Restricting Wireless Access on Campus?

Diety_in_A_Minor asks: "How would one set up a wireless network on a campus such that restrictions can occur by classroom? My back of the napkin solution would be to relate MAC addresses to class schedules, and have the DHCP server allow access to student-registered MAC addresses only during specific times. Although possible, this solution requires tremendous maintenance. What other solutions are there? One class in a building will require restrictions, while both classrooms adjacent to it need open access."

Comments

Weaken signal strength

[SpaFF]

Asside from changing the password (or WEP key) constantly and having the professor tell the students what it is each class, you could shield the classroom so that the signal doesn't travel outside of it. This of course assumes that the access point is in the classroom and that the room is small enough to electromagnetically shield economically. Depending on the size of the room (big lecture halls) you might be able to just turn the signal strength of the AP down low enough so that it can't be reached outside of the room.

Why?

[SecretFire]

I think we need a lot more information about the circumstances here. Is there some sort of test that requires students to have a laptop but not access the internet?

Or is it some old teacher that thinks that it'll somehow force people listen to their boring, pointless lectures, when the students will likely just find something else to entertain themselves with.