Repurposed Enterprise WiFi Access Points For SpeedQuizzing.
Re-purposed Enterprise WiFi for use with SpeedQuizzing Pro
Available soon in UK and slightly later for the rest of the world!
SpeedQuizzing Pocket Hubs are inexpensive and do a great job of connecting smartphones and tablets to SpeedQuizzing Pro. However, they are consumer units and therefore a small number of SpeedQuizzing customers have had a more industrial solution on their wish lists for some time now.
These are generally users who host SpeedQuizzing events in crowded venues with unusually large numbers of players.
So, we’ve gone out on a limb and purchased a job-lot of USED enterprise level WiFi access points and had them professionally re-configured and optimised to work with SpeedQuizzing Pro.
Reliability vs Bandwidth
With large scale connectivity and reliability being of utmost importance for SpeedQuizzing, but large ultra fast bandwidth being less so, it was suggested to us by our WiFi networking gurus that these very expensive, high-end brands often get decommissioned and replaced with newer models long before they have reached their sell by dates. This is often as a result of over-generous government upgrade schemes and grants which see perfectly good equipment replaced in the name of future-proofing. As a result this often creates a surplus of very powerful but affordable WiFi networking devices, if you know where to look and what you are looking for.
In Use
We’ve been trialling these devices at SpeedQuizzing events for the past three months and they are very solid and reliable. Most importantly you can mesh multiple units together and greatly increase both the number of connectable devices as well as the range over large areas, all using a single SSID (WiFi name).
Environmentally and economically sound
Without trying to make this sound too much like a Toy Story script for white anthropomorphic plastic boxes, these units would have originally retailed between £400 – £1200 each in the latter part of the last decade. However, many of them now lay abandoned by the box load in office basements and school store cupboards because they have been replaced by the very latest super fast models. So, not only are we frugally helping out the pub and bar industry (who are not so likely to be on the receiving end of government grants), but it’s also likely that Greta Thunberg will want to award us with some kind of badge or sticker once she hears of the great environmental work we’re doing.
Light to medium density R500
The R500 is the most affordable and will comfortably handle 80 player devices in light to medium density situations.
This number can be doubled simply by connecting it to another R500 as a mesh repeater. Up to 25 x R500 units can be meshed together for covering large areas, connecting via ethernet cables or syncing over WiFi (when located within close enough range of each other). This will theoretically allow for up to 500 tablets/smartphones to connect to SpeedQuizzing.
High density R710
The R710 is the ‘Mother’ of all stand-alone WiFi networking devices. It is designed to work in very densely populated areas, both in terms of densely packed in crowds of people as well as densely populated neighbouring WiFi congestion. Although it comes with a maximum limit of 100 player devices as a stand alone unit, it comes into its own when meshed together with additional units. It is compatible with additional R710 and R500 units.
NOTE: We are reselling these re-purposed devices at a price that barely covers our costs of purchasing, configuring, testing reposting and offering a three month warranty. We are not selling them to make a profit. We are providing them as a service to optimise the SpeedQuizzing experience for everyone.