We run pfsense on an old P3 machine and it works great. The WAN fail-over is a little clunky so don't expect seamless transitions. It takes about 10 seconds to switch over and all VPNs, file transfers, etc are dropped. That said, 10 seconds of outage is better then being down. That's why we pay $200/month for a second internet connection. We balance it out by having that line (comcast) handle all our phones (4).
Wifi we are happy with our Airport Extreme. 5000sqft and solid coverage. Jacob --- Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500 On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 8:59 AM, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com>wrote: > I'm working on a complete redux of the evolution of our networking > equipment as we've grown for my blog, I'll share it here when it's done. > Here's a bit of a preview of the latest evolution. > > On the router side of things, we now have a pfSense-based appliance called > a Firebox. pfSense is a very robust piece of router software and can be run > on a variety of appliances that range in price, but we were able to pick > one of the older models (RX6264S) up on EBay for ~$220. > > pfSense itself is free and open source, but specialized hardware can run > it optimally. We looked at new hardware from http://www.hacom.net and > it runs $800-1500. > > It's a LOT more powerful than anything in the consumer arena, handling > 1000's of users and millions of connections. Consumer gear starts to slow > down with anything north of 50 users. It' usable, but you'll start noticing > problems. Also, pfSense gives us REALLY great analytics for finding and > squashing problems, like connections that are flooding the network for all > users and also gives us really useful tools for giving things that need > connection priority (like Skype and SSH connections) over things like > Youtube and torrents. > > For us, that means a much easier to manage "network policy". You can use > just about anything on our network, and the router figures out if it's > causing problems and throttles the amount of network it has access to. > > The hardware we bought also allows for bridged WAN, which means we can > install a fallback ISP for when our primary ISP is having issues, and that > way people don't' ever lose their connection. > > On the wireless side of things, we tested Meraki and Ruckus and went with > Ruckus. Meraki APs seemed to have a shorter range and while the Cloud > Control system was badass, we'd never use 99% of it. The sales people were > really nice and helpful, but it didn't seem like a good fit for us. > > Ruckus, on the other hand, was challenging to work with through their > normal enterprise sales channels so we went to Ebay again and bought a new > AP for 25% off list price and it works awesome. We don't get their > enterprise support, but I'm not too worried about it. I'm very happy with > the performance of a single access point (covering and supporting >100 > users on 2 floors) and plan to buy a 2nd AP to beef up the coverage. We're > using the Ruckus 7962 - > http://www.ruckuswireless.com/products/zoneflex-indoor/7962 > > Thanks for the recommendation for Ruckus from the Cambridge Innovation > Center crew. I'm a happy customer. > > I also strongly recommend NetSpot (www.netspotapp.com) for doing a site > survey, which I was recommended by Chris Johnson (copied on this email). > It's a free app that lets you do a heat map of signal strength and signal > to noise ratios. It gave me a TON of insight into placement and the > resulting coverage of wifi. Probably the most useful tool I learned about > last month! > > -Alex > > > > > > > > > -- > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > On Monday, June 4, 2012 at 11:34 AM, Angel Kwiatkowski wrote: > > I lied, we use Netgear routers. They're odd. They needed to be restarted > constantly when we first moved in but now run very smoothly. > > On Sunday, June 3, 2012 8:55:04 PM UTC-6, Angel Kwiatkowski wrote: > > We use Dlink routers. One in the basement conference room where the juice > line comes in that's hardwired up to the 3rd floor where most of the > coworking happens. Both are activated for wireless. Additionally, I think > the guys ran hard wires all the way upstairs and then hooked up a couple of > switches. Several people hard wire in while at Cohere but the majority > don't. > We have 5-10 people in the space at any time and we have Comcast Biz class > 50/10 for $200/mo. It all depends on how your city is wired up. We have > some special consideration being just a couple of blocks away from a large > university here. > > Angel > > On Thursday, August 25, 2011 9:09:58 AM UTC-6, JJ wrote: > > Hey all, > > Without getting into too much introduction and details, I'll just cut > right to it. > > I'm opening a space next week in South Dakota. Working on finalizing > details right now, and one thing I'm not too sure about is internet. We've > got 20 members or so pre-signed to move in day 1 and in trying to plan for > the future, am trying to figure out what sort of internet speed I need, and > what sort of router to handle the space's size and amount of people. It's > a long space, about 150ft, and we could very easily have 100 people > accessing the network at any given time. > > Any of the larger spaces out there have insight? I'm currently looking at > an internet speed of 50 down/10up or 100 down/15 up. Also am looking at > 801.11n routers that have two to three adjustable networks built into the > device. > > Would love some thoughts. > > Best, > > > *Josh Aberson* > i...@workmeso.com > m: 521.6158 | @JoshAberson > > > > 220 S. Phillips Ave. > Sioux Falls, SD 57104 > fb.com/workmeso > @workmeso > www.WorkMeso.com > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/OnmcNoyj3esJ. > To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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