number of users simultaneously on an access point

recompiler1 · 05-11-2003

How many people do you find you can ave on an access point at once? Since they are really 10 base t hubs i was thinking no more then 10 for performance but the wap11 manual says 32, marketing spak I assume. Any comments?

Thorn · 05-11-2003

Thirty-two is the number of MAC addresses the WAP11 will hold in memory. Performance will, of course, depend on traffic load. The real performace limit is imposed by the Internet feed in most cases, since that is usually much slower than the LAN or WLAN.

recompiler1 · 05-11-2003

Thank you, that clarified it. The network in question has 100mbps backbone, and conencted to a T1 (cyber cafe). so netstumblers and too many people associating with a WAP11 will DDOS it.

Comput4rJLT · 05-11-2003

im on a WISP that uses heavy duty cisco equipment and they can have 100+ useres on one AP w/ one card (and a bazillion people on their sectored setup) and the performance is still good.....

dunno bout the linksys since cisco>*

recompiler1 · 05-11-2003

Yeah. cisco equipment is prety much top of the line profesional hardware. We use it at my college. Cisco may have bough linksys but they still only make mediocer consumer grade hardware.

Thorn · 05-12-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Comput4rJLT
im on a WISP that uses heavy duty cisco equipment and they can have 100+ useres on one AP w/ one card (and a bazillion people on their sectored setup) and the performance is still good.....

dunno bout the linksys since cisco>*

Most WISPs use some sort of traffic throttling, so that the load is dealt with properly. The average figure I see for a WISP is about 100 residential/SOHO users per T1.

Comput4rJLT · 05-12-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Thorn
Most WISPs use some sort of traffic throttling, so that the load is dealt with properly. The average figure I see for a WISP is about 100 residential/SOHO users per T1.

we're close to 300

though not all of those are on at the same time. and ther are 7 total APs to associate with but all connected to one T1 (two more soon i hope)

recompiler1 · 05-12-2003

What kind of stuff is comonly used for authentication on wireless ISPs? I'm interested in some free alternatives, winblows or linux based.

Thorn · 05-12-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by recompiler1
What kind of stuff is comonly used for authentication on wireless ISPs? I'm interested in some free alternatives, winblows or linux based.

Same as for wired ISPs. i.e. Some flavor of RADIUS or something similar. (Just because the DI in RADIUS stands for "Dial In" doesn't require it to be a dialed line.) You might want to look at FreeRADIUS.

recompiler1 · 05-12-2003

Thanks, free radius, and a few cheesy things from twocows, are the only things I'm aware of that are free. If I don't find something interesting by next thursday I'll go with free radius. Joltage (http://www.twocows.com/preview/283606.html ) is the other main contender.

Comput4rJLT · 05-12-2003

the only thing my wisp uses for auth. is mac and ip addy filtering.......
They also have ssid broadcast turned off as to stop all the little NS kiddies.

They also have an uber sensative something that will blacklist your mac addy if it detects someone using ur ip on their equipment. or if the ap senses 2 of the same mac's.......

my stupid ass moron friend thought he'd be funny and "borrow" my ip# and got us both blacklisted for 2 days

recompiler1 · 05-12-2003

Interesting. I have rotating daily WEP keys and MAC address authentication for now, but I want a more commercial and less pain in the ass solution.

Thorn · 05-12-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by recompiler1
Thanks, free radius, and a few cheesy things from twocows, are the only things I'm aware of that are free. If I don't find something interesting by next thursday I'll go with free radius. Joltage (http://www.twocows.com/preview/283606.html ) is the other main contender.

Joltage was a HotSpot controller, similar to Boingo. I say was, because they went bankrupt around February. They gave away the front-end, and you bought into their back-end payment scheme. Good idea, but it died. Somehow, I don't think that download from twocows is going to do much now...

Hotspots are different beasts from WISPs. Same tech, COMPLETELY different application of it, though. WISPs are just like cable or DSL. The internet service is supplied to your location. Hotspots are the"coffee shop" idea. Bring the laptop/PDA to the shop, and drink cappiccino while surfing.

