Setting up a wireless hotspot

Walter

My father manages a motel and a diner and is hoping to offer free wireless internet to his customers. Since he knows nothing about computers, he has asked me to take care of this. I've been researching it and I've come up with a few questions. Is it a good idea to take a wireless router, hook it up to a powerful antenna and just allow free access or do we need to buy one of those services that allow you to pass out passwords on an hourly/daily basis? Are we responsible for what people use the wireless for? We would ideally like to offer internet access to for free and don't mind paying out of our pocket to get the system working.

If anyone has any experience with this, please chime in. I'm very computer savvy but awful at making business decisions and would hate to mess this up. We just want a hassle free wi-fi setup.

Fofamit

Well I don't really know too much about wireless networking... however I have stayed at a few hotels that do provide wireless access. Some of the hotels provide daily WEP keys provided that they have signed an initial agreement saying that they are responsible for their own actions yatta yatta (I never really read it, I just skimmed it to get the jist of it), as well some of hotels have some sort of... like redirect kind of thing? I am not sure what it is but I'll explain it:

Basically every time you try to connect it will direct you to a page that lists the terms and conditions that you agree to when you press the connect button. As well some hotels seem to set a maximum time a user can be connected, if such limit is exceeded then the user will have to re-connect.


Oh and to add to the little networking knowledge that I do have... I don't really imagine any antenna that will be sold at your local Joe-shmoe or Best Buy will really provide the type of wifi coverage that you are looking for (depending on the size of your hotel). So here are some options that I thought of, keep in mind I don't really know that much >_>:

1) Have a limited wired LAN based network system to share the internet throughout the location, at each location you could have a wireless router in place.

2) Have one wireless router and have a wireless repeaters placed throughout the location (I haven't really looked into repeaters myself, I am only assuming what they do)

3) Look into a larger commercial antenna

My suggestions might not be the best >_> due to my lack of experience in the networking field, but I hope it is somewhat helpful.

The Savior

I know that DDWRT can provide all of the functionality that you would need to do such a project, though it can be somewhat difficult to find relevant info on their website.

DeathPrawn

The Savior wrote: »

I know that DDWRT can provide all of the functionality that you would need to do such a project, though it can be somewhat difficult to find relevant info on their website.

This man speaks truth.

Personally I'd just leave the network open, but when a user logs on they have to agree to some legalese that keeps you in the clear (which you can do with DD-WRT). Talk to a lawyer to find out in exactly what areas your father needs cover his ass.

I don't know if it's more cost-effective or stronger, you can also get a whole bunch of routers, throw DD-WRT on all of them, and use them as repeaters to boost the signal instead of getting one strong antenna.

embrik

Fofamit wrote: »

... as well some of hotels have some sort of... like redirect kind of thing? I am not sure what it is but I'll explain it:

Basically every time you try to connect it will direct you to a page that lists the terms and conditions that you agree to when you press the connect button. As well some hotels seem to set a maximum time a user can be connected, if such limit is exceeded then the user will have to re-connect....

It's called a "Captive Portal".

I'd recommend setting up a PC-based firewall. Something like PFSense. It has built-in support for a Captive Portal, and includes logging, etc. You can also load filtering like Dansguardian (to make sure people aren't using your connection for downloading "unsavory, illegal content") and SquidGuard. This kind of setup will give you better control of people connecting and easier management of the connection.