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I am looking to purchase 30 access points to be used in a hotel project. They will be placed in the corridors; hence we don't want to see any antennas or ugly boxes hanging on the walls. The budget is a bit tight; Cisco probably won't fit.

I've found two companies which make aesthetic looking access points at affordable prices: Unifi and EnGenius. I am aware that these can only be managed by a management software which I am fine with.

Has anyone had any experience with these manufacturers? Can you compare one to the other?

Thanks

Ciguli
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  • EnGenuis don't really have a competing product with UniFi Professional (right now, the EAP600 looks promising though); they both have 802.11af (PoE), but the UniFi has dual-band 2.4 and 5Ghz, which is most likely worth the increase in cost over the standard UniFi. Additionaly the UniFi Pro has a 1000Mw transmitter, vs 200 or 500 in the lower models (not sure about the EnGenuis, I can't find a quick specs on their transmitters) – Mark Henderson Oct 30 '12 at 20:45
  • Shopping Questions are Off-Topic on any of the [se] sites. See [Q&A is hard, lets go Shopping](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/11/qa-is-hard-lets-go-shopping) and the [FAQ] for more details. – Chris S Oct 30 '12 at 20:51
  • I think that an overpowerful access point would do more harm than good. Unifi LR claims to have 600' range; I am not sure how most clients would send data back to the access point. Dual band is plus though as it would allow more users to connect at the same time. – Ciguli Oct 30 '12 at 20:52
  • You only get the maximum range _outdoors_ with _no obstructions_. Inside a hotel, your range is dramatically reduced. – Michael Hampton Oct 30 '12 at 20:55

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I don't have experience with those vendors specifically. However, for people diving in to wireless for the first time, I generally suggest that they might want to consider...

There are a couple of big-name vendors (that don't have Cisco price tags) that will come out and demo their products by doing a site-survey and actually install a complete system for you. Then if you like it, you buy the system. It's a great way to get a solid system installed at a good price. Just be aware that they won't do the cabling for you so that will be a separate effort.

longneck
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