Meraki AP for Theater Application

[AustinZaletel]

Hey All,

My school is building a new, 250 seat theater on our campus. We had initially planed for a number of MR44 APs to be mounted under the seats, spread throughout the theater (and several mounted in the actual stage are celing) to provide connectivity for the patrons. We were recently informed that the architects have decided that the logistics of running cables in the floor will be too costly, and they want to move our APs to the ceiling of the room. Will the MR44s have enough signal to reach the patrons? I think the ceiling is going to be 25 feet or around there. When we planned it, we hoped to be able to access the APs easily which is why we chose underseat rather than the ceiling.

Thanks for you input.

[cmr]

You might be fine, but if you can change them for MR46E models with the Downtilt Omni Panel Antenna then that should give better coverage.

[cmr]

The Narrow Patch Antenna will also work, giving the best signal, but you'll need more APs than the Downtilt one.

[cmr]

Finally there is a wide patch antenna, though that is usually for lower density deployments.

[Ryan_Miles]

25 ft ceiling and devices will be a few feet off the ground presumably in hands when folks are sitting or standing. I think MR44s would be fine.

[PhilipDAth]

> When we planned it, we hoped to be able to access the APs easily which is why we chose underseat rather than the ceiling.

Are you going to have a roof gantry in the new building?  If you can locate the APs near this you will still have easy access.