werdnawerdna wrote

1. I have tried putting an RE200 range extender in an outlet that is in between the 3d floor EAP245 and the 4th floor--I get -71 dbm signal on the RE200, and great signal on the fourth floor. It's the only range extender on ths system, it works fairly well, but it seems to get a few hiccups sometimes. 

1a. Should I consider replacing the RE200 in the same spot with an EAP225 in mesh mode?

2. I am currently experimenting with the RE200 range extender directly across the room from the third floor access point, then an ethernet cable running up the stairwell (about 10 meters) to the 4th floor. (Hence the title of this post). Seems to work so far, haven't tested long enough to see if it is bulletproof.

2a. If 2 seems to be working well, I might consider replacing the RE200 with another EAP245.

1. If the EAP245 achieves only -71 to -79dBm, the RE200 cannot do better.

1a. Same as 1.

2. Repeaters are never bulletproof. In fact the have many disadvantages (reducing bandwidth, Hidden Node Problem). Repeaters usually have no place in business solutions. Cables are bulletproof.

I prefer to use PowerLAN/DLAN in such situations where not Ethernet cable is available. Dependig on installation a phase coupler could be necessary. But even this is not 100% bulletproof, albeit much better than a repeater.

For my company, if Ethernet isn't available and PowerLAN can't work either, we refuse the project.

werdnawerdna wrote

Thanks R1D2. What do you think about EAP245s in mesh mode? I suppose that's sort of like a repeater.

Depends on whether other clients use the 5 GHz band, too. The mesh uses 5 GHz.

I would give it a try with two EAP225-Outdoor mounted on the outside, so that both APs have free line of sight. If you use this link only as a backhaul (no clients), it's more like a directional link (up to ~100m) rather than repeater mode. The 2.4 GHz band of the EAP225-Outdoor can still be used by clients w/o affecting the 5 GHz link too much and yes, it will even cover partially the rooms bordering the mounting location for the outdoor APs if the wall is not made out of reinforced concrete and windows are not coated.

Note that EAP245 doesn't yet support mesh node as to my knowledge (only a beta firmware is available). But I do not monitor EAP245 firmwares, since I have no EAP245.

But honestly, I wonder why an Ethernet cable is not possible.

An electrician can easily lay a cable except if you have an underfloor heating system ...

werdnawerdna wrote

Cable is not impossible, just annoying and expensive.

For private use, yes. If you have only a few clients (a family, your neighbors) a repeater or mesh can indeed work satisfactorily.

For businesses it definitely is more expensive to save on the wrong place, e.g. if hotel guests move to other hotels b/c of a non-working WiFi hotspot due to use of repeaters.

werdnawerdna wrote

My aim to have bulletproof connectivity of about 50 - 100 mbps. I'm not sure I need 80 mhz channels for that. My 5 Ghz radio is currently set to 20/40/80 channel width (whatever that means).

That's why I recommended to use two EAP225-Outdoor for the link only, this would let you use 20 MHz channel width (gives you 8 non-overlapping 5 GHz channels in the U.S.). Just connect the existing EAPs by cable to the outdoor APs, disable client use of 5 GHz on the outdoor APs (mesh link only).

If you use indoor EAPs for the mesh link and for clients at the same time, every packet needs to be transmitted twice. This cuts throughput by half, so you need 40 MHz channel width to achieve 100 Mbps. What's more, you will run into the Hidden Node Problem sooner or later if using indoor APs for mesh and clients. This also affects throughput significantly on busy sites. The HNP is what makes repeaters so unreliable.