What kind of access point do I need for my network?

What kind of access point do I need for my network?

 

Interested in Omada products for your wireless needs but don’t know where to start? This guide will go through each type of Omada Wireless Device and the optimal use case for each.

 

Ceiling Mount APs

Ceiling Mount Access Points are the standard wireless devices you’ll see in businesses and homes everywhere. As the name implies, these are typically mounted on the ceiling, but their design can work in most scenarios. The main draw of Ceiling Mounted APs is being able to use just the one AP for larger indoor public spaces like offices, stadiums, lobbies, etc.

These are typically powered by PoE for visual appeal. Ethernet cables can easily be tucked into the ceiling for a clean, organized mounting process.

 

 

 

Wall Plate APs

 

Wall Plate APs are meant for room-intensive scenarios like hotels, dorms, etc. Signal coverage for a single AP tends to degrade quite quickly as it passes through more walls. To bypass this issue, simply add more APs, one for each room or small section of rooms. Wall Plate APs tend to be cheaper than ceiling-mounted, at the potential cost of the number of clients supported and range.

 

 

Desktop APs

 

Desktop APs are the closest APs to a consumer router in that there is very little setup needed to get them up and running. They are the simplest to install, as they have a mount that allows them to sit on a desk like a normal decoration, but have comparable signal to wall plate APs.

 

 

Outdoor APs

 

Outdoor APs boast a few features over their indoor counterparts. Some have both directional and omnidirectional antennas, which allows some flexibility in the situations they are used in. Directional antennas allow for the signal to be broadcast further, perfect for getting signal down a long driveway or in a parking lot where signal cannot be repeated as easily. Omnidirectional antennas broadcast signal in a sphere with the AP at the center. This is perfect for covering an area such as a field, as you can mesh the Outdoor APs together to cover the whole area.

 

Check out our KB article for help choosing between directional and omnidirectional antennas.

 

These can be mounted on a pole or on a wall, like on the side of a building. Outdoor APs also have some form of weatherproofing, which is great for areas that get quite a bit of rain or need to withstand higher temperatures.

 

Lastly, Outdoor APs can be meshed downstream from each other, but it’s important to note that latency increases significantly with each hop.

 

 

 

Bridge APs

Bridge APs are intended for Point to Point (PtP) or Point to Multipoint (PtMP) connections. The best way to think about bridge kits is to treat them as a wireless ethernet cable that can connect at very long distances. They pass traffic as is without considering things like VLAN tags. For example, any untagged traffic that goes through the Bridge Kit will remain untagged on the other side, and any tagged traffic will keep its tags.

 

Despite their long range, these are not intended to provide coverage across the whole distance. Bridge kits achieve their maximum range when used to broadcast a signal within a specified horizontal and vertical angular range. The examples below are shown for an EAP215-Bridge, but check the Specifications page of your specific model to find the exact angles they support.