A good combination for a hotspot + repeater setup on a reasonable budget.
As you know I have been working on setting up hotspots in a bunch of local caravan parks. A couple of these parks are spread over a large area with quite a few trees in and around potential client locations. Therefore a repeater will be necessary for full coverage of these locations.
Wireless Distribution System is a method for allowing APs to repeat of one another. Its not certified by the WiFi Alliance so it can be 'hit and miss' when getting two different Access Points talking to each other using this system. The Netgear WG102 works with the Mikrotik RouterOS 2.9.27 using a Senao 2511 (200mW) card.
The configurations are as follows.
RouterOS:
/ interface wireless set hotspot name="hotspot" ssid="hotspot" wds-mode=dynamic wds-default-bridge=wds_bridge
/ interface bridge add name="wds_bridge"
/ interface bridge port add interface=hotspot bridge=wds_bridge priority=128 path-cost=10 comment="" disabled=no
The mac address of the RouterOS hotspot interface is: 00:02:6F:39:58:4E
This is using the dynamic WDS mode - meaning that RouterOS will automatically add APs that wish to participate in a WDS style connection. It will also automatically add the dynamic WDS interfaces to a bridge interface to share with the physical wireless interface.
Netgear:
Under Security click Security Profile Settings. Select the first profile and click edit.
Set the Profile Name to repeater or whatever you like and then set the SSID to hotspot.
You can opt to have Wireless client Security Seperation if you do not wish to have clients talking to each other.
Within the Advanced group in the main menu on the left side, click Access Point Settings.
Check the box for Enable Wireless Bridging and Repeating on Security Profile 1.
Choose Repeater with Wireless Client Association and enter the above 'hotspot' mac address in the Parent AP MAC Address fields.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Monday, July 10, 2006
Three sites up, three to go
So far the Mooloolaba (Parkyn Pde), Sea Breeze and Cotton Tree parks are up and going. Five people have actually signed up and paid for the service. Ten others have signed up and not paid. So 5 out of 15 signups isn't bad considering the service has only been in existence for a matter of weeks and NO promotion has been done.
Support overheads seem quite good in these early stages. I expected at least one call for each signup to get people connected, basically teaching them how to use wireless and the particulars of the service and the Internet. However I was pleasantly surprised to see people connecting and signing up without having to contact us, which is fantastic!
I definitely need marketing materials for each site. The park manages do find it difficult to explain the service to people on top of the rest of what they have to tell guests. The council should have met us halfway with this and worked with us on some material that was deemed suitable by their standards. I think I will take an active role in this side of things and get something out the door.
The wireless coverage of the Cotton Tree park is less than I had originally hoped. It is the largest park and I am only covering the western half. Its bad only partially covering a given location - it creates disparity and people in the non-covered areas become hostile towards the service. I will push forward our plans to install a repeater within the western side of the park. This means rapidly sourcing and testing a compatible Access Point.
Mudjimba and Coolum Parks are troublesome. Coolum requires a bit of fancy wireless work to get DSL distributed to the Hotspot. Mudjimba has a problem where getting DSL to the site is difficult - it may need to be sourced outside the park and beamed in wirelessly.
Support overheads seem quite good in these early stages. I expected at least one call for each signup to get people connected, basically teaching them how to use wireless and the particulars of the service and the Internet. However I was pleasantly surprised to see people connecting and signing up without having to contact us, which is fantastic!
I definitely need marketing materials for each site. The park manages do find it difficult to explain the service to people on top of the rest of what they have to tell guests. The council should have met us halfway with this and worked with us on some material that was deemed suitable by their standards. I think I will take an active role in this side of things and get something out the door.
The wireless coverage of the Cotton Tree park is less than I had originally hoped. It is the largest park and I am only covering the western half. Its bad only partially covering a given location - it creates disparity and people in the non-covered areas become hostile towards the service. I will push forward our plans to install a repeater within the western side of the park. This means rapidly sourcing and testing a compatible Access Point.
Mudjimba and Coolum Parks are troublesome. Coolum requires a bit of fancy wireless work to get DSL distributed to the Hotspot. Mudjimba has a problem where getting DSL to the site is difficult - it may need to be sourced outside the park and beamed in wirelessly.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Cheap SSL Certificates
I'm posting this here more for reference sake then for blatent advertising.
http://www.ssl-certificates.com.au
Certificates start from $32.00 AUD and are the real thing - a root signed (Equifax Secure Corp) 128bit certificate. I'm not sure if its an anomaly, but the certificates show up as 256bit under firefox, which makes sense since IE only handles up to 128bit, so maybe they are 256bit certs?
Validation is easy, automated phone and e-mail as specified in their FAQ. Payment is via PayPal or 2CO, I only used the PayPal method with a credit card.
