Trying to figure out the WiFi setup for our church before I start pulling more cable than I need. The main sanctuary is roughly 3,000 sq ft, rectangular, around 35 × 85 ft. It’s mostly open, but there’s a concrete block section along one wall where the current AP and some AV/network equipment are hidden.
The building isn’t just one level though. There are a few classrooms/offices directly above part of the sanctuary, and we’d like decent WiFi up there too.
Right now there’s one older wall-mounted AP near one end of the sanctuary. I’m replacing the old network gear and debating whether I should:
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put one better AP in a more sensible spot, or
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run another CAT6 and use two APs.
Not a huge client load most of the time. Mostly phones during services, staff laptops, streaming/AV stuff, etc.
Would one decent AP realistically cover the sanctuary and help upstairs, or should I just plan for more than one?
I’d stop looking at the advertised square footage first. That concrete section and the second floor matter way more than “covers 5,000 sq ft” on a product page. One AP might cover the open room fine, but putting it behind block and expecting it to also behave nicely through the floor above is a different story.
@Alacran_X_00 Yeah, the upstairs part is what has me second guessing it. It’s not the whole second floor, but there are offices/classrooms above maybe the back third of the sanctuary. I was originally only thinking about coverage across the room, not vertically.
That’s one of those cases where I’d model it before deciding on the second cable. NetSpot 6 has a multi-floor option in Planning now, so it can account for signal going between levels instead of treating everything like one flat floor plan. Might be worth throwing the building in there and seeing whether that changes your one-AP-vs-two idea.
@Major_Peter Wait, multi-floor? I’ve used NetSpot before and don’t remember that being a thing.
Think it’s relatively new. I’m on NetSpot 6 and it’s there.
If the second cable run isn’t horrible, I’d still lean toward two APs over one trying to do everything. Not necessarily both in the sanctuary though. If one well-placed AP covers the main room and the upstairs is the weak area, the second AP may make more sense upstairs instead of putting two at opposite ends downstairs.That’s why I’d figure out the actual coverage problem before deciding where cable #2 goes.
@MacStuckInTheMud That’s a good point. I was assuming the second one would automatically go at the opposite end of the sanctuary, but if the first AP can handle the open room and the problem ends up being upstairs, that cable would be more useful there. I’ll compare both layouts before I pull anything.