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We purchased a device that acts as a WAP through which you can connect a mobile device and share its content onto a projector or tv.

My question is - if we have multiple deployments of this device, say 5 - is creating 5 separate WAPs (say they are using the same channel) hindering network performance? Or would it be better to use the method below:

The device also has the option to connect to an existing WAP - which would be our corporate wifi which is already in place - instead of creating its own access point through which clients could access and share content.

So, 5 of these devices creating their own access points or all 5 connected to an existing AP. Which is better?

user2977729
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  • It would be helpful to know the device in question. Some devices such as this use protocols which do not traverse subnets (Bonjour). This could be a limiting factor in your quest to attach all devices to existing infrastructure. – blaughw Apr 29 '15 at 00:04

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Connect to your existing network, without question.

Not only will this reduce RF noise, but it will also greatly simplify the instructions you'll need to provide to the users of these devices.

EEAA
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The answer is that it really depends on your specific environment. Without many more details, no one can answer this for you. However we can provide some guidance that may help you in making this decision.

Each infrastructure or AP wireless device you have on a channel (in the same area) will increase the amount of "air time" on that channel used by management traffic such as beacons, probe responses, and so on. The more air time dedicated to management traffic, the less there is for data traffic.

So the general rule is you try to minimize the amount of management traffic on a channel to increase efficient use of the RF. With your same channel requirement, this would make connecting them to the corporate wireless the obvious choice.

This then begs the question of why would you want to run them all on the same channel? Even if these new devices are 2.4GHz only, that gives you three non-overlapping channels to work with in your channel plan. Unless you have a compelling reason to keep them all on the same channel, you should consider using as many channels as you reasonable can.

From there, it really comes down to your situation so consider factors unique to your environment that may impact the decision. Some considerations:

  • If your corporate wireless network is small (say one AP) and it is centrally located, you may get a better experience if users are connecting to one of these devices which is directly in the room with them.
  • If your corporate wireless is densely deployed, and there already exists an AP in each room where these devices will be deployed, it would probably make much more sense to connect them to your corporate wireless rather than adding another "AP device" in each room.
  • Do you have vendors that you want to be able to connect to these devices for presentations? If the devices are connected to the corporate wireless, the vendors would potentially have to connect to the corporate wireless to connect to the device. Is this what you would want?
  • How do users connect to the "correct" one of these five devices? If they each serve as their own AP, this may simplify the issue, but perhaps the devices come with a better solution.
  • How much traffic is generated when using one of these devices? If it is significant, you may need to run them on separate channels for the extra wireless capacity.

This is by no means a complete list, but should get you thinking about some of the factors that will help you make this decision.

YLearn
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  • Thank you very much for this well thought out response. It definitely helped set my thought process in the right direction. If you have a second, could you please explain what you mean by air time? – user2977729 Apr 29 '15 at 03:57
  • In basic terms, an RF channel can only have one 802.11 device communicating on it at a time in the same area. As such, it is a finite resource that is shared among all devices. Air time generally refers to the channel utilization, either in total, in use by a device (or group of devices), or type of traffic and is often used when trying to make more efficient use of the RF medium. – YLearn Apr 29 '15 at 18:01