixed & bugs removed i would go with that for outside, i read around there was going to be an update to remove the bugs dont know if this update has happened or not.

I have no issue with adding one or two more units if its required, I would like to have good signal strength. Regarding the amazon tv I will stream to laptop and use HDMI to connect to spanking new projector. Im presuming doing this using the hotspots should not be a problem?

Question 2 – is the above package correct? Do I need more or less?

Now here is where it gets really hard, I have no idea what router to buy, budget would be 250$ give or take a few $. Should something that works well with the unifi package above and should be something that lasts at least 18 months to 2 years before an upgrade.

I have no experience with routers and don’t actually know what spec I need. Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

Q3. What router to buy? i can use amazon or ebay or an online store!

Q4. Regarding the other bits and pieces, Do I need buy a network switch? If so a link on amazon would be great.

I learned what it does but do I need one? Budget here 150$ give or take 25$. If it helps speed up the network I would be happy to take it, also I will be getting a cloud based surveillance system in a couple of months when all this is up and running and i have more time to research that, so if a switch help me long term please let me know what one to get,

im confused regarding the voltage for unifi units hence why im not sure which switch one to get?

Q5. Do I need a POE controller? Im guessing YES.. I know its POE for the access points but this is where I really lost it, do I need a switch & POE controller or can the switch do the same thing as POE controller? From what I learned today I thought switch was only for communication between everything on the network or does it provide power to?

Q6. do I need to buy anything else, I bought some good quality RJ45 cable already and the plugs, some short ones for the switch and router & hotspots.

Q7) Is it the cat6 what I run between the POE controller & hotspots or do I need a different wire for connecting to the hotspots to the POE controller?
Is there anything else that I need to buy that I have not mentioned, the item and link would really be great.

Regarding the wiring in the restaurant & outdoor area, I will be using the hotel electrical technicians to get the POE wiring in place, they are not IT guys but they are really good with wiring & electrical stuff, they pulled the 80m plus cat6 from server room to the restaurant.

I have two options once everything gets on site, one is to use YouTube videos and the help of the forum to get it up and running or just get someone with networking experience to come in and help with the installation and setup, I think I will do that but right now I just need to buy the correct stuff and have it shipped ASAP.

The youtube setups look easy enough but I think spending a 200$ to get a freelancer into do all network config will be a better Idea than me figuring it out but im sure I can do the hardware part and buy everything that is need with the help of a few of you here.

I would really appreciate any help at all as I only have one shot in getting it right, if I buy the wrong stuff or miss anything now than im going to miss the worldcup deadline.

Im going to give it 48 hours before I order everything of ebay – amazon. Please reply if you get a chance.

just to recap the questions.

1.how many Mbps will I need for the restaurant? I plan to get amazon Tv and will be streaming on a projector outside + say an average of 15 people using the wireless, casual surfing + adding 5 or 6 POE security camera at the end of july, all cloud based for the recording. need good speeds for online viewing.

IS the Unifi package that i picked correct or do i need to change it? more or less hotspots?
Q3. What router to buy? budget 250-300$. links would be appreciated.

Q4) do i need a network switch for this setup, if so any recommendations would be really appreciated.

Q5) Do i need a POE controller - I was thinking of the Ubiquiti TS-8-pro tough switch? i know i will need poe for my security cams later but not sure if i can have a POE that would work with both cams & hotspots or i would need a new POE for the security cams?

Q6) Do i need to buy anything else?

Q7) D i use Cat6 to connect to POE controller to the Hotspots? also the security cams powered by POE would they use cat6?

Cheers

Rob p.s its 5.10am now.. 70 minutes.. waiting for replies :smileyembarrassed:


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

Welcome to TSF!

Unfortunately you wrote way to much for most of us to even begin to digest and suggest anything.
I would suggest you stick to just what your current need is which is wifi hot spots.

In this case you would want Poe Access points and a PoE switch. Dlink would be my recommendation and Amazon not ebay would be the way to go. You would of course need a router with an internet connection capable of supporting 30+ users. Cat 6 would be the way to go.


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## i-am-legend (Jun 3, 2014)

k based on the research i did i have bought 80% of the unifi wireless hotspot.

i went have paid for the following today.

