We have a small network, ( currently about 60 subs) we may grow to a max of 200 subs. I am trying to figure out if using Vlan is worth the extra headache in setting up new AP's etc. Any thoughts out there? do we really need them at this stage of the game? Thanks all.
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VLANs provide a lot of options for management/security, and alolows bridging customer transparently though your network.
Having a VLAN plan from Day 1 will save you retrofitting after you have production traffic.
But if you're not ever going to pass 200 subs and it's a casual environment (no business customers, and no high end users) then a few firewall rules will probably do fine for security and you can just route the traffic across your IP Space.
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Part of it depends on what devices you have. If you are using a combination of Mikrotik and Netonix you can easily add your devices into a VLAN and segment traffic that way. You don't have to carry your VLANs outside of each individual tower. That is where things get complex.
We have networks we manage where each port facing the customers has a tagged vlan for management of the CPE, and an untagged VLAN for customer traffic. This way the customer is isolated from the CPE and the AP network. Allows you to apply different firewall and QOS rules fairly easy.
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