Sunday, April 25, 2021

AP Question: Standalone vs Controller

Small business owner here. Going to install 4 APs inside 4 metal interconnected warehouses buildings and 1 AP on the outside of warehouse. Already bought TP-Link APs and PoE switch and will start pulling shielded CAT6 cable tomorrow. APs will be roughly 50m from each other, each inside it's own enclosed metal walls inside warehouse, so would think their would be little channel conflicts.

I want them all to have the same SSID and password. I know it's a matter of switching phone/tablet/laptop wifi off and on if I need to reconnect to an AP with a higher signal. There will only be a maximum of a dozen people using their mobile device to connect to the APs in the warehouse, so not much traffic. Have plans to expand to using barcode readers on the forklifts but not anytime soon.

I understand using a controller provides more config capability and remote management, while standalone does not. I'm curious if my design really needs a controller. I've read that if you have more than 2 APs in your business, a controller should be used. I'm not afraid to go down that path, but just wonder if it's really necessary.

I do not have an IT person on staff, but have an knowledgeable person doing the install. I want a simple system that works. Don't want to actively manage the APs once they are up and running. If one is not behaving and cycling power to the AP or a factory reset/configure doesn't fix it, then I'll replace it with a spare AP. It's much easier to configure them with the mobile app and get them in use.

Thoughts? Many thanks.



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