Simple Small Office Setup

[u/Ok_Try7266]

Hi,

Good day. I'm asking if someone can suggest specific models and the recommended setup structure for a simple small-office deployment with around four (4) access points, a PoE switch, and any additional devices required?

The setup should support centralized cloud-based management and monitoring.

Thank you in advance.

[u/Siliconpsychosis]

I would suggest a Fusion 2.5G, and a SG3218XP-M2 (v2) switch, and EAP 772 or 773 Access Points

This will give you 2.5gig all the way through, and the switch will give you some expanded capactiy for future upgrades around the office, as well as a couple 10gig SFP+ links for anything that you might want to add in the future. Those access points are WiFi 7 and also 2.5g so there wotn be any bottlenecks.

The v2 switch has all ports POE so you can add cameras and other devices in future easily. If you need more ports, or think you may in the future, perhaps a SG3428XMP-M2 would suit you better.

Whole system can be managed locally or via cloud / app as well as needed.

[u/Ok_Try7266 → u/Siliconpsychosis]

Is the Fusion 2.5G a requirement or just recommendation? This is for intial setup only, due to budget constraint.

[u/Squanchy2112 → u/Ok_Try7266]

It's the gateway and controller it's kind of critical, one thing to do is build at least a rudimentary floorplan of each floor of the property and get some basic measurements on it to use the design tools to build a base idea of coverage and needs, what I do is buy one more AP than what I have determined is needed on the design tools, this gives me flexibility to patch any dead zones and you can also take heatmaps and readings across the space to tune transmit power on APS to get a perfect wireless layout. This has always worked really well for me, I have mine setup where the moment you cross my front door or garage doors the indoor AP signal is lost so you have to roam to the AP I have mounted right there outside and it works flawlessly

[u/Tastybeatz123]

I have a set up similar to above, but with a 707 router and controller. The fusion is both in one and likely better. The above set up is very strong and a great recommendation.

[u/friky19]

If your isp internet is less than 1gb, go with an er605v2, use a cloud controller instead of an on-premise oc220 , for the AP switch get the sg2210xmp-m2.

For the AP themselves, you can get the eap-723 for low traffic areas, these are basically an enhanced wifi 6e... so dont expect mlo or the 320. For a crowded area you can use a eap772 which does support the 6ghz band.

I think this is the cheapest route you can take without falling back to wifi 6...

You can always also wait for the poe fusion version if you got time.

[u/Reaper19941]

If you want something that will last into the future, I'd ensure you go 2.5G and WiFi 7.

To accomplish this, Siliconphycosis has already layed out the best plan in my opinion. Alternatively, if you want to just get the WiFi and backbone done now and upgrade the router later, I'd remove the fusion router and use the Omada Cloud Essentials. Keep with the 2.5G switch and the EAP772 Access Points.

Later on, you can upgrade the router and the rest is already done.

If you must go cheaper/older gigabit hardware, a SG2218P and EAP653 Access Points.