? Whats hot and whats not?

[seobarbershop]

Hi guys, I have a friend (Called Jerry) who owns a small-ish cafe about the size of a normall double bedroom and he is interested in offering free WIFI to he's customers. Could any of your recommend a wireless router that is ok to handle a small amount of users at one time, say 2-4?

Alos is it as simple as just buying one and pluging it in?


Thanks in advance for your replys...



Scott

[Jonas_LT]

Well if he gets a normal internet connection he would probably get a wifi router with it for free.

If not, you can always get a cheap linksys router or netgear.
I've had both brands and neither has ever failed me.

However, if he opens it up to everyone to use it, there isn't really any way he can control it.

I would recommend getting a cheap computer and use it as a gateway, or that he keeps the password on the wall and change it daily.

I know bigger companies have their own gateway but this might be a bit exceissive if he wants to just offer free WiFi in a small cafe.

[david9108]

Well I'd suggest BT as it offers BT FON... and it is a widely recognised brand, but I guess reading some other forums that might not be popular. :)

[FireFleur]

OpenWrt (http://openwrt.org/)can be placed on quite a lot of routers, they have a list of OpenWrt Compatible hardware (http://oldwiki.openwrt.org/TableOfHardware.html) that should work with it.

They you have a Linux based system that you can run some network accounting on, and supply various login and charge mechanisms.

Though you could also get a mini-itx box and run it from there as well, even have a portal for the cafe itself.

[british steve]

Hi guys, I have a friend (Called Jerry) who owns a small-ish cafe about the size of a normall double bedroom and he is interested in offering free WIFI to he's customers. Could any of your recommend a wireless router that is ok to handle a small amount of users at one time, say 2-4?

Alos is it as simple as just buying one and pluging it in?


Thanks in advance for your replys...



Scott

Not quite so simple as just pluging in a router these days, if one of your customers downloads anything they should not Jerry could be held liable and open to a big fine and possibly even some soapy man love in prision. One pub in the UK (customer of www.thecloud.net (http://www.thecloud.net) I think) was fined over £8,000 because one of their customers downloaded music from an illegal file sharing site. Using a proper wifi hotspot company thats offers secure services can protect you from that.

If you want more details PM me!

[timwebster]

Hi,

Call the people at Polkaspots wifi hotspots. They're a small Wi-Fi Hotspot service provider based in london. I think their number is 02071831471 - the person I deal with is called mark or michael.

We have a small cafe in devon and use them for our free wifi service. Have done for 2 years now. They have content filtering and monitor all their locations realtime. They also cap bandwidth somehow so you can't abuse the internet.

Ask them about broadband bundles too if you're interested in that, they have a partnership with a big telco.

Nice dealing with a small company for once too! Small businesses stick together :)

[timwebster]

Just checked, the person I talk to is called Michael, he's a techie.

[seobarbershop]

Hi TimWebster- Thanks for the detailed reply and ile be sure to give them a call......

Thanks again.