If your looking for a Hotspot setup, NoCat or Mikrotik's RouterOS are both good. NoCat is free, RouterOS is a heavily modified Linux, that costs.

recompiler1 · 05-12-2003

Ok, thanks. This is more like a wireless ISP. Cyber cafe resseling bandwidth to 4 surrounding blocks or so.

Thorn · 05-12-2003

I should clarify something: Mikrotik's RouterOS is a good all-around package. It covers bother Hotspot and WISP use. Take a look at it, you could do worse. It's free to download and play with. It only costs if you actually want to use it with more than 4 clients.

05-11-2003	#1 (permalink)
recompiler1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 64	number of users simultaneously on an access point How many people do you find you can ave on an access point at once? Since they are really 10 base t hubs i was thinking no more then 10 for performance but the wap11 manual says 32, marketing spak I assume. Any comments?

05-11-2003	#2 (permalink)
Thorn Did you do the math? Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Villa Straylight Posts: 10,358	Thirty-two is the number of MAC addresses the WAP11 will hold in memory. Performance will, of course, depend on traffic load. The real performace limit is imposed by the Internet feed in most cases, since that is usually much slower than the LAN or WLAN. __________________ Thorn "Read Altas Shrugged. Compare it to today. Repeat as necessary"

05-11-2003	#3 (permalink)
recompiler1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 64	exactly waht I needed to know Thank you, that clarified it. The network in question has 100mbps backbone, and conencted to a T1 (cyber cafe). so netstumblers and too many people associating with a WAP11 will DDOS it.

05-11-2003	#4 (permalink)
Comput4rJLT Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 57	im on a WISP that uses heavy duty cisco equipment and they can have 100+ useres on one AP w/ one card (and a bazillion people on their sectored setup) and the performance is still good..... dunno bout the linksys since cisco>* __________________ Toshiba E740 running PocketWarrior and WinC - SOLD Itronix armored 486 laptop runing W95 and netstumbler Compaq Armada E700 dualbooting w/ xp pro and slackware 8.1 - running netstumbler and soon will be running kismet/airsnort/etc...

05-12-2003	#8 (permalink)
recompiler1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 64	Authentication What kind of stuff is comonly used for authentication on wireless ISPs? I'm interested in some free alternatives, winblows or linux based.

05-11-2003	#5 (permalink)
recompiler1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 64	Yeah. cisco equipment is prety much top of the line profesional hardware. We use it at my college. Cisco may have bough linksys but they still only make mediocer consumer grade hardware.

05-12-2003	#10 (permalink)
recompiler1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 64	Thanks, free radius, and a few cheesy things from twocows, are the only things I'm aware of that are free. If I don't find something interesting by next thursday I'll go with free radius. Joltage (http://www.twocows.com/preview/283606.html ) is the other main contender.

05-12-2003	#11 (permalink)
Comput4rJLT Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 57	the only thing my wisp uses for auth. is mac and ip addy filtering....... They also have ssid broadcast turned off as to stop all the little NS kiddies. They also have an uber sensative something that will blacklist your mac addy if it detects someone using ur ip on their equipment. or if the ap senses 2 of the same mac's....... my stupid ass moron friend thought he'd be funny and "borrow" my ip# and got us both blacklisted for 2 days __________________ Toshiba E740 running PocketWarrior and WinC - SOLD Itronix armored 486 laptop runing W95 and netstumbler Compaq Armada E700 dualbooting w/ xp pro and slackware 8.1 - running netstumbler and soon will be running kismet/airsnort/etc...

05-12-2003	#12 (permalink)
recompiler1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 64	Interesting. I have rotating daily WEP keys and MAC address authentication for now, but I want a more commercial and less pain in the ass solution.

05-12-2003	#14 (permalink)
recompiler1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 64	Ok, thanks. This is more like a wireless ISP. Cyber cafe resseling bandwidth to 4 surrounding blocks or so.

05-12-2003	#15 (permalink)
Thorn Did you do the math? Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Villa Straylight Posts: 10,358	I should clarify something: Mikrotik's RouterOS is a good all-around package. It covers bother Hotspot and WISP use. Take a look at it, you could do worse. It's free to download and play with. It only costs if you actually want to use it with more than 4 clients. __________________ Thorn "Read Altas Shrugged. Compare it to today. Repeat as necessary"

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