First Entry to a True Enterprise Setup

Good day everybody.

This one is long. TL;DR - I am redoing the Wi-Fi at my work, currently there is home routers acting as access points all joined together with 100 down and 6 Modem providing it all. Looking for input how to replace it equipment that can handle the load of 300+ people at peak times.

I was going back and forth between homenetworking and networking to make sure I am in the correct sub but with how big my setup has to be I assume I would end up in this one. I will try to include as much info as possible.

I have dabbled with enterprise gear for my home lab but haven’t done a full setup for a commercial environment before.

My situation - I am in the navy stationed in guam and I have been designated for redoing the public Wi-Fi through out certain locations in the ship. There is roughly 300 users that will be on it during the peak hours.

How it is setup currently (You might chuckle a bit):

It starts with a 100 Down 6 Up Cable modem (Highest speed offered on the island) with a Linksys EA9400 Home Router that has two Cat 5E Cables coming out of the LAN Ports. This is in a public office space and Game Room. This sees about 35 people max.

The first CAT 5E cable goes from that router to a AC1700 TP-Link C20 home router in the gym a level below. This space sees about 25 People max

The second CAT5E cable makes a long 400+ feet run to a large eating area (Mess Decks) where roughly 250 people at one time can sit and eat. That cable plugs into another AC1700 TP-Link C20. That router in the eating area then has three more CAT5E cables from it.

The first cable runs another home C20 Router in a Lounge area. About 20 people will be in the space. The second cables goes to a Linksys EA7300 and that is in a officer eating area (Ward Room). This one will be going away soon since the officers are going to get a second modem for themselves. The third cable goes to nowhere and is assumed dead. (Tracking it down tomorrow)

To top it off, there is a random Wi-Fi booster attached to router in the public eating area (Mess Decks). No idea who is using it.

So my plan is to start from scratch. Whatever purchase plan for equipment will have to be presented to my commanding officer to get approval for purchase.

Since this will be a Wi-Fi only network, I will be relocating the Modem, Router, and Switch to help get even distribution of the new Ethernet cable.

As for new equipment, I was considering a Ubiquiti setup. I just trying to plan for when I detach from this ship and future growth for the network.

Edgerouter X (ER-X-US) Unifi Switch 8 60Watt (US-8-60W) 5x AP-AC Lite (UAP-AC-LITE)

Every public space will get 1 AP with the large eating area 2. One for each side of the room.

I hope I didn’t cause too much a headache asking for help. I am no means a professional and my local IT’s are just providing new cable and tools since most don’t know as much as myself (I am mechanic at work, Nerd at home)

Thank you and any advice is welcome.