I work as a SysAd in the USAF and frequently travel to help my brother produce music festivals.
Most of the time I don't help him with IT work, (I do bar/site logistics, equipment operation) until last year when he lost his normal IT guy. I offered to step in and assist (Point of Sale tablets, WiFi/3G+4G Uplinks) - that was when I found out just how absurd the prices he was paying for everything. I won't get into that, but I decided to propose a site plan for a deploy-able WiFi solution that I will pre-configure and manage at any show that I work, but can remotely manage for shows that I am not/make it straight forward for him to hire someone in my stead.
- I apologize in advance, as brevity is not my strong suit. (Will throw some TL:DRs in where I can)
Here are the requirements:
- Handle 20-80 Clients (75% of them being Point-of-sale tablets that are each intermittently performing transactions.
- There will only be 15-25 Clients using any meaningful bandwidth at any given time - but the P.O.S. tablets do add up.
- Must work on Either Local ISP connection that is minimum 1000ft away (without cable) or 4G LTE as a primary/backup.
- Minimal Cat5/6 runs mainly due to the limitations of cable protections at a music festival site that primary operates in the winter time. (p2p links for backhaul are what I'm primarily focusing on)
- Expandable for larger sites, but not a PIA to setup for a smaller venue.
- Weatherproof (Snow and Rain common), Durable, Reliable
- Portability (within reason) - I will have to stow all of this in hard-cases (ie Pelican) in between shows and possibly fly with some of it cross-country from time to time. Otherwise it will be thrown into a crate - put on a truck - and wait for the next festival or sit in storage for +/- 6 months.
- Cost is a factor, as I will likely be funding most / all of this initially and have them lease it from me in addition to paying me for the work of setting it up / maintaining it. Eventually we might talk about them purchasing it from me.
- My primary concern is interference from 4-7k worth of festival goers each with a cell phone in their pocket. Previous solutions for their mobile internet have been atrocious (the hardware the company sent was trash though).
- Budget $1500-$2000
| **TL:DR - # 1 : Bandwidth needs are not high for 20-80 clients, mostly Point-of-Sale. Must work largely cable-less (p2p+mesh). ISP not guaranteed at any site, 4G LTE will be primary or backup. Weatherproof, Portable (ish), Good at handling interference. |
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Aside from my basic Wi-Fi experience, I have read probably a hundred posts on r/msp, r/networking, r/Ubiquiti and perused many different sites regarding product specs, cost, use cases etc. So I have a rudimentary knowledge of Wireless / RF / Site-planning. From what I've gathered, Ruckus, Aruba, Meraki are out of my price range overall. I have to cover too wide of an area to buy so many APs from them. Ubiquiti is the direction I am currently pointed, until something presents itself that makes sense for my implementation.
| **TL:DR - # 2 : I are not the smarts. I did a read. Many Reddits. Little Monies. Ubiquiti seem gud. |
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This is what I have thus far:
(Progression of my brainstorming for several months) - In the words of Doc Brown, "I apologize for the crudity of this model..."
| Site Map A - Layout #1 : | https://imgur.com/pZkUC0F |
|---|---|
| Site Map A - Layout #2 : | https://imgur.com/3ti7DIA |
| Site Map B (Blank): | https://imgur.com/C6x1XLu |
| Site Map B - Heat map #1 (2.4 Ghz): | https://imgur.com/en1GiAo -(Unify Legacy Map) |
| Site Map B - Heat Map #2 (5 Ghz): | https://imgur.com/0TltSyT -(Unify Legacy Map) |
| Site Map B - Heat Map #3 (2.4 Ghz): | https://imgur.com/jfjRQim -(Unify Designer Map w/Walls) |
Parts Breakdown
| QUANTITY | ITEM | COST PER | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Ubiquiti UAP-AC-M-PRO | $175 (ea) | $300 |
| 1 | Ubqt Unify Sec GW (USG) | $113 | $113 |
| 8 | Ubqt UAP-AC-M Mesh AP | $92 | $736 |
| 1 | Ubqt Cloud Key - (UC-CK) | $78 | $78 |
| 2 | Ubqt EdgeRouter X 5 port | $50 | $100 |
| -- -- -- | -- P2P Solution -- | -- -- -- | -- -- -- |
| 2 | Ubiquiti NanoBeam ac19, airMAX Bridge 19dBi | $100 | $200 |
| 1 | Ubiquiti LiteBeam AC 5GHz 802.11ac -120 Degree 16dBi MIMO | $100 | $100 |
| -- -- -- | -- 4G LTE Solution -- | -- -- -- | -- -- -- |
| 1 | MOFI4500-4GXELTE-SIM4_COMBO | $314.99 | $314.99 |
| -- -- -- | -- -- -- | -- -- -- | -- -- -- |
| 1 (Extra for Mesh PRO) | Ubiquiti POE-48-24W 48VDC 0.5A - PoE Adapter | $18 | $18 |
| 2 (Extra for Mesh / Beam) | Ubiquiti POE-24vdc 24W 1Amp | $16 | $32 |
| 3 | NCElec Weatherproof Flat (Cat6) RJ45, 32AWG, 1.0 Gbps - (50 Foot, White) | $10 | $30 |
| 12 | Net_Cafe Weatherproof Flat (Cat6) RJ45, 32AWG, 1.0 Gbps - (15 Foot, White) | $7 | $84 |
| -------------------- | -------------------- | -------- TOTAL -------- | $2105.99 |
| **TL:DR - # 3 : (2ea) AC Mesh PRO AP , (1ea) Security Gateway, (8ea) AC Mesh AP, (1ea) Cloud Key, (2ea) Edge 5 port Router, (2ea) Nanobeam AirMAX Bridge, (1ea) LiteBeam 120 deg MiMo, (1ea) MoFi 4G LTE Router, a Few extra PoE, and a smattering of Cat6 weatherproof. (in WHITE!) |
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*Phew* - I think that's as far as I've made it--I'm sure my numbers are off in places and the maps don't accurately portray this list yet.
All through Amazon may not be the best route (it's mostly for reference).
I have also wondered if it would make sense / if it's possible to just to p2p wireless bridges all over the place.But I think that might be overkill. I think the number of access points I have might be overkill as it is.
-- -- --
Thanks for reading and I'm open to thoughts / suggestions / criticisms!
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