Ask Slashdot: Best Wi-Fi Solution For a Hotel?

dynamo52 writes "I have been tasked with replacing a managed Wi-Fi system for a mid-sized hotel. They have already selected Comcast to provide a 100mbps connection, which unfortunately must come in at one corner of the ~5-acre property. The hotel plans to provide this service for free, so there is no need for any type of billing management system, though it should be secured enough that the parking lot does not become a free Wi-Fi hotspot. Additionally, there is no ethernet infrastructure in place. The existing APs (hidden away in proprietary encasements) seem to be connected via telephone lines and the owners have strongly indicated they would prefer that no new wiring be installed. Have any Slashdotters implemented similar systems? Specifically, what hardware did you use and what special considerations should I take in designing this system?"

Comments

Well if they getting comcast tv as well then

[Joe_Dragon]

Well if they getting comcast tv as well then they may need to rewire the cable system as well any ways. Any way more info on how they AP are setup and linked will help.

And to cut down on free wifi use you can set a password that you just give out to hotel guests.

Re:Well if they getting comcast tv as well then

[gmack]

No need, you can install a VDSL DSLAM where all of those phone cables connect and get a reasonably decent data rate to the hotspots.

Re:Well if they getting comcast tv as well then

[Pharmboy]

I didn't think that would be a big issue either, however, as others pointed out, making it a simple password would be the equivalent of having a latch on a screen door. Just enough to keep out the majority of unauthorized users looking for a free connect, but not enough to keep out people serious enough that they could bypass tougher security anyway. A reasonable 90%-95% solution.

Re:Well if they getting comcast tv as well then

[RKBA]

I shop online quite frequently but have never had a credit card number misused because I use disposable Citi-bank "virtual" credit card numbers that are only good for one merchant, expire when I want them to, and have a maximum limit that I can set so that no more than what I specify can be charged to the particular credit card number I generated for that specific transaction with that specific merchant.

Re:Well if they getting comcast tv as well then

[realityimpaired]

If you haven't had a credit card number "borrowed" at least once a year, you're not shopping online. And not going to restaurants either.

Actually, I use my Visa card regularly: restaurants, gas stations, drug stores, parking, buying clothes, etc.. I usually carry a small amount of cash for incidentals, but if I'm having a $50+ meal with some friends, it goes on the Visa. I have even used the card at restaurants and stores overseas (Europe, the south Pacific, and the Caribbean). I have even been known to make the occasional purchase online, though that's mostly been computers and computer equipment. My habits with the card have not changed in more than 10 years, and I have never once had a fraudulent charge put through on my card.

You may say I'm just lucky, but I would say that I have a good credit card company. The one time I used it at a dive shop in Curacao having forgotten to advise the Visa folks that I was going to on vacation, they declined the charge, and 2 minutes later my cell phone rang: It was my bank, asking if I was traveling. I have had the same thing happen domestically, buying gas on a road trip, or even at a new station in a different part of town than where I usually buy gas.

If your card gets fraudulent charges that frequently, maybe you need to change banks?

No Offense...

[Anonymous Coward]

No offense... but judging by your wording, the hotel should really hire a professional. Mark my words: this will turn well for neither you nor the hotel.

Re:No Offense...

[evanism]

No offense, but it's people like you that cause offense. He asked a clear question in plain English. He should be rewarded for this.

It proves nothing to jam a sentence with jargon to make one look smart.

Rather than a single critique, you could provide a cogent answer, but you didn't. You just created white noise and denigrated a guy who is trying to do his best.

Offense taken.

Repurpose the telephone cabling

[bartmanus]

100 Mbit Ethernet really requires only two twisted pairs so you might just get away with replacing the connectors on the end of the existing cable which has exactly that number of pairs! The old cable is probably not shielded at all so before jumping on this try it out with a few interconnected hotspots and load the system as best you can.

