Re: Setting up free wifi for 500-1000 meter range.

>>>>> "Wes" == Wes Phibbs <[email protected]> writes:

Wes> Setting up free wifi for 500-1000 meter range.  Theres a farmacia
Wes> here in the Dominican Republic (Samana) that wants to setup free
Wes> wifi for 500-1000 meters range. He wants it to be open access,
Wes> but when you get onto it it will pop up one advertisment page for
Wes> his place. then u can surf the net for free while out and about
Wes> with your laptop or at a resourant etc. The town is made from
Wes> moslty cement buildings 1 - 2 stories high. *His is 2 stories*
Wes> Its near the ocean (his is less then 500 meters to the ocean i
Wes> think.) He tried to do wifi now but just with a low end router
Wes> and its not working well. I guess im wondering about equipment
Wes> and how to setup that popup page/when u try surf the web. Or if
Wes> theres a place that already explains all this. i have limitied
Wes> access to the internet so it makes research a bit more
Wes> difficult. So im interensted in ideas, (cheaper is better, but it
Wes> needs to work.)  I did get on the chat online and they mentioned
Wes> doing a 4 or so directional AP's to a central router (also with
Wes> wireless on the router i guess to pickup the local dead spot)
Wes> Someone thought 4 corners of the building for the AP's instead of
Wes> trying to make a tower. The problem i see is that it seems hard
Wes> to find directional antenas that have a wide degree spread, i
Wes> guess i would need 90deg on each at least.  Any ideas or neat/new
Wes> equipment or specific parts would be appretiated. We can order
Wes> stuff in if need be, or try local/what we can get. Im not sure on
Wes> his price range or anything. Ill just work with what i get from
Wes> feedback.  Ive never taken on a public wifi project before, and
Wes> never these ranges either, so any help is help.

You "ad" problem can be solved with a thing called a "captive portal",
software that basically diverts an initial web request to a splash
page.  There are lots of captive portals.  Personal Telco uses
NoCatAuth, NoCatSplash and WifiDog in various places.  One thing to
bear in mind, each user's mac address (or BSSID) needs to be visible
for a captive portal to work.  That means your network needs to be
"bridged".  This can present difficulties if you are using more than
one device.  Two solutions are to use WDS to connect multiple access
points or run a captive portal on each access point.

Outdoors without too many obstructions, an access point is going to be
able to provide service for ordinary laptops in the space within a few
hundred feet, maybe 100 meters.  To cover an area the size you are
talking about is going to need numerous devices.


-- 
Russell Senior, Secretary
[email protected]

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