Wireless Access Point recommended for warehouse environment?

bwillford

We currently have just 6 consumer grade netgear WAP's covering our 155,000sq warehouse but they are a few years old and starting to give problems... Can anyone give any recommendations on replacement WAP's that will work good in a warehouse environment?

Thanks

crrussell3

I would look into Ubiquiti first. There is also HP, Cisco, Ruckus, etc. Its all about how much do you want to spend and what features are you looking for.

JDMurray

Have you checked into problems that may be affecting the WAPs, such as faulty power conditions, building modifications (especially involving metal), and new sources of RF disturbances? Having a contractor perform a site survey to check out your power conditions and RF environment may show there's external problems and nothing really wrong with your wireless installation.

If it turns out that you want to replace it all anyway, give Aruba Networks a call.

WafflesAndRootbeer

In a warehouse, just turning your APs upside-down so that they don't point towards the ceiling or in a way that doesn't project the signal towards blocking materials can often fix any signal problem. Always take signal direction into account when choosing and installing your wireless APs.

gkca

We use Motorola WS2000 and AP-5131's and they work well with RF guns even with all the racking between the isles.

Haswell

I've used Ruckus APs before and there amazing!

About7Narwhal

You might be able to get away with a good AP and a few repeaters depending on how open the warehouse is and how much machinery is used. Not exactly "Professional" but it might be cheaper. Else, I believe we also used Moto Business grade at my old factory.

DirtySouth

I would also recommend Aruba Networks. If you've got a fairly small environment, you could go with their "Instant AP's" which have the controller functionality virtualized into the AP's. Either way, definitely get something that is centrally managed and provides an algorithm for automatically adjusting radio transmission strength as well as load balancing.

inscom.brigade

+1 Aruba good stuff

Qord

Another vote for Aruba.

fivestarday

In my day job we almost exclusively install 802.11 wireless systems in warehouses. Three things to consider: 1. Have a professional come and perform pre-install wireless site survey. This is huge - We use Fluke Airmagnet. It's quite possible you have dead AP's, RF interference, or co-channel interference you don't even know about. The pre-survey will shed light on those issues. 2. Use MIMO AP's when possible. We have found that they make a large different in environments with Multipathing (warehouses with metal). 3. Find your current antennas polar graphs, and verify that they are deployed correctly to propagate the RF signal properly. We find many antenna's installed incorrectly, usually 90 degrees off axis which will typically propagate the signal vertically instead of horizontally.


Warehouses aren't an easy environment to get wireless right. It's not as simple as slapping AP's in the ceiling. You need a good plan, with good overlap on the wireless cells to get proper roaming. Lately we have been installing the Cisco 3600's, and Motorola 6532 Wireless Systems with very good success.