Hello friends! I’ve been doing some research for WiFi for a coffee shop and need some advice.
My requirements are as follows:
- guest network and POS network (both WiFi)
- coverage of 3200 sq feet, 280 of which are a separate room
- capacity is 101 people. Assuming worst case scenario (unlikely), everyone walks in with a phone and a smart watch and half the people bring a laptop and the place is full, meaning we need support for 250+ devices
Here are my options as I understand them:
- UniFi Edgerouter X with 3 access points (one in the separate room and 2 in the main area)
- Similar setup but with TP link omada router plus 3 TP link access points in a similar configuration as prior point
More info:
- the owners are not tech savvy so we need a set and forget system
- I am a software engineer with some networking knowledge so set up must be “intermediate” in complexity
- I’m not getting paid for this, I’m just helping out
- it doesn’t have to be fancy but I assume rated for small-business usage since people will go there to watch Netflix, do homework, browse the internet etc.
- potentially prioritize bandwidth to the POS WiFi network for obvious reasons
Which system do you recommend? Any particular models you advise I use? Any other options? I try to avoid off the shelf systems for home because they don’t support the peak amount of users we need.
Any help is appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Check with the POS company. They may require a completely independent system.
Meraki is the way to go. This way when something needs to be changed, you can do it from the dashboard instead of going there
I would look at Aruba Instant On. No monthly fee and closer to Enterprise that Unifi IMHO
depends if its a one off shop or more to follow
meraki, ubiquiti unifi cloud key, or tp link omada wifi.
meraki is nice and easy to setup and use.
You’ll want to isolate each network on a VLAN and do this appropriately with the SSIDs. A router like Arista NGFW would work fine for gigabit, and APs like Aruba or EnGenius would work.
Personally… the customers should be there for coffee. Not for Internet. I would just get a nicer consumer router and call it a day. The amount of times when the shop will be at 250 devices is a minimal part of the time the shop is open. So it is an edge case.
I like Grandstream kit, three of their access points like the GWN 7660 will be more than enough since each one supports 500 concurrent connections and up to 32 SSID’s. You can mesh them and manage them all from one central master, also remotely via the Internet. For more details take a look at https://www.grandstream.com/products/networking-solutions/indoor-wifi-access-points/product/gwn7660
Omada ER605 should be sufficient, a few of their HD AP’s like the EAP620HD, and a controller. If you are also using it for POS, just make sure to set some bandwidth limits on the Guest network, maybe use QOS as well. With the controller, you can manage the network in one place, and you can also make changes remotely.