From CrisisCommons Wiki

When planning a Barcamp-style Crisis Camp, it's important to consider the wireless needs of those attending. When several dozen people attend an event, often the following need careful planning:

• coverage (areas has sufficient Wi-Fi coverage)
• capacity (number of simultaneous users in given area)
• accompanying infrastructure (Internet pipe, routers, firewalls, etc)

Contents 1 coverage planning 2 capacity planning 3 expected bandwidth 4 misc hardware/software 5 Misc Services 6 Free Wi-Fi

[edit] coverage planning

• plan for -75 dBm to allow for all devices, using tool like inSSIDer (iPhones, computers with poor cards, etc)

[edit] capacity planning

• in most cases, Internet connection out (DSL, cable modem, T1 line, etc) will be the limiting factor.
• when Internet connection not the limiting factor,
  • concurrent users per wireless access points (before performance an issue): 20-30
  • channel planning (generally speaking, alternate evenly between 1, 6, and 11)

[edit] expected bandwidth

• bandwidth intensive apps
  • Skype (~16 Kbps, per call)
  • picture upload (~1 MB / pic)
• moderately bandwidth intensive
  • Facebook
  • Geospatial
  • images (e.g. Twitpic, Picasso, Flickr, etc)

[edit] misc hardware/software

• dd-wrt (mini Linux you can install on home router, such as Linksys and Netgear)
• Ubiquiti
• pfSense
  • suggested packages
  • where to go for more help
• EVDO routers
  • aggregating EVDO routers with pfSense

[edit] Misc Services

• prioritizing traffic (http, IM, IRC, Twitter, etc)
• DHCP lease time

[edit] Free Wi-Fi

• McDonalds
• Starbucks