How to build a Wireless Network for Dormitory using tp-link products

As the main place for students/employees to take break and amusement, dormitories hold an important position in their daily life. The demands of wireless network access in the dormitory is getting more and more urgent with the popularization of the wireless clients such as smart phones, laptops, and tablets. Providing high quality wireless access would make the students and employees more satisfied.

What are the basic needs of dormitory wireless network?

Normally, a wireless network for dormitory should meet the following needs:

Concise layout, good-looking design, PoE supported, and easy to install.
Centralized management, real-time monitoring the working status, easy to operate and maintain.
No blind zone, all the bedrooms, washrooms and living room should be covered.
Higher authentication security, portal and 802.1x supported.
Automatically choose access points when clients are moving around, so that network keeps connected all the time.

What kind of solution can meet the needs of dormitory wireless network?

Here we provide a full solution including the network topology, product features and parameters.

Topology

Tips for deploying this network topology:

When starting to deploy the wireless AP, the positions and the amount mainly depends on the signal strength and the interference. The result is always different due to the variety environment, so it is strongly suggested to deploy the AP and adjust the transmit power and signal channel after field measurement. Normally the three factors below should be mainly considered:

Transmit Power and Coverage

The coverage of an AP is limited, but we can finely adjust it by the transmit power. As the limitation of the lobe pattern of the celling mount AP, one AP can cover about 3~5 rooms in dormitories like single room, three-room-one-hall. While a real coverage deployment should be decided after the field measurement.

Signal Channel

Another factor must be considered in wireless network deployment is channel collision. Among the 13 channels in 2.4GHz frequency range, only 3 channels won’t overlap with each other, which generally are channel 1, 6, 11. To avoid channel collision, we should choose channel 1, 6, 11 and place them alternately.

Clients number

The AP should have the ability to carry all the clients in its coverage in the dormitory.

In one of our real case, we adopt the deployment solution below:

What are the highlights of this solution?

The solution we provided has the following features:

Easy to install
The EAP is celling mount designed, PoE supported, good-looking and easy to install
Easy to manage
No need to buy the expensive hardware AC. All the EAP could be centralized managed by EAP controller software. All the EAP status can be monitored on the web GUI of the controller.
No blind zone, fast speed
Professional enterprise classic AP product provides widely coverage for all kinds of environment. Transmit power is changeable to adjust the coverage. 802.11AC standard is supported, up to 1900Mbps supported
Secure Authentication method
Portal, voucher and 802.1x authentication methods supported, avoiding unauthorized access. Multi-SSID supported, working with VLAN to isolate management system, keep the network secure.
Auto Roaming
Automatically switch to other access points when clients is on the move. Providing fluent surfing experience to the users. The solution we provided has the following features:What are the highlights of this solution?

Which product should I choose to build the dormitory wireless network?

Here is a list which includes the TP-LINK devices for reference:

Type	Model	Brief Introduction
High performance solution	EAP330	Celling mount 802.11AC dual band enterprise AP, speed up to 1900Mbps, managed by EAP controller software, 802.3at PoE supported with good looking surface
	TL-3424P	Standard PoE switch with 24 gigabit ports. 802.1q 802.3af/at PoE L2 switch, VLAN, IGMP snooping, QoS, LACP supported, variety management methods, easy to configure, suitable for managed PoE network
	T3700G-28TQ	Stackable L3 switch, 2 10Gps SFP ports, support IP routing, DHCP, VLAN, LACP, ACL and etc.
Cost effective solution	EAP220	Celling mount 802.11N dual band enterprise AP, speed up to 600Mbps, managed by EAP controller software, 802.3af PoE supported with good looking surface
	T1600G-28PS	Standard PoE switch with 24 gigabit ports. 802.1q 802.3af/at PoE L2+ switch, support static routing, VLAN, IGMP snooping, QoS, LACP and ACL etc. variety management methods, easy to configure, suitable for managed PoE network
	N/A	Aggregation Switch can be cancelled in cost effective solution

When deploying a wireless network, variety products can be chosen according to the different environment, for example:

Economy Dormitory: 802.11n single band celling mount designed AP can also meet the demands, which can cover most of the areas as required, enough for normal use.
Upscale Dormitory: 802.11AC dual band celling mount designed AP is recommended. It has stronger anti-interference capacity, handles more clients, and provides better network experience.