Sector antenna for Cisco 1524

Question

We have some Cisco aironet 1524 AP's. Can I connect these AP's to a 21 dBi Sector Antenna and use it for Wi-Fi Broadcasting. Maybe even for indoor penetration for a distance of 150 to 200 meters?

Answer 1

Scott,
If by "over-powering of the client" you mean pumping more EIRP from the AP than from the client than I would object your statement. Antenna gain doesn't lead to over-powering the client, antenna gain is symmetrical in transmitting and receiving parts of the equation. You can use a high gain antenna at the AP and use clients with weak antennas and achieve better range of coverage. You also can penetrate structures and increase the effective "listening" capabilities at the AP while clients are still "whispering" their signals through the obstruction.
However it is indeed a bad idea to use high gain antennas indoors to penetrate through obstructions. High gain directional antenna will receive clients signals from larger distances increasing the cell radius - true. But this, in its turn, will lead to other RF issues, such as Hidden Nodes and Near-Far situations. As Scott mentioned this is not a common strategy of increasing the coverage indoor.
1524 access points also have more available transmit power - and that can lead to over-powering of the client. At Level 1 they transmit 28 dBm (while normal laptop trasmits at 17 dBm). While antennas can be mismatched the transmit power must be set to same or lower than wireless clients.