[msr399]

I wanted to provide unsecure wireless access for customers of my friends coffee shop. He has a few computers running windows 98 connected in a peer to peer network with a Linksys router. He has a verison DSL connection and wanted to allow his customers to access the internet through a wireless connection, but doesn't want anyone to have access to the rest of his network. What would be the best way to achieve this in the most inexpensive way? Thanks for your input!

 

[keymaker]

hmm....im not an networking expert but probably a software firewall like zonealarm.

 

[johnwill]

I think if you check the terms of service of your service, you'll find that you can't share your Internet with another person or business.

 

[DVOM]

As johnwill says, your friend will need to get things straight with his ISP.

With that said, I'd just daisy chain a wireless router to his existing router. Leave DHCP enabled on the wireless and that'll separate it into 2 networks.

 

[Terrister]

A wireless access point would be better than a router in this case. It has tools to make this sort of setup easier.

 

[msr399]

msr399

I checked with my friend and he said that he has a business DSL??? line through verison. He thought he would be able to provide wireless internet in his coffee shop with this service, due to he is paying lots more mony for this business line than he pays at home for DSL. He is going to check just to make sure.

DVOM, thanks for your input. I like your idea about daisy chan the wireless router to the existing router, but even with DHCP enabled on the wireless router wont it assign IP to the wireless users with the same subnet as the wired network? Which would still allow the wireless users to gain access to the wired pc on the network.

 

[johnwill]

Actually, if you want to restrict the wireless customers to the Internet only, you put that router directly connected to the DSL line. You then connect the WAN port of the second router with your protected network to one of the LAN ports on the first router. You'll have the NAT firewall between you and the coffee shop users, and they will not have access to your network.

 

[msr399]

Thanks Johnwill, it was very helpfull. I'm waiting on my friend to make sure from verizon that it is ok for him to provide WiFi to his customers. Then will try and set it up.

Very Helpfull - a hundred thank-you's to you.

msr399 :grin:

 

[V0lt]

You can do anything you want (within the law) with a business class DSL line.

How many customers does he have at any given time? If he has a lot, and they all have laptops, he might want to consider multiple Access Points.

 

[msr399]

Fox - He said that there wont ever be more than 8 to 10 people max at any given time.

 

[V0lt]

Yeah, and if you've ever used a single AP with 9 other people you'll understand how slow it can get.

Not saying he should install two APs right off the bat, but if people mention that it's slowing down, he may want to consider it.

 

[johnwill]

Since 802.11b/g is half duplex, and the bandwidth is shared, by the time you get to 8-9 users, it's got to be running like a snail! I've had three users on an 802.11g connection, and that sucked! :smile:

 

[Fausttt]

depends on the service he got from verizon. the new verizon internet is running in 5, 15, and 30 Mbps speeds. any of those speeds wouldnt be bad for only 8-10 users of an internet cafe.

 

[johnwill]

Fausttt, you obviously miss the basic point. It's not the bandwidth of the Verizon connection we're talking about, but rather the bandwidth of 802.11g with many connections to a single AP.