The typical corporate setup that I came across consisted of a server (or servers - sometimes NetWare with Mac support) on a 10Mb ethernet backbone connected to a Webster MultiGate with 4 x LocalTalk network, each LocalTalk segment having four Macs connected. i.e. 16 LocalTalk Macs to one MultiGate. This could scale out with multiple MultiGate routers sharing the one 10Mb ethernet segment.
The LocalTalk segment speed was still 230kb, so roughly 1/40th of ethernet speed. The advantage was that each Mac user would consistently get full LocalTalk speed. File sizes were much smaller then, so it actually ran quite well by the standards of the day. The MutliGates supported Mac IP and it was common for Mac users to use NCSA Telnet to access Unix systems as well as doing file and print.
Four Macs per LocalTalk segment was just a rough rule of thumb. I've seen properly terminated LocalTalk networks run ok with light traffic and 12 devices, although that is stretching the limits in my experience. Distance wise, we once ran a LocalTalk segment from a dedicated router port to a couple of Macs in a remote building some 100m (300ft) away.
I just dug out a copy of the Farallon PhoneNet manual and it says that it is possible to have up to 26 devices daisy chained over 1800 ft. I never tried anything like 1800 feet, but I think 26 devices would be pushing it; purely because of the low bandwidth per Mac with that many machines sharing 230kb (actually 230kb, less the bandwidth taken by network broadcasts and other AppleTalk overheads). It looks like Farallon also made a device similar to the P-Shooter I mentioned in an earlier post. It was called a "StarController". Effectively it was a 12 port LocalTalk hub. I never encountered one of these in the field though.
Has anyone outside Australia come across the Webster MultiGate routers? I recall them being an Australian product, but I don't know if they were only sold locally, or if they were also popular in the US market.