1 x UBIQUITI UniFi UAP-Outdoor+ (259$ no shipping charge )

2 Ubiquiti TS-8-PRO ToughSwitch 8 Port Advanced Power Ether... 179$

Ubiquiti Networks UniFi UAP-PRO Enterprise WiFi System WORLD VERSION 220$
now the most important thing pending is the router. i still dont know which router to get. if anyone could help me with router it would be amazing. budge 200 to 250$

router should insure streaming of live sporting events is easy & excellent performance all round

the second main issue is what speed of internet do i need from the provider, its offering 2mbpsm 4mpbs, 8, 16 starting from 100 to 450$ . 

any thoughts on the speed that ???


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

30 users steaming live events via wifi?

We can barely stream 3 tvs and three workstations at the same time at home with 25mbps

I don't think you spent enough time doing the research. How are you going to stop folks from downloading porn while the commercials are playing? Opening Skype sessions to loved ones to share their wonderful experience? 

Since you have a big day coming I wouldn't consider less than 16mbps.

Good luck!


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

I'd suggest, given the relatively small size of the site, the Cisco AP1232AG access points. They're no longer manufactured, so they're cheap. They have a full aluminum housing and are rated for both indoor and outdoor installation (outdoors as long as they are not subject to direct water contact). They support PoE, and the PoE adapters are relatively inexpensive as well, so you don't need a PoE-enabled switch or router (which tend to be quite expensive).

The Cisco 2600-series routers will not bog down under the sort of load you're looking at, and are also relatively inexpensive. You will need someone with Cisco networking experience to set one up, however, unlike the above APs (though that experience can help a great deal in terms of setup time). The 2621s have only one ethernet port standard, while the 2622s have 2. You'd need to make sure they either have an extra ethernet module installed, or would need a switch. The cost is pretty much the same either way. The benefit of the module installed in the router is one less piece of equipment, while a switch can give you many more ports (which it doesn't sound like you need). I'd opt for the module.

If you're looking at ~30 max connections, I would suggest getting a connection no lower than 8mbps, and 16mbps would be better.


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## clyde123 (Apr 10, 2008)

I can't really contribute much to this thread, except regards the PoE.
I recently put in 3 access points using PoE. Problem I found was that the PoE didn't want to work across about 85 metres of Cat5E. I was told maximum 30 metres, so had to re-route my power injectors closer to the access points.
Now that might only depend on the make of the access points, don't know.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

This is all a moot point since the poe switch and AP's have been purchased.
Confirms the adage of haste makes waste.


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## philmiami (Jun 20, 2014)

I am just chiming in on this
for a router you need the Ubi 
*EdgeRouter Lite ERLite-3 512MB 3 Ethernet Ports Router*

Amazon.com: EdgeRouter Lite ERLite-3 512MB 3 Ethernet Ports Router: Computers & Accessories

This is NOT a home user graphical interface. You can get support from the ubi forums but there will be some command line settings
I read that some UBI stuff makes noises (the AP points like a high pitched electrical 'whine' ok....I can from what I know scratch that up to the SOC chip/processor processing and these things from what I take do NOT have mechanical fans on them, just heatsinks inside I would guess)
ANYWAy, from what I read thet are PoE (Power over Ethernet) wireless Access Points (AP) that connect to a ROUTER, and that Edge router is less than $100 from Amazon.
The AP point (I am looking at a UBI-PRO 2.4Ghz/5Ghz and a edge router setup for my home, plus 1000Mb SWITCHES (unmanaged) like I have now, just plug em into the router). These AP can handle 200 simultaneously wireless connections and 0 lag handoffs (but others some say works and some say does not/get's lag dropped connections).
The thing is the AP points have to be hardwired to the router thru Cat6.
The router has 1 console RJ45 jack and 3 routable ethernet ports eth0/eth1/eth2 so it could be setup to have 1 port for 1 access point. The AP's have 2 RJ45 jacks, so you could daisy chain them but there would be a power loss because the PoE has voltage drop at distance and per connection.
So just read the forums BUT I would say use the EDGE router for $98 from Amazon, it is a UBI router too........
Just chiming in....I no longer do IT/telecom but I was around before there was a internet (my first modem was 110 baud cradle base) and I got my first computer back in 1978, a Timex Sinclair TI-99 with 4K or RAM and a 16K add on pack....saved on cassette tape. 8 Bit black and white graphics was it back then........


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

philmiami thanks for the input thought you seemed to have missed the point that the OP had already purchased the equipment and had a dead line to set it up. The biggest problem, aside from haste, was the lack of bandwidth to do the TV streaming. But that aside it appears the OP abandoned the thread so I will go ahead and close it. Thanks again for the input.


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