The ordering process is a bit 'all over the place', but its streamlined and not difficult to grasp. If it worries you then you can get a FreeSSL certificate that lasts 30days and try it out - the process is identical minus the payment process. Plus when you update a FreeSSL certificate to a paid one, you get a few months bonus.
I didn't get paid to write this, I'm simply a happy customer.
http://www.ssl-certificates.com.au
Certificates start from $32.00 AUD and are the real thing - a root signed (Equifax Secure Corp) 128bit certificate. I'm not sure if its an anomaly, but the certificates show up as 256bit under firefox, which makes sense since IE only handles up to 128bit, so maybe they are 256bit certs?
Validation is easy, automated phone and e-mail as specified in their FAQ. Payment is via PayPal or 2CO, I only used the PayPal method with a credit card.
The ordering process is a bit 'all over the place', but its streamlined and not difficult to grasp. If it worries you then you can get a FreeSSL certificate that lasts 30days and try it out - the process is identical minus the payment process. Plus when you update a FreeSSL certificate to a paid one, you get a few months bonus.
I didn't get paid to write this, I'm simply a happy customer.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
More on the hotspot revamp
Well I have arrived at a point where I am satisfied that the hotspot backend. I will begin work on the administration and support interface while preparing to roll out the new sites.
Feature List:
ModPerl compatible - works with ModPerl::Registry.
Works with multiple Databases - SQL is multi-db compliant, well, it can be quite easily adapted
Data and Time tracking - tracks and charges for both time and data
Flexible payment gateway interface - I reference a payment proxy via https get/post
Only single host required - run multiple instances on a single virtual host
It only works with Mikrotik RouterOS (versions 2.8 and 2.9). I will develop another version that works with the Colubris MSC3200 series access controllers later on - but RouterOS + WRAP is far cheaper and considerably more flexible...
I have established the Marinanet variant of it and its looking the part - simple interface and quick pay and go subscriber process should make this quite the hit among our existing users.
Feature List:
ModPerl compatible - works with ModPerl::Registry.
Works with multiple Databases - SQL is multi-db compliant, well, it can be quite easily adapted
Data and Time tracking - tracks and charges for both time and data
Flexible payment gateway interface - I reference a payment proxy via https get/post
Only single host required - run multiple instances on a single virtual host
It only works with Mikrotik RouterOS (versions 2.8 and 2.9). I will develop another version that works with the Colubris MSC3200 series access controllers later on - but RouterOS + WRAP is far cheaper and considerably more flexible...
I have established the Marinanet variant of it and its looking the part - simple interface and quick pay and go subscriber process should make this quite the hit among our existing users.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Hotspots for Caravan Parks
As I have mentioned earlier, I have been working on a new hotspot system for our hotspots. This system will be initially used in the five caravan parks operated by the Maroochy Shire Council.
I have completed most of what needs to be done for the backend and router configuration. The only components left to do are receipt generation and account clean up (removing unused or old accounts). The roll out should proceed on time at the end of this month.
I will let the system run for a few months before I establish it as stable, during this time I will probably run a few tweaks etc. I need to sort out a few things with paths and file locations that I'm sure are well covered in the land of perl.
Once stable I will personally take it on to push the product into the Queensland road tourism market. Aiming mainly at the caravan parks that attract tourists and other temporary visitors. I may even try implementing the system at camping grounds - solar power and satellite?
If you are interested in this sort of system, feel free to contact me.
Maroochy hotspot prices page
I have completed most of what needs to be done for the backend and router configuration. The only components left to do are receipt generation and account clean up (removing unused or old accounts). The roll out should proceed on time at the end of this month.
I will let the system run for a few months before I establish it as stable, during this time I will probably run a few tweaks etc. I need to sort out a few things with paths and file locations that I'm sure are well covered in the land of perl.
Once stable I will personally take it on to push the product into the Queensland road tourism market. Aiming mainly at the caravan parks that attract tourists and other temporary visitors. I may even try implementing the system at camping grounds - solar power and satellite?
If you are interested in this sort of system, feel free to contact me.
Maroochy hotspot prices page
Monday, April 24, 2006
I forgot about Roma
I wrote about Townsville and Bundaberg and not Roma... The installation there was straight forward - lots of drilling of holes and snaking cords about. Otherwise the phone guy did his job fine and that was that.
It was at the Overlander Homestead Motor Inn Roma.
It was at the Overlander Homestead Motor Inn Roma.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Marinanet now in Townsville
The installation at the Townsville Coast Guard was finalized on Tuesday (18th April). Dave checked out the signal from the Quarter Deck which showed up as strong and very usable - meaning that the area between the Casino to Anzac Park should be well covered. You may even pick up signal further along the strand however the Mariners North building will block most of the signal in that direction.
For more information please visit the Marinanet website.
Image showing an approximate coverage area:
For more information please visit the Marinanet website.
Image showing an approximate coverage area:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)