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We are implementing a WiFi hotspot at a busy airport for passengers to download media from a locally connected Media Server (on the same LAN). We expect simulteanous user connections of upto max 50 throughout the terminal (via multiple access points).

Now to implement this WiFi hotspot, we had choice of two grades of router - One $200-$300 ac routers like Asus RT-AC87U and then there are industry grade router like Aruba AP 215 at $800-$1000 range.

Now, question is, can I use the Asus router instead of Aruba and achieve the same level of throughput and coverage? How powerful is Aruba as against the Asus router. I could employ double the number of Asus router and still be cheaper then implementing using Aruba.

Kartik
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    Just ask Aruba salesforce to prove how they perform better.. – neutrinus May 25 '15 at 10:32
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    Get something with central management and the ability for the APs to be aware of eachother. In addition to Aruba, Check out **Ubiquiti**, and **Meraki** as well. Meraki is expensive but their APs are _very_ capable and the cloud management makes them turn-key. Ubiquiti has great APs, and a free software controller you can deploy in the environment. – Stephen F May 28 '15 at 15:39

3 Answers3

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Can you use consumer grade hardware in enterprise settings? Sure.

Here is why you shouldn't (from a generic perspective):

Support

You get professionals that depend their livelihood on helping you and continuously learning about the new products that come out. The company that makes the products are invested in helping you out. They can do this because you paid a premium.

You can obviously learn yourself and fix every little problem (or big) but they save you time. They do this all the time and can probably fix your problems much faster than you can when you are experiencing massive failures.

They save you time and possibly money.

Documentation

Enterprise grade equipment most likely have better documentation that is organized and available to you.

Troubleshooting

The product is probably designed with a toolset for debuging and finding problems much more reliably than consumer grade where replacing is a more frequent option to actually fix the problem.

Consistency

Other people is more likely to understand your solution to the problem as consumer grade hardware has a tendency to make "home brewed" options instead of an actually specified and documented implementation.

artifex
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SOHO equipment is designed for light-usage standalone deployments. You won't find too many features on it at all, especially centralized management tools. If you use these, you'll have to configure each manually which can be tedious and lead to errors.

Enterprise equipment is intended for being part of a larger network. It will have centralized management tools and features to not interfere with other similar devices. The downside is the higher price and often the added features and management mean more complexity. If you use these, you may have a harder time with the interface, but it will be easier to manage once it's up and running.

Here's a couple links for reference: smallbusinesscomputing.com, Aerohive

ztk
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Without even looking at the datasheet it is obvious that one of them is a SOHO category device while the other one is aimed for enterprise.

That is exactly where the price difference comes from. You can expect much better performance from Aruba.

cstamas
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