Re:Repurpose the telephone cabling

[forty-2]

second that, I've gotten away with using CAT3 in a pinch, but testing the longest runs is a good place to start. Hell, it might not even be the end of the world if it negotiates @ 10Mbps. Presumably there's local power @ the WAP location?
How many rooms? (or 'keys' as they say in the hospitality business)

Re:Repurpose the telephone cabling

[adolf]

Is there any reason at all to use greater than 10 megabit Ethernet at all?

10base-T is made for Cat 3, and it's nowhere near as slow/ugly with modern gear as some of us remember from the dark old days of cheap unswitched networking. Just ratchet the port speed down to 10Mbps and call it a day (with the usual caveats about distance limits and the like).

Setting the port speed explicitly results in much more reliable communication than just expecting the NICs at either end to just figure it out for themselves, which they're generally not terribly good at doing.

If some of the lines are very long, or dedicated pairs are not available, there's other options. HPNA is one standard which can work at absurdly long distances over ruddy existing cabling and can piggyback on existing telephone and coax circuits. (Though using coax may conflict with any video-on-demand system that the hotel may already be using.)

Policy

[Patik]

The best hotel wifi experiences have been when I was given the SSID and (simple) password at check-in and, most importantly, the signal reached my room. There's nothing worse than having to go down the hall every time you want a signal, and many people will have smartphones so don't make the password 20 digits.

Meraki wifi mesh

[braddock]

This is pretty much what Meraki was designed to do.

DSLAM and Auth Server

[ZeroNullVoid]

Setup your own DSL network using existing RJ11/Phone cabling.

You will place dsl modems in each area you want access points.

You can even have all rooms or some premium rooms with hidden away dsl modems and a network cable coming out.

You just need to setup a dslam after the modem and configure routing.

You would want a login interface so users have to accept terms and conditions.

Using the dsl method, you can setup access points at whatever strength seems secure enough wherever there is a phone connection or wiring, and you can splice the wiring if necessary.  You will need to place cheap filters on every normal phone connection, but that is a minimal cost.

You can also look at ethernet over power line, but there are lots of variables and speed issues that makes this not ideal.

Re:DSLAM and Auth Server

[arisvega]

I find your lack of fonts disturbing.

stitching things together

[v1]

The existing APs (hidden away in proprietary encasements) seem to be connected via telephone lines and the owners have strongly indicated they would prefer that no new wiring be installed.

It's possible that running cable through the building is a nightmare. The owners may have painful memories of how things went when the last APs were installed. Talk with them and find out what went badly. There may be a better way, or maybe not.

You may be forced to do wireless repeating. This is going to make a significant increase to the cost, but that may be the only option. First thing I'd do is start scouting around to see where good spots for APs are. The current ones may have simply been spaced evenly with no signal planning/testing whatsoever. Try the roof. You may not be able to run cable around IN the building, but have NO problem getting up onto the roof, and scatter APs around above people instead of in the hallways, thus avoiding the cable running problem. (you'd also be farther from the parking lot)

Re:Dude, I don't wanna shit all over your question

[RobertLTux]

and i would bet that one or more will be consulted (since i think that the SlashHive can't show up "on site") but the comments here will give enough info so that any SnowJobs are prevented.

Re:Dude, I don't wanna shit all over your question

[arisvega]

.. seems like there is an entire market of consultants ..

Yes, people hire them because they are too embarrassed to "ask slashdot" by themselves.

WiFi access points, meshing and user auth

[MC68040]

Hi,

Right this is only going from personal experience. At work we've bought UniFi access points.
Not to plug it overly but the roaming for clients between access points and easy provisioning system is a treat including the handling of the "guest" network with user/pass sign-on in the browser.

As far as cabling etc goes if you've got any largeish distance to cover then a simple wifi bridge should do the trick?

All of this of course depends on the amount of clients you are expecting to be online at one given time on the network. If you want to use this as an meshed network then you will obviously get a higher latency the further you go from the core node.
The above example would not be suitable for a very large hotel, and if you want to cover large outside areas then the antennas will cost a few buck not just in hardware but testing coverage / installation.

Wha?

