internet cafe solution and ideas needed!

[quikshine]

Hi,

Basically im after any knowledge that any of you may have regarding wireless internet. My auntie is the chairperson/director of a charity, which basically involves running a cafe which employs people with mental handicaps in order to provide them with vital training, help build their self confidence and give them independence along with lots more benefits..

Anyway, I have been asked to sort out a broadband connection for the onsite administrator as they currently only use a dial up connection. What I would also like to do is provide customers with a broadband connection wirelessly. I could do this easily, but there are things to consider first. These are:

1. the security
2. obviously restrict websites of an adult nature
3. possibly have some sort of password page so only cafe customers can connect

The service would be provided free of charge and would be an extra selling feature of the cafe.

I have looked at different internet cafe software, but im inexperienced in this area and dont really know what I need.

Can anyone help or have any ideas of good software (if any) to use?


Cheers
Ross

 

[MrMark]

1) setting the wpa or wep on thewireless router would be sufficient, i imagine
2) effective filtering software could be installed on all machines. Im not sure if can be done the routers themselves.
3) passwords wouldnt be needed as long as only the computers in the cafe have the wep wpa key to access the router, as otherwise the connection would not be established anyway.


^^some tips there, but nowhere near perfect. Im sure others can also help^^

 

[quikshine]

1) setting the wpa or wep on thewireless router would be sufficient, i imagine
2) effective filtering software could be installed on all machines. Im not sure if can be done the routers themselves.
3) passwords wouldnt be needed as long as only the computers in the cafe have the wep wpa key to access the router, as otherwise the connection would not be established anyway.


^^some tips there, but nowhere near perfect. Im sure others can also help^^

Thanks. The only thing is there wont be any computers in the cafe for customer use.. customers would would only be able to access the net if they have their own laptops to use.. you see the idea is that broadband will be being installed anyway for business use, but we thought as it there why not also offer it wirelessly for free to customers of the cafe. so its not really a proper internet cafe, but it has to function in a similar way so as it is secure and so it is isnt abused by customers accessing adult sites.

What you think?

 

[MrMark]

then i would suggest a sort of ssid registration, where the users would register they laptop and MAC code before hand to access the network, and each code be input into the router to allow a connection.

Im not sure about the adult site filtering though...

 

[quikshine]

I Found this:

https://www.hotspotsystem.com/

Which sounds ideal and simple for me to set up! There is alot of useful information on their website making it very easy to understand how their service works.

What you think? :star:

 

[si_from_earth]

1) setting the wpa or wep on thewireless router would be sufficient, i imagine
2) effective filtering software could be installed on all machines. Im not sure if can be done the routers themselves.
3) passwords wouldnt be needed as long as only the computers in the cafe have the wep wpa key to access the router, as otherwise the connection would not be established anyway.


^^some tips there, but nowhere near perfect. Im sure others can also help^^

I would not recommend WEP as this can be easily cracked with the right software!!..WPA offers a higher level of security and an encryption key. This can also be cracked but is harder. Also adopt MAC filtering.

 

[quikshine]

what do you think of the service offered by the company on the link I posted... Im only setting this all up so it really has to run seamlessly as there wont be any computer minded people there to start adding WEP, WPA or mac address filtering for each customer that wants to use the service.

 

[Racingblue182]

Ross, off topic I know but you coming along tomoz?

 

[quikshine]

Unfortunately not mate.. its my turn to work this sunday..(2moro) Thats retail management for you..dont ever get into it if you value your social life!! lol..

Hope you all have a good day and the weather stays dry..

Thanks for asking..

Cheers
Ross

ps.. Anymore info about selling your wheels? last week you said you were talking to a guy on here about a set.. How did that go? Ive been told if I can find a set I can have them for xmas! woo whoo!

 

[M1TCH]

I dont know anything about setting something like this up, but I wouldnt even bother trying to filter anything. The kind of customer you are going to have coming in arent going to be using that sort of site I would say.