Re: OT: setting up public wifi

[Jerry Stuckle <jstuckle@attglobal.net>]

On 1/28/2014 1:42 PM, Rob Owens wrote:
> I need to set up wifi in a church, and share the wifi with the rectory
> (a separate building).  I've been doing some research, but am looking
> advice to help me get through this quicker.
>
> Here's what I'm thinking about so far:
>
> 1)  Get a router that has a "guest" account, or some other internet-only
> connection mode.  The church offices will be using the same network, so
> I want to keep the general public from doing things like accessing file
> shares, using printers, etc.  I probably want one with dual antennas,
> and at least one must be detachable so I can hook up an outdoor antenna
> (see #2, below).
>
> 2)  Use an outdoor antenna to send signal to the rectory.  I'm not sure
> of the exact distance yet (because I'm not sure where it will be
> possible to mount the antenna), but it should be no more than 150 feet.
> Here's a link to the antenna I've been thinking about:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833995096
>
> 3)  If signal in the rectory is weak, use a range extender in the
> rectory, possibly with an outdoor antenna.  The rectory is small and
> won't need more than a single access point.
>
> 4)  In the church I will need to use either range extenders or multiple
> access points.  Maximum bandwidth is not as high a priority as being
> able to handle many users.  So I'm not sure if it makes sense to go with
> the 802.11n 150 mbps or 300 mbps.  And I'm not sure if I should go the
> easy route and use range extenders or if I should hard wire multiple
> access points to the router.
>
> Here are some of the range extenders and access points I've been looking at:
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704192
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704187
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704048
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G1732603
>
> 5)  The church has concrete floors and outside walls.  An addition was
> recently built, and a couple of the old concrete outside walls are now
> inside walls.  The rest of the inside walls are sheetrock.  The addition
> has drop ceiling tiles, so I can run some wires up there.  That won't be
> possible in the old part of the church.  The rectory is wood frame
> construction with vinyl siding over plywood, and sheetrock interior walls.
>
> I'd appreciate any advice you guys can give.
>
> -Rob

Rob,

What's your background in such technologies, i.e. rf, hot spot 
creation/management, etc.?

You've got a number of potential problems here - from the concrete walls 
and area you need to cover to licensing (access points may not be legal 
with an external antenna, depending on the AP and the country you are 
in).  On top of that, if it's a public hot spot, you need to add 
blocking for several ports, i.e. port 25 to prevent your AP from 
becoming a spam source (and both spammers and hackers look for unsecured 
networks to do their dirty work).

To give you good advice would require a qualified technician to examine 
the site and provide recommendations.  You might be able to get by with 
trial and error, but I suspect you're going to spend a lot of time 
trying to get it to work.

Sorry to be a bit negative - but there are some things that just can't 
be handled effectively in a newsgroup.

Jerry