[PCM2]

As usual for "Ask Slashdot," you have left out key details that would allow people to give you meaningful responses. For example:

1. What is the hotel using now and why does it want to replace it?
2. What is a "proprietary encasement," and who put the APs there? Are you expected to put new APs in the same encasements? What will happen to the old APs?
3. You say the hotel doesn't want to lay any new cable. That might just be too bad, but it also seems to imply that there is already some cable somewhere. Why not use the existing cable? You say the APs "seem to be connected by telephone wire," but you don't sound sure. Perhaps it's just long strings with tin cans at each end? Is there any way to find out?
4. If the existing network is as strange and nonstandard as you make it sound, why is that? Was there something unique to the property that made that the best solution, and is it smart for you to ignore that?
5. Before you begin, have you verified that the hotel's contract with Comcast actually allows it to offer Internet access to the public?
6. You say the hotel wants to provide the network for free, so there's no need for any billing management system. Are you then comfortable with the idea that there will be no logging of the network at all, and no record of who might have used it and when? Is BitTorrent OK? How about botnets?
7. If the patrons aren't expected to pay for the network, can they expect it to exist at all? That is, do you have a plan to test and verify that every room will have equal access to the network, and that a guest who came last summer won't return this summer and find out that the hotel doesn't seem to have WiFi anymore (when in fact it's just their new room)?
8. Are you aware of FCC regulations regarding signal strength of your antennas, for those portions of the property that might be natural dark spots?
9. Does your task include just replacing the network or does it also include managing the network, making repairs, etc.? How much time do you plan to devote to that?

There may be more to this job than you have considered.

Re:Wha?

[dynamo52]

OK, while others here have provided good suggestions you are the first to ask specific and relevant questions.

What is the hotel using now and why does it want to replace it?

They are using a third party provider that manages the entire system. This system includes a paywall that they no longer feel is advantageous to their business. Additionally, they are bringing in Comcast to provide telephone and television services as well.

What is a "proprietary encasement," and who put the APs there? Are you expected to put new APs in the same encasements? What will happen to the old APs?

The existing APs are located in individual bottom floor rooms in two story buildings. They are placed in boxes sealed with tamperproof bolts. The only lines in are what appears to be a standard telephone line and a power cable. There is also a telephone line coming out connected to the telephone. Presumably, the company who manages the current system will take the old APs. The existing networking equipment is also protected from closer inspection though does connect through standard telephone punchdown blocks.

You say the hotel doesn't want to lay any new cable. That might just be too bad, but it also seems to imply that there is already some cable somewhere. Why not use the existing cable? You say the APs "seem to be connected by telephone wire," but you don't sound sure. Perhaps it's just long strings with tin cans at each end? Is there any way to find out?

If new cabling is required then so be it. The owners would just rather it be kept to the absolute minimum necessary.

If the existing network is as strange and nonstandard as you make it sound, why is that? Was there something unique to the property that made that the best solution, and is it smart for you to ignore that?

I think the primary reason again was the desire to avoid new wiring.

Before you begin, have you verified that the hotel's contract with Comcast actually allows it to offer Internet access to the public?

Yes

You say the hotel wants to provide the network for free, so there's no need for any billing management system. Are you then comfortable with the idea that there will be no logging of the network at all, and no record of who might have used it and when? Is BitTorrent OK? How about botnets?

The ability to centrally manage the APs is a strong plus. Additionally, logging is not highly critical but the ability to ensure that bandwidth is distributed as equitably as possible would be nice. Yes, I would like the ability to restrict botnets and other undesirable traffic.

If the patrons aren't expected to pay for the network, can they expect it to exist at all? That is, do you have a plan to test and verify that every room will have equal access to the network, and that a guest who came last summer won't return this summer and find out that the hotel doesn't seem to have WiFi anymore (when in fact it's just their new room)?

It should be available throughout. I do plan to test signal strength from every room.

Are you aware of FCC regulations regarding signal strength of your antennas, for those portions of the property that might be natural dark spots?

Yes, I will add APs as needed

Does your task include just replacing the network or does it also include managing the network, making repairs, etc.? How much time do you plan to devote to that?

