Hi @DanK861,

Welcome!  Yes, you can certainly mix and match the EAP225V3, EAP245V3,EAP265V1, EAP235-Wall, and EAP225-Outdoor using the OC-200 or OC-300.

How many wireless users do you anticipate per floor / AP?

The EAP245V3 is a fine product (I have 2 myself).  But, they probably overkill for your needs -- unless you anticipate 20-30+ users per AP.  Or unless you have specific 3x3 MIMO wireless clients (very high end Macbook or PC laptop).  Most (>95%) of all Wifi clients are 1x1 or 2x2.

In the States, at least, the 225 runs ~$60 versus $99 for the 245.  So if you're planning to buy 8 or more, this can add up.

I've not personally used the EAP235 Wall mount.  It looks like a nice product (especially with Ethernet and PoE pass-through).  But I'm not as much of a fan of wall mounted AP's. in general.  The previous version (225 Wall mount) only had a 100Mbit/s uplink, but the 235-Wall has Gigabit.  Neither Wall unit supports Fast User Transition -- aka Fast Roaming / Seamless roaming -- like the overhead AP's.  BUT, most clients (aka STA's) don't either -- except for iPhones/iPads.

I don't know each of your floor's layouts, but I suspect roughly 2 AP's per floor should be sufficient.  If, for example, there are two large rooms per floor.  Is the stair central or on one side?

Of course, I'd recommend using Ethernet where possible for entertainment centers (TV, Gaming, PC, etc).  Not that Wifi won't work, but it's better to keep all of the streaming and gaming traffic off the Wifi if possible.

I love my OC-200.  So much easier than running Omada from a PC.

-Jonathan

Hi @DanK861,

I should also mention that although Ethernet is good for 100 meters, PoE is only good for ~40-60 meters depending on the voltage used (as determined by the source/client).  I'm not sure how you're cables are routed, but with 4 floors, you may need two switches (one per pair of floors) to keep the distances down for reliable PoE.  Generally, commercial installs have a switch (or switch stack) per floor.  But then again, they have many more AP's/outsets, too.

-Jonathan

@JSchnee21 

Hi Jonathan, thanks for the info. Glad to know that those APs can be used together. Beside the question of whether to go for the 245 or other model, I also wonder if having to many APs are overkill but at the same time I really want to avoid having to install additional AP later in the future, especially the ceiling mounted AP. With the wall AP I can replace the RJ45 socket on the walls if necessary meaning I don't have to buy outright all the wall AP and experiment with adding the wall AP as/if necessary. However with the ceiling mounted AP, I feel that it's better to get it right from the beginning rather than having to punch new holes etc on the ceiling to install additional AP.

The number of users are only about 6 people for most of the time but the number of clients are likely more if you count all the phones, iPads, TV, etc. The dimension of the building is approximately 12m x 20m (40 x 65ft) with the "U-shaped" stair located about 1/3 distance from the front of the building, from 1st to 4th floor. The 1st floor has the foyer, exercise room, garage and services area. The 2nd floor has 4 rooms, pantry, dining, and family area. The 3rd floor has 5 rooms. The 4th floors has 2 rooms. In most of the rooms there's RJ45 socket that I can replace with wall AP.

I currently live in a smaller 2 floors house and due to the setup I need to have the modem/router located in one of the room on the 2nd floor. With that setup I got no signal on the 1st floor. Previously, before the 'mesh' system came to the market I had to use repeater with mediocre result. When COVID-19 hit and I started to work from home with constant video conferencing and my children started 'school from home' it became clear that the repeater was utterly useless. I now use Deco M5, 1 replacing the modem, 1 located near the stair, and 1 located in the living room on 1st floor. Only with this setup that everyone can live happily without my children yelling because they got cut off from the online classes due to bad wifi signal.

Thanks to point out that it may be better to use 2 switches. Currently there's gonna be 2 switches used for the cctv network, they are located on the 2nd and 4th floor. I would imagine that it is better to keep the AP network on separate/different sets of switches.

My biggest concern is that all the rooms are all divided by brick walls and the floors are concrete. It wouldn't be good if later when the building is finished it turned out that what I thought to be overkill is actually a better idea 😅😅😅

Thanks again,
Danny

Even this tool is not for TP-Link APs, the principles are the same so you could try this: https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/products/software/wifi-designer/

Hi @DanK861,

Generally speaking, based on the areas you've described (12m x 20m (40 x 65ft)) anywhere from 1 to 3 AP's per floor could be appropriate.  But, like you said, the problem are the brick walls.  The concrete floors are actually helpful.  This way you don't need to work about signal bleed-through from floor to floor.

So the exact layout is hard to suggest without seeing a diagram of exactly where all of the brick walls lie and how many rooms each floor is divided up into.

Are ALL of the interior walls really brick?  Are there any other masonry features (fireplace, etc.), fire starwells, etc. to be aware of?  Do the rooms have doors (and if so are they hollow or solid core wood?  Metal?)

Generally speaking, if all of the interior walls are brick, I'd lean towards putting a AP in each of the larger living areas (living room, dining room, bedrooms, office, etc.).  Minor areas (hallways, bathrooms, laundry, mud, etc.) I would ignore and hope for spillover from adjacent rooms.

I agree, I'd focus on the ceiling-mounted units for now -- ideally, 2 or 3 per floor in the major rooms -- and only then consider the wall-mounted options if you determine later a particular room is really lacking.

Are your cameras Wifi or Ethernet?  Cloud (e.g. Nest, Arlo, or similar) or local DVR?  There's no real compelling need to separate them onto a separate switch (depending on complexity and security concerns) unles PoE power budget is a concern (if the cams are PoE).

Given the number of users/devices you've described the EAP225V3's are more than enough given how many you will have per floor, anyway.  If it were me, I wouldn't spend too much on Wifi5 gear right now.  You'll probably want to upgrade to Wifi 6/6E within a year or so.

Are you in the USA or EU/UK?  Channel availability / overlap will also be a minor concern.  But given the low number of wireless clients per floor, probably not a major concern.

-Jonathan

One possibility could be using 2.4 GHz leaky feeder cable, i.e. place couple of EAP110-Outdoor units per floor, connect leaky feeder cables to their antenna ports and route these two cables through each room. Here is an example of one 2.4 GHz leaky feeder cable provider: https://www.wifi-antennas.co.uk/lcx-leaky-feeder-cable

I don't have any experience using leaky feeder cable in WiFi, but I know it is used for other radio systems.

Hi @KTuulos,

Sorry, that is not a good solution.

-Jonathan

Hi @KTuulos, this is great, I did try to use it and now have a better idea where to put the AP. Thanks!

Danny

Hi @JSchnee21,

As pointed out by on the other reply I tried to use the tools to get a better idea where to put the AP. At least now I have a better chance of getting the coverage correctly, finger crossed.

All the interiors are full bricks, with solid core 1.75" (approx.) wood door. The cameras are all ethernet with local DVR, but the cameras can be accessed from outside/web/mobile phones as well. I do have a couple of cloud WiFi camera which may be used as backup.

I'm located in Indonesia. Most of the houses/residences here would have brick walls and many people have problems with dead spots inside the house because of that 😅

When using the Camb*um tools, i set the heatmap -65 to map the coverage, is that a safe setting? With both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz on I managed to get a whole house coverage on everyfloor using 3-4 APs per floor, most with ceiling AP combined with some wall AP in some of the bedrooms.

Danny

Hi Danny,

Sounds good.  Yes, minimum -65 dBm should be plenty.  You were getting that on 5.8GHz, too?

-Jonathan