Symbol WS2000 Switch with WSAP 5110 Access Points

[BuyDell]

 I 've got a couple of questions for anyone that knows this system. We currently have this system in my kids school. We want to add more access points throughout the school. Do the access points have to be homeruns..? Also, can you split the Cat5 going from the switch to go to 2 access points...? I'm guessing no, but wanted to ask anyway. If they have to be homeruns, than how would I add more access points...? Since it only has 4 available points, would I need another switch to have more access points...?
 Any help would be greatly appreciated. I see this WSAP 5110 are really cheap second hand.

[DaveLembke]

Also, can you split the Cat5 going from the switch to go to 2 access points...?

Yes you can thru a single Cat5 Cable that is half duplex. I used two Y splitters one at each end of a 75ft Cat5 run to avoid having to run another cable through a tight crawl space. There are 8 wires ( 4 pairs ) in each Cat5 cable and only 2 pairs are used with half duplex which is what most network devices run on unless you have servers that are full duplex etc. This half duplex allows for you to run 2 nodes off of a single cable by splitting the 2 pairs of 4 wires.

* Your switch will have to have an available port to take 2 patch cables though, so it would be 2 patch cables to the Y splitter that joins and combines the 2 network connections over a single Cat5 cable ( using all pairs ), and then at the other end of the cable another Y splitter that actually splits what was combined initially back out to the 2 network connections back to the switch. And this acts like 2 x half duplex network homeruns from the main switch outwards over a single cat5 cable.

Here are the Y-Splitters that I am using which I bought through Cyberguys... also note that I also needed to add a double ended female Cat5e couplers to allow the 2 male ends, male end of Cable and male end of Y adapter to connect. I got the couplers cheap off of amazon. I was able to do this for like $22 total and was way better than crawling on dirt under home in crawl space with cobwebs and with like 18" of clearance in tight places. http://www.cyberguys.com/product-details/?productid=6407&sk=MC71419&gclid=CN3D-4f-hbsCFUdhfgodqDoAng

In any wireless setup, i would suggest as many home runs as you can get, as for a dedicated home run for each device will give the best performance while if you have a bunch acting as repeaters off of another with a home run, if you have lots of traffic it will come to a crawl if for example 1 or 2 people are streaming content on the wifi such as a PBS Kids video etc. With the Y adapters you can minimize how many runs to home and cut the home runs in half if you form a T at the Y connection and send an access point in opposite directions such as 1 in every corner of the school, so you have 2  home runs of which each home run is Y split at both ends to make 2 dedicated network connections per home run, so  you would have all corners of building covered and only 2 home runs. * Switch would need to have 4 ports for 4 dedicated connections over 2 homerun cables for 4 devices with dedicated half duplex.

** As far as familiarity with this specific switch and access points, I have not worked with these specific models but have worked with Symbol brand network devices before with Point of Sale Wireless communications.

[BuyDell]

 Thanks ! That makes a lot of sense and helps me a lot ! I have the access points already ran. So I would need to go into a all female splitter(i think). I already have the cat5 cables run to the access points, so I would need to go into a female than have 2 cat5 cables coming out to go to the two access points...

 Does that make sense,...? If so, can you suggest good brand for all female spliter...?

[DaveLembke]

I havent found a all female Y adapter yet. I ended up just going the route of the Y adapter in the link that I shared and buying cheap double ended female couplers for like $2.49 each + shipping ( one at each end of single cat5 used as 2 half duplex network connections ) , which make for an all female Y.

I have seen people also pull a single Cat5e cable before and punch the pairs into 2 x RJ45's which lock into the outlet covers making for 2 x half duplex connections and not needing to use the Y and the coupler. BUT.. This has to be set up as 2  punch downs at the rack/patch panel or another wall in building which is used to patch 2 connections over a single cat5 cable.

 But my home was built in 1973 and I owned it since 1994 and so I had to modernize it myself and took the easier/cheaper path of drilling a 3/8" hole in floor of livingroom where the cable and broadband modem is and then running 75ft of Cat5e under home to bedroom with 3/8" hole to snake the cable back up into home at far end of home where I have all my network hardware and most systems. I then have a Y at both ends of this single 75ft run of Cat5e and I am essentially passing the Cable modems connection 75 ft to my main router and then a patch cable out of router goes into the other end of the Y and sends the protected behind firewall + DHCP etc to the available connection at the Y in livingroom, where I have an 8-port switch and have PS3, HTPC, and Bluray Streaming Player etc connected to that 8-port switch.

This strange config has worked flawless for about 3 years with no problems with speeds as fast as 25mbps downloads and 5mbps uploads as well as 100mbps between devices in livingroom and bedroom at half duplex. Below is a quick mspaint sketch showing my use of these. * Note: There is a very small amount of latency added when adding a switch to a router, but its not noticable between direct connection to router and using a connection of off 8-port Netgear switches.

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[BuyDell]

On the WS 2000' there are only 4 ports for POE and the access points (WSAP-5110) need to be setup or programmed. When I try to add\split a new one, it will not work.
What am I doing wrong ?

[DaveLembke]

POE = Power Over Ethernet.... This uses the normally unused 2 pairs for transfer of power to remote network devices that are powered via the same CAT5 or Cat6 cable that they communicate on.

This splitter will not power POE devices at the opposite end that require power because all pairs are in use for data, with none available for power. I wasn't aware that you were using POE with this setup and appologize for not asking before hand. With the splitters you would need each access point powered independently vs off of the POE power.

The best and cheapest solution for this setup with POE is probably unfortunately running 4 home runs back to the POE switch so that the POE switch powers your access points that are powered off of it if the access points are POE.

There are also devices called POE power injectors which work in series with Non-POE Network connections and inject the power to the normally unused pairs leading to the device that is powered over POE if the devices do not come with a way to be powered other than POE. Some devices come with choice of using a wall adapter to power the device or use of POE connection instead. *Also POE power comes in a variety of voltages, so if you were to go the route of power injection, you need to know the voltage and wattage that the devices operate at and get proper power injectors. *This method of power injectors cost more than running Cat5 or Cat6 cable back to the switch unless you already have these handy.

These splitters that I shared with you are best for normal Non-POE networking to run 2 network connections half duplex through each single Cat5 or Cat6 cable. 

[BuyDell]

Ok, let me throw another idea at you. Could I use a WiFi repeater ? And what is the difference between a repeater and a WiFi extender ?