I will be managing the system also. I do not wish to devote a tremendous amount of time to managing this system once it is in place. A central management console will be highly valued.

Re:Wha?

[dynamo52]

Other relevant info:

There are currently ~15 APs on site

The coverage area includes approximately 350 rooms, two courtyards, and the lobby area.

There are four two story buildings that house the rooms.

The total dimensions of the property are ~100m x ~200m

Re:Wha?

[SpzToid]

Given these stats, I agree with the poster who earlier suggested you use dd-wrt as the firmware solution, flashed onto relatively cheap commodity routers. Via the dd-wrt shop are some 'exotic' APs, with weather housing, etc. Most importantly is the router database of supported commodity units. Basically you configure as many as needed to achieve saturation, spreading channels, etc. Using modern routers with dual-frequencies, N, and what have you; it should not cost much, and these units might just drop in to replace your current APs at their current location. Each unit can be 'remotely' managed via a web-interface, on your hotel LAN. They also show real-time signal graphs, with channels, for further placement refining; also via the http/s gui.

DD-wrt is a linux server on cheap wifi hardware, and the wiki is very good. I've never had to create a mesh network, but everything else I've done with dd-wrt has gone extremely well. Note that if you configure one, perhaps from manufacturer X... you can easily backup the config file, and apply that to dd-wrt router Y from another manufacturer, which saves a lot of setup time, errors, etc.

Re:Wha?

[Tiger_Storms]

Some more questions I'd like to ask you to help with your project. and a few suggestions

Is this hotel apart of a hotel chain or is it owned by individuals? Most hotel chains much use companies that they recommend for setup and support for their hotels. Some chains require this others only suggest it I'm sure they know this, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Does the company use Comcast Business class internet? If not, do they know there's a 250mb cap on the internet?

Is this hotel Enclosed ie. (walk ways are in the center of the hotel rather than outside) if it is inside you shouldn't have much trouble setting up the access points for every 3-4 rooms that is assuming normal wood construction. If there's concrete in-between the floors your in trouble and might have to do 5-6 rooms with AP's on both floors.

On top of the internet they are getting do they have a gateway already setup? Using a linksys, d-link or netgear router isn't going to handle 40+ guests on a full night, I would recommend a business gateway Nomadix AG-3100 so it can do load balancing and make sure no one customer takes all the internet for them self. This device will also have a built in portal that the hotel can use to setup weekly passwords to keep people from stealing their wireless. The Nomadix gateway also has a great support team that you can call and work with if for instance something goes wrong. Also the gateway supports Multiple IP's which is a must when it comes to 2+ people trying to connect to their company vpn from 1 location and something you'll never find on a cheap router make for home use.

If your looking to support this your self are you aware most hotel guess don't come in until either very early in the morning or very late at night, which can generate calls at any given time of the day if something goes wrong or fails to work.

One last suggestion if you saw telephone cables used in their setup I would highly recommended you run new cable, just for error rates alone. but in the process of doing that get access points that support POE and you can get a switch that can give it out that way you only have to run 1 cable to the desired location and you can reboot the devices remotely in the last job I had we did this to many hotels and it's saved us lots of money and time because you don't have to tell the hotel staff to unplug power from the devices, or have to wait until morning for the crew who knows where everything is.

Re:Wha?

[Solandri]

I've put together a wired/wireless Internet distribution system for a hotel.

The existing APs are located in individual bottom floor rooms in two story buildings. They are placed in boxes sealed with tamperproof bolts. The only lines in are what appears to be a standard telephone line and a power cable. There is also a telephone line coming out connected to the telephone. Presumably, the company who manages the current system will take the old APs. The existing networking equipment is also protected from closer inspection though does connect through standard telephone punchdown blocks.

This is just a regular DSL/DSLAM setup. Basically the hotel is acting like a phone company providing DSL, and the phones in the hotel rooms are the "DSL customers". You go to where the hotel's phone switching equipment is at, and hook up a DSLAM which is connected to your public Internet router. You then use that to "provide DSL" to each of the rooms where you want a wired network drop. The chosen rooms (or tamperproof proprietary boxes in your case) have a DSL modem, which splits the ethernet from the POTS.

