[Sussex] internet cafe

[Alan Pope]

On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 10:26:44 -0000, Gareth Ablett
<Gareth.Ablett at itpserve.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> After having a few days off from work I get back to be told I'm gonna meet wit someone regarding putting internet in his café (wireless) for customers to use.

Are they paying customers or can I just sit outside and use the
wireless? If paid for he needs some way of taking payment (I guess he
has a till) and giving "tokens" for use perhaps?
 
> I've not used wireless before although setting up shouldn't be too much of a problem, what I don't have a clue about is will it just need a router and some setting up then pretty simple for customers to use or is it a case of needing a server and software.

If he wants it wide open, then the simplest solution is to chuck a
wireless gateway on the premesis. This is fraught with danger though.
People can easily abuse a connection in this way. There are a number
of capture portals that ask users for username/pass/token type
credentials in order to allow access to the network.

http://www.locustworld.com/ sell a product which is pretty much plug
and play, can be remotely managed and can even provide bluetooth
wireless access as well as 802.11b/g.

http://nocat.net/ provide a software solution to the capture portal
also worth a look.

> 
> I'm guessing that they will want there own machine to look at the internet themselves and for any setup I do, but they are pretty tight for space so looking for advice.
> 

I'd go for a mini-itx box with a dlink card running linux. You could
boot off a CD or compact flash device for simplicity and lack of
moving parts.

Cheers,
Al.