Business Wireless Solution

[Danny01010]

I am looking to add a new wireless network for our customers to use.
I wondered if anyone here had come across and decent solutions.
I would like to cover multiple areas of the site. And if cheap enough the whole site.

Ideally I would like a control panel I can use to create new passwords for every customer that wants to connect. I can then set an expiry date on the password after that it deletes the password.

An extra would be if the person would have to sign an e-policy before being allowed to browse.

Thanks.

 

[RealBeast]

Depending on what equipment you currently have, you can add multiple access points and if your router supports guest zones or additional SSIDs you can isolate the guests from your network.

You can change your WPA2 passkey periodically, although that would be a manual procedure.

 

[Danny01010]

We currently have 3 differant Netgear routers in certain areas. But we have to manually add their MAC address each time. Which means taking my laptop in range of the access point and connecting.

 

[RealBeast]

You could turn off MAC address filtering -- anyone with a laptop and half a brain can spoof your MAC address anyway. Just use WPA2 and make sure that WPS is disabled to prevent a Reaver side door attack.

Of the three Netgear routers is one providing DHCP and the other two configured as APs or do you have three different networks?

 

[Danny01010]

They are all on the same network but on differant IP's

The problem with a password is trusting employees not to use there own laptops. Because the network isnt behind any firewall it is straight out to the internet there is a risk of getting an attack or virus.

 

[RealBeast]

If you only create a wireless guest zone, assuming that your router/APs have that feature, it would isolate them from your business network.

Additionally, advise employees that they are not allowed to use the guest wireless network, that it is only for customers, and consequences would be severe.

If you really want to assign customers ID and passwords that are unique you would probably need to go with a Wireless LAN Controller -- Cisco makes very good ones, but they are not cheap, even the 2504 5 LAN unit is around $1200. Moreover, I don't know if they would work with your existing APs.

 

[Danny01010]

Thanks for all your help.
They do have a guest feature but i just dont trust the employees not to do it, even if we say that there will be severe consequences.
I will look into the LAN controller and see what we can do. It may mean i have to buy 3 New Cisco routers as well.

 

[ngrego]

What kind of business is it that you want to cover? How many users would you have connected to the wireless network at once?

 

[Danny01010]

It can be anywhere from 1 to 10 It depends how many visitors we have at the time.

 

[ngrego]

I see, then it probably wouldnt be worth installing a proffesional Wifi system. The cost would be too great. The "guest network" solution would probably suit you better under the sircumstances.