You can piggyback this over your currently existing phone lines (that's the whole point of DSL), or you an run new Cat 3 lines just for the DSL (if you don't plan to offer wired network service in the rooms, and don't want customers messing with the hardware). Most hotel phone systems have plenty of extra capacity and lines for you to do this without having to install new cable. The reason for using DSL is that ethernet's specs limit it to 100 m, about 85 m in real life in my experience. That's way too short to reach from one end of a hotel to the other. DSL on the other hand is good out for several km.

It's pretty straightforward stuff if you've done any networking setup. The same stuff about regular DSL applies (e.g. use filters on any extra extensions). And unlike DSL from the phone company, you have to deal with both ends of the service. Most hotels use VDSL/VDSL2 because it allows higher bandwidth over a shorter distance. ADSL is really optimized for Cat 3 distances of several km, which isn't necessary for a hotel, and its max uplink throughput may be insufficient for a heavily used public WAP. I'd provide links but I did this about 5 years ago, so the links I have would likely be outdated.

The ability to centrally manage the APs is a strong plus. Additionally, logging is not highly critical but the ability to ensure that bandwidth is distributed as equitably as possible would be nice. Yes, I would like the ability to restrict botnets and other undesirable traffic.

Once you get the DSLAM and DSL modems set up, they act as a bridge and are transparent. The WAPs will show up on whatever LAN you have plugged into the DSLAM. If you want (and I would recommend), you can make it its own subnet. Assign static IPs to the WAPs so you can manage them. The fancier models will even let you set up VLANs, so you can do fancy things like limit direct access to the WAPs to a VLAN that's not available to customers connecting over the wireless (provided the WAPs are VLAN-aware). You will also have to handle QoS and bandwidth throttling, to prevent a single customer from using up all the bandwidth. But that's a given.

Re:Wha?

[Solandri]

I used Zyxel. We only needed 24 ports, and they had the cheapest VDSL DSLAM with 24 ports at the time. Didn't really have any problems with them, and based on talking with the current hotel staff it is holding up just fine. The only gotcha was their VDSL modems used an AC adapter which has 9V AC output. If someone equipment expecting DC had the same plug, you could fry it by plugging in the DSL modem's AC adapter. Oh, also, they don't make VDSL modems anymore. They've moved on to VDSL2 modems. They're supposed to be backwards compatible but neither I nor the hotel has had a chance to test them. I have no experience with the other manufacturers.

In theory you can use any brand VDSL modem with any brand VDSL DSLAM. The scattered reports I found at the time said that this wasn't always true in practice. ADSL seems to be more compatible and cheaper because its use is more widespread, so that may sway things in favor of ADSL. The primary drawback of ADSL was the 3.5 Mbps upstream limit - VDSL could do 18 Mbps both ways, VDSL2 can top 100 Mbps up to 1.5 km, 50 Mbps up to 3 km. From what I hear, certain fiber internet services are using VDSL2 from the street over the copper phone line to avoid having to lay down fiber to the actual home. So maybe VDSL equipment has become more compatible and cheaper.

You need to decide which technology to go with based on your bandwidth requirements, current market prices, and which technology you think will stick around. Just do a Google shopping search on DSLAM and your choice of ADSL2 or VDSL2 (or any other DSL - I don't know what is hot now).

Nevermind the Wi-Fi...

[IonOtter]

Disclosure: I work for a major service provider/telco.

Don't worry about the wi-fi system so much, there are plenty of solutions for that. Instead, worry more about the connection.

You can have the best wi-fi in the world, but if your connection is down, then you've still got a hotel full of angry customers.

Some things to consider?

