Advice would be appreciated

[Savaloco]

The school I work at just added public access wifi. I would like to connect around 15 pc's that are currently in my classroom, and without Internet access, to this public wifi.

The plan is to purchase and install wireless cards in each machine. Cheap cards can be had for as little as $12. Not sure how these devices will work all connected so closely together.

An alternative would be to somehow bridge the public wifi and connect each pc via ethernet. A significant problem is that the school's IT will not support these machines because they have been donated. This makes it impossible to configure or access the school's side of their public network.

Any suggestions and/or opinions would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

 

[D.SKiLL]

Not sure how these devices will work all connected so closely together.

15 should be ok, you should assign static ip to each machine, since its likely that you don't have access to the router in this situation and cant know what the DHCP range truly is, but letting once of them connect via DHCP can give you an idea of the range and you can assign you statics this way.

Its doubtful you could bridge the Wifi, unless you have access to the router and have the isp information as well. the wireless cards are the way to go, they are easy to deal with. I would recommend using something on the higher end as opposed to a cheap card, as always you get what you pay for =)

 

[JackMDS]

IT does Not have to support the computers per-se but they can be instructed to support WIFI at the computer's location and you can do the rest.

Otherwise any other solution might create security problem and a constant friction with the IT people.

 

[unokitty]

Just a thought.

Have you considered using USB wireless adapters? Might give you some flexibility.

But beware that not all usb wireless adapters are created the same. If you budget some time, and money, for trial and error, you will probably be happier in the long run.

Best of luck,
Uno

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would aim to reduce the wireless traffic as much as possible. STAs send a lot of management frames, the more STAs you have associated with one AP the less actual usable bandwidth you have.

I would get an ethernet switch for all of the PCs, and then get a decent wireless N300 router that you can put DD-WRT on, and then set it up as Wireless Client mode connected to the public wifi. That way, the PCs in your lab get local IPs from your local DD-WRT router, and they can all access the internet via the public wifi.

The only fly in the ointment that I can see is if you need to use a web browser to login to the public wifi. That would seemingly prevent the DD-WRT router from connecting properly.

Edit: Another solution would be to assign one of the PCs as the "internet master" computer. Put a wifi card into that PC, connect it to the public wifi, and then connect the ethernet on that PC to a switch, and connect all of the other PCs to that switch. Log into the public wifi on that computer (using the browser to login if necessary), and then setup ICS (Internet connection sharing) on that PC, and then the other PCs will get DHCP info from that PC, and it will route to the internet for the other PCs.

 

[Savaloco]

Thanks folks.

I was not aware of dd-wrt and will look into a router & switch option as I agree with Larry that ideally you want to minimize wireless traffic. Poking around