(discussion) Number of clients AP supports

[cybernard]

Has anyone tested how many clients can connect simultaneously to each adapter?

[morrownr]

Many. If you can give us more details bout your use case, we can probably provide a better answer.

How many clients do you need to connect?
5 GHz or 2.4 GHz or both?
What speeds are required?
Using hostapd?
What adapters do you have or do you think you need?

Cheers

[cybernard]

2.4Ghz
hostapd
Alfa AWUS036ACM (it in a shipping somewhere)
Speed enough for a bunch of home automation.

The primary concern is the number of clients I can connect, and range.
I doubt any single device will use more than 10kb/s except in rare bursts.

I have 10, but could easily triple that number if I had the correct adapter.

I am trying to make a plan so I prioritize the device I want to convert based on the number of support devices.

[morrownr]

2.4Ghz
hostapd
Alfa AWUS036ACM (it in a shipping somewhere)
Speed enough for a bunch of home automation.

A home setting with IoT and various other things. Sounds like me.

The primary concern is the number of clients I can connect, and range.

My wifi can handle a lot of devices. It is handled with the following:

Cable modem/router with 100 Mb/s service
CAT 6 cable to the RasPi4B
RasPi4B
RasPiOS
Alfa AWUS036ACM (5 GHz) (big pipe)
Alfa AWUS036ACHM (2.4 GHz) (long range)
hostapd

I connect the 2.4 only devices and the devices that need longer range to the 2.4 network and the rest of the devices I just load balance. This setup is really overkill for 100 Mb/s. Until 2 months ago we lived at a location with 1 Gb/s fiber. Make sure you check congestion and pick fixed channels wisely. Also, wider channels are not always better. It depends.

I doubt any single device will use more than 10kb/s except in rare bursts.

I have 10, but could easily triple that number if I had the correct adapter.

I've used an Alfa AWUS036ACM as an AP for quite some time. I like it. I has pretty good range. The ACHM has exceptional range using 2.4. The in-kernel driver works with both of these adapters super.

I am trying to make a plan so I prioritize the device I want to convert based on the number of support devices.

The number of devices has never been an issue here. We usually have around 15 devices connected including up to 3 TVs pulling FHD via youtubeTV. There is so much left over capability that I run BOINC on the RasPi to soak up some of the spare cycles.

The following repo might be of help with the Alfa ACM.

https://github.com/morrownr/7612u

Good luck and let us know if you have questions.

[cybernard]

That is fine, but say I converter every light switch, outlet and etc and if the total was 30-50 devices will it handle it?

[morrownr]

30-50 devices is doable but it all depends on too many things that are specific to your location for me to give you a definite answer.

[cybernard]

For example?
Range is a non-issue
Bandwidth usage I have already describe.
There should be plenty of bandwidth, even 50 * 10kb/s is 500kb/s and everything can handle that.
encryption WPA2 mainly, but may add WPA3 support for future use.

[morrownr]

For example?

The amount of congestion and interference. The quality and compatibility of the devices used. Your skill at setting things up. I could go on.