1. Network diversity. If you are going to get a multi-T1 setup, then make sure you request network diversity. Yes, it costs more, but if you have all of your T1 connections riding the same sets of DS3s to your hotel, you have a single point of failure. I work with this my entire shift, every day at work. The customer bought a 6-T1 MLPPP ckt to make sure their business had enough bandwidth, but all six are riding the same DS3. The DS3 craps out and *poof*. And DS3s crapping out is dreadfully common. Also, having your circuits come to you from different central offices is also a good idea. Again, it'll cost more, but it'll be worth it when some idiot takes out a telephone pole or punches an auger down through the F2 pairs.

2. Employee training. I cannot stress this enough. Every single hotel we do business with all has one, maybe two "IT people", and everyone else in the entire hotel cannot tell the difference between a Cisco or a Black & Decker (router). And trying to find that "IT Person" at 1AM is like trying to find chicken teeth. In the meantime, I'm sitting at my desk, getting escalations from your senior management, pulling my hair out and waiting for SOMEONE on-site to pull the cable out of the RJ48X so I can test to a loop.

Teach your employees where the smartjack is located and what the lights on it mean. Teach them what the CSU/DSU is, and what the lights on that mean. Show them how to do a hard-boot (unplug-replug), how to follow the cables, how to "exercise the jack" (unplug-replug). And if you REALLY wanna give me a warm fuzzy, make a loopback plug, show them how to use it, and leave a few of them hanging on a peg in your telco room.

I know that sounds like a lot to ask from your "associates", but if I can teach a grocery store manager how to do it over the phone, you can certainly do it too.

Re:How to sell new cable to them

[LandDolphin]

An issue with older buildings that are out of code on many issues is that they can usually stay out of code until they perform $X amount of renovations. So working on redoing the cable/wi-fi might cause them to have to spend thousands on other out-of-code renovations.

Checkbox WiFi Hotspot Router

[C0L0PH0N]

I spent several months researching wifi hotspots for a similar installation. I settled on the Checkbox Hotspot (http://www.layerfour.net/store/index.php/checkbox.html). It is a "standalone" hotspot router, which means you put out a one time purchase price, it is not an ongoing service. In addition, you can buy "repeaters" which extend the range as far as you want, and are integrated with the main "Checkbox" hotspot router. All the software is built into the router. It gives you options to print "tickets" which can be for any period of time. They can also be preprinted, say for 1 day, a week, a month, etc, etc. You can also specify "tickets" for special events which let all computers attach using the same "code". Also, you can specify "permanent" tickets. The router locks to the MAC address of the connecting computer, and the service expires when the ticket expires. Those are the key features I was interested it, but it also has a number of other features. Definitely worth looking at. I believe the Checkbox router is a "G" series router, if that is an important issue.

Re:Dude, I don't wanna shit all over your question

[flosofl]

It sounds like you have zero experience deploying enterprise class wireless for high traffic scenarios. It's a lot more than just plopping a couple commodity access points and hoping for the best.

You have to do a site survey to determine the best layout for the APs including equipment placement, channel patterns and power levels to maximize the best SNR against the overall cost. 2.4GHz or 5GHz or both? What are the structural barriers in place? Do you want to have blanket coverage or only cover certain areas? What level of WLAN redundancy do you want? How much should your coverage overlap? Are you bridging wirelessly? Using extended VLANs, centralizing the traffic and management? How are you handling zone handoff?

There's a lot of initial prep work that goes on before you even begin to place equipment.

DSL and Cable

[Kagato]

A lot of hotel's use DSL or Cable infrastructure. The back end equipment is more expensive than traditional Cat5+, but that is typically offset by the wiring costs. If you already have Comcast Business Systems or Comcast Telcom delivering the 100Mbit then I would ask them if they have a line up on bridging technology ready to roll.

The biggest issue you'll have with the actual WiFi is selecting a product that can handle the load in your common and event areas. Consumer/SOHO APs start to crush after 10+ clients.

While you won't have to have a billing system, you should still have something on the backend that will track the users and make them accept an AUP. Astaro is the cheapest turn key system combining firewall capabilities and pre-integrated APs.

