I want to setup a wifi hotspot in an area which is not directly connected to the internet in my big office.?

Question

I have a relatively big office with around 300 computers. I have a special server which is connected to the internet. I have a conference room where I want to setup a wi-fi hotspot so my customers can connect to the internet in that room. How is that possible. I have a computer in the conference room but it is not directly connected to the internet.

Answer 1

Well, you obviously have to get internet to your conference room first, so you either shell out the cash for a secondary Line(dsl/cable/fios etc..) or run a cat6 line from your office network to the conferece room then segment the conference room traffic off on its own vlan via your router and layer3 switch, if you have 300 users. i assume you have enterprise class equipment. if you use an enterprise class AP like a cisco 1200 series, you could actually allow your office vlan as well through the AP, you would just secure that traffic, since those AP's can handle multple VLANs.

Answer 2

You will need a Wireless Access Point. However, the network connection in the office MUST have access to the Internet for it to work. If the network connection doesn't have Internet access, there's no way to get your customers on the Internet.

You do NOT want or need a Wireless Router, unless you can configure it as a Wireless Access Point. Make SURE that the DHCP server is turned off or you'll mess up the rest of your network for sure!

Answer 3

Very Easy, Think of routing your Internet connection from your server to anywhere inside your office wirelessly. You want to setup a hot spots in the office you need to route your connection from your server using wireless router to all the hot spots in the office, and then bingo you could connect to those hot spot you configured. could be open or secured.Or have a power full wireless router which Will route your connection inside your office.

Answer 4

********Warning ********
Following these instructions may invalidate your Linksys warranty. You do so at your own risk. These instructions assume that you have an understanding of Linux, PHP MySQL and Apache. If you brick your AP you might get it back by holding down the reset pin for 20 seconds, unplug the power while still holding down the reset button for another 20 seconds and then plugging the power back in while still keeping the reset button held in for a further 20 seconds. This should bring it back to the defaults of whatever firmware you have installed. You should be able to login to 192.168.1.1

*******End of Warning********
Feel free to copy or use this information in any way you like.

What you will need:-

a) DD-WRT
Download the latest version here http://brainslayer.braincontrol.org/dd-wrt.v22.zip

b) FreeRadius
Download the latest version here ftp://ftp.freeradius.org/pub/radius/old/freeradius.1.0.3.tar.gz

c) phpMyPrepaid
Download the latest version here http://jabali.net/~carl/phpMyPrepaid.0.1.3RC2.tar
also download the radiusd.conf file from http://jabali.net/~carl/

d) Linksys WRT54G AP

e) You will also need PHP, Apache, MySQL amd MySql Delopment Modules,(These need to be setup first.) some patience, plenty of coffee

For the rest of the directions please go to
http://www.howtoforge.com/wifi_hotspot_setup

Answer 5

get a wireless router.

connect the WAN cable to the router, and then connect your server to the router's port using LAN cable.

if the server is set to be exposed to the net, go to your router's configuration (mostly 192.168.0.1) and set DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) to point to your server box.

Enable your router to act as DHCP server so that your customers can connect easily to your wi-fi access point.