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axo
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Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:03 pm

MT wifi setup options for small retail shops & cafes

Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:38 pm

Hi Guys.
Im looking for some tips/easy to follow articles/documentation/user feedback on MikroTik devices setup for
smaller retail shops and cafes. Lets call it, 30-50 clients MAX connected at peak times, using their devices for the average
Joe's and Jane's Facebook, email and youtube videos activities that you will normally find in a place like this.

I have experience in networking, i am currently learning my way around RouterOS and the options, but i am not an expert by any means.
I know the routers sold for the end users, at BestBuy and of course i have hit the wall with them in several occasions for obvious reasons
so now i am learning MT.

I have two rb2011uias-2hnd-in routers and one wAP AC i am playing with (experimenting) setting up wireless hotspots with social media integration (walled garden) setups.
I have a good idea of signal strengths, radios, where to put APs depending on the locations, protocols, services and so on, but what i am looking for here is your expertise
recommending any of the MT models that i should be using for my setups. I see specs.. yes, but they don't really ring any bells to me as i rather hear first hand / real world experiences
from you who had played with these for so long instead of numbers posted by the manufacturers.

I see the beautiful newer RB4011, or the hAP ac, or HAP AC² ? Are these units, combined with wAP AC antennas OK for my purposes, or do i need to be looking
at the higher specs rackmountable units for my purposes?
How can i find out the real life number limits (concurrent every day web surf person connected to the APs) of these units?
I want to stick to MT for now, i read old posts (yes i googled and most info i found is years old before these units even existed). Not Ubiquiti or any other brands
as of right now MT is what i have available.

Where do i start?

Thanks a lot
 
R1CH
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Posts: 1099
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 11:44 pm

Re: MT wifi setup options for small retail shops & cafes

Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:29 am

A single wAP AC should be enough for that kind of light usage. Concurrent users depend a lot on what kind of devices are connecting (slow 2.4 GHz only?), space to be covered and how crowded the frequencies are already. If you do want to go with the annoying social media hotspot then you probably want a 2nd device to act as hotspot manager / router / etc to offload some of the work from the AP. An RB4011 or hex S would be good choices.

Keep in mind the RouterOS doesn't yet support Wave2 802.11ac and 802.11ax seems like a distant dream, so if higher bandwidths and device density is needed in the future, a different vendor may be more appropriate.

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