Recommended AP for Apartment Blocks 100 units

[wesley_barnes]

Hey guys, looking for some direction on an exciting project (well for me..) on which AP or AP's would suffice for broadcasting to 100 units split into 6 blocks. See image of the layout attached. I was thinking of starting with 1 AP on top of roof block 1 which is the highest point. I am not sure which device and how many would be required, would I be needing a mesh setup or laying cables to each AP? 

New to the WiFi AP outdoor setups. Thank you in advance

[monnat_systems]

if i would be in your place then i will take outdoor sector APs with mesh. Sector AP's can fire in
60 degree helping you cover large area in one direction and penetrate concrete easily..
i see a BOM of 13-16 AP's to cover entire complex with limited cabling...
better you take pro help in getting it designed correctly so that you have minimum or less support calls in future..
Model: T300 or better depending on budget..

[wesley_barnes]

13 - 16 devices sound like it could turn into a very costly exercise. 

Any possible cheaper alternatives solutions?

Talk about budget, maybe a little off topic but do Ruckus devices support a voucher/payment portal for access to the network? 

Thanks AlphaDog

[andrea_coppini]

Sorry to be blunt, but this approach used to work 8-10 years ago when there was just one WiFi laptop every 4-6 apartments.  Nowadays this is close to impossible to achieve this way.

You should be looking at placing one AP per apartment... or at the very least, one AP per two apartments (place the AP as close as possible to the adjoining wall between two apartments).  Ruckus does a lot of MDU/apartment/hotel work (in fact, Ruckus is the leader in this space) and nowadays it is all about placing an AP (usually the H510 wall switch or the R310 ceiling mount AP) inside the room/apartment.

If cabling is an issue, look into the C110 AP which is very similar to the H510 but with a built-in DOCSIS modem so you can reuse the TV coax network as your uplink.  Of course this will need expertise in fine-tuning, balancing and troubleshooting a coax network so you may wish to partner with someone with some experience.

Your cost might be the same as using outdoor APs since the H510 costs 1/4 as much as an outdoor AP.

[alan_rothenstre]

One suggestion is a combination of point to multi point equipment so you have a central backhaul feeding all of the buildings and then APs inside feeding every 4-5 apartments.  The point to multi point will maintain your overall bandwidth availability across the system and the APs inside will allow clients to connect.