Hotel Front Desk != IT Support

[j-stroy]

I suggest you shop for a turnkey vendor with an up-time monitoring & support package and signal strength survey as part of installation. That way when any trouble is observed, its logged and dealt with before the front-desk gets inundated with calls. Nothing is going to make you more unpopular with this business than the sheer volume of calls when it stops working. It will be inconvenient for you to drop everything to service this low-markup client. Save tinker toy wi-fi play for hobby time.

Not that difficult

[gad_zuki!]

I feel you're overthinking this.

Existing WAPs. I'm assuming you have admin access to them. If they're connected to telephone wire that means the hotel has its own DSL network (search for the DSLAM) or some prorietary data over phone solution (weird little dongles on each end). No need to replace these things. 90% of the work is already done.

Find the DSLAM or whatever router is currently serving the WAPs. Pull you comcast line to there. If the router or switch is aged, consider replacing them.

Verification, for small businesses I prefer to just give out a WPA key that changes monthly (teach staff how to change them). Ideally, you can have a radius system but that will require API access to their guest management software to pull values like last name, room number, etc. That might be overkill though.

Re:Dear slashdot

[MokuMokuRyoushi]

While I do see your point with that satire(and it is a good one!), what's wrong with asking? A professional should be able to tell what he needs to do without asking, sure, but I respect the professional who both knows, and asks to check himself/find better ideas.

Re:Dude, I don't wanna shit all over your question

[dgatwood]

True, but judging from the hotels I've stayed in over the years, I'd be willing to bet that few, if any of them did... well... any of that. They buy or lease some pre-built router box, toss in two or three access points per floor, all in bridging mode, cable it up with 100BASE-TX or maybe Gig-E, connect the other side to some sad DSL modem, or if you're really lucky, a T1, and call it a day.

Re:Dude, I don't wanna shit all over your question

[flosofl]

I've heard some good things about CWNP. I don't know about getting their certs but their study guide seems to do a good job of covering the fundamentals.

And where does Google get its information from?

[cowtamer]

You know, Google has to get this information from somewhere. I can't even count the times when I Googled something, only to find 15 other people who've asked the same question, and nothing but snarky replies saying "just Google it you moron!"

Suggestion for you: just don't click on any "Ask Slashdot" links and leave this feature for those of us who actually want to learn something...

There is no shame in asking -- nobody is born knowing everything.

Internet over mains....... Ham radio

[SomethingOrOther]

Have you thought of using internet over mains wiring?

"It's as if millions of Radio Hams suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

Broadband over power line wipes out short wave radio.
http://www.arrl.org/broadband-over-powerline-bpl


.

Leases

[ktappe]

I've read (almost) this whole thread and while everyone is talking about cabling and whatnot, I've not seen anyone mention DHCP leasing. I just spent the last 2 weeks traveling and spending every other night in a new hotel. EVERY place had problems with DHCP leases. That is, you could connect to the WiFi spot(s) but often could not get a lease and ended up with a self-assigned IP. From what I read, this is due to leaving the routers in the factory config. which is for long lease times (I think 4 days is common). That sux when you have guests coming and going daily; the leases take days to expire and the router runs out of IP's to dole out. So whatever you end up doing, please have the routers configured for *short* leases (perhaps 1 hour?) so when guests depart their slots can be reallocated to new arrivals.

Problem well described is half solved

[Whuffo]

How many rooms, how many stories. What's the size of the building? What are the walls made of? What's your budget?

All of these things make a difference in what will be needed to provide a usable WiFi signal to all rooms. Don't do anything less than WiFi; most traveling devices have WiFi capabilities, but many of them do not have LAN jacks.

Comcast already has cable to the office; have them put their cable modem there - not at the property line. Then you'll be able to secure the networking equipment and make the owners feel more secure.

Beyond that, distances and construction matter. You're going to need multiple access points; how many and where to put them depends on the particular scenario. Even the height of the access point from ground level makes a huge difference in coverage.

It's quite possible to do this at a fairly low cost and provide reliable service to the guests. But if you've never planned and installed a network system like this before - run away as fast as you can and let someone else do it.

The specs on the access points are wishful thinking under the best of conditions; this job really needs someone with experience in wireless installations to plan it.