Help! WiFi Network with guest (INTERNET ONLY) access

[five.five-six]

Sure, I have a WiFi router in my house that does this. The kicker is that in this instance need to cover 5,000 sqft, so multiple access points is probably needed. How can I do this? effectively my budget is $400 including the router.

[Barbarossa]

We just put a Cisco in, and it covers about that. Thing has two antennaas. Be happy to get the p/n tomorrow.

[paul0660]

My $15 Netgear does that. Using it right now. I tried it before I went with the WGR etc access point advice, glad I did. One has one antenna.

[Peter.Steele]

Might try 2 routers connected with a powerline network? First router goes to your modem, second router is connected via powerline, and has DNS turned off?

Don't know whether it would work for sure or not, but I'm probably going to be trying something similar soon as my new router shows up ... I want the PS3 / Wii / Blu-Ray player connected via wire, rather than wireless, so I'm going to try and put my old router behind the TV to run those, with powerline going to the new router.

[five.five-six]

We just put a Cisco in, and it covers about that. Thing has two antennaas. Be happy to get the p/n tomorrow.

I need 2 SSIDs. One secured with local LAN and internet assess, the other open with only internet access. I will have to look at the prints, but it is a solid 5,000 sqft single story. I am afraid to do it with just one access point and would prefer locate the router in the server room

[rgray]

If you are looking to restrict guest access to Internet only and keep them out of your intranet, a lot of routers do this with a guest password. Their connection will be firewalled against all other connections. I have 2 Ciscos that do this.

[monk]

If you are looking to restrict guest access to Internet only and keep them out of your intranet, a lot of routers do this with a guest password. Their connection will be firewalled against all other connections. I have 2 Ciscos that do this.

He actually said his router does this.


OP, like someone else said, get another router. Cheaper than a dedicated AP and will do the job. It's up to you if you want to go the powerline route or use a CAT5/6 cable. I've never worked on the powerline route but I've done the CAT route. What you'll do is set up the second router to act as an AP. Most routers will have a simple drop down. You should set the second router, now an AP, with a static IP, and just remove that number from the DHCP list on your main router.

For example, if you have DHCP on your main router to be 192.168.100.2-20, set up your AP router to 192.168.100.2 and edit your DHCP so that it's 192.168.100.3-20. While setting up the second router to act as the AP, it should ask you to enter in a gateway. This will be your primary router.

Since you'll have a second SSID, make sure to set up AP isolation. This way, the networks will not be able to talk to each other without some crazy hacking. I'd also suggest hiding your home SSID, unless some devices can't connect without seeing it.

If, for whatever reason, the internet doesn't work, you'll want to set up a route in your AP router so that all requests go to the main router. This is usually done by creating a route where the destination is 0.0.0.0. This tells the router that if it receives any request to an IP that is not in its own table, send it to the main router.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here but that should do it.

[five.five-six]

If you are looking to restrict guest access to Internet only and keep them out of your intranet, a lot of routers do this with a guest password. Their connection will be firewalled against all other connections. I have 2 Ciscos that do this.

Can I connect remote access points to them? There are several repeater setups that I am aware of but I would prefer to stick with a wired solution. I know I could do this with 2 separate routers, but would rather use less hardware in a vlan configuration.

[rgray]

I would imagine so, though my home router covers our house and our 3 acres. You might be able to get full house coverage with a single unit.

[five.five-six]

What I would really like would be a router in a server room that would support 2 ceiling mounted PoE APs with both APs supporting both SSIDs. I can't be the only person wanting this.

[five.five-six]

I would imagine so, though my home router covers our house and our 3 acres. You might be able to get full house coverage with a single unit.

Weird things happen in areas with higher population density. I am not saying that it won't work, the problem is that I don't know that it will. WiFi is also referred to as unlicensed microwave. You don't need a license to use it. so in an urban / industrial / commercial environment there is all sorts of interference and multi-path and various other RF nightmares. In short, I don't trust WiFi at all, been burnt by it way to many times.

[monk]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100010072%2040000335&IsNodeId=1&Description=POE%20AP&name=Wireless%20AP%20%2f%20Bridges&Order=BESTMATCH

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127268, multiple SSID, POE AP, decently priced.

[paul0660]

A hundred bucks for a router...................jeez.

[five.five-six]

A hundred bucks for a router...................jeez.

I work on $400,000 routers every day ...just depends on what you want it to do.

[Jeepers]

not released yet (should be released very soon) but its a kick arse Simultaneous Dual Band with awesome range .....

http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/high-performance/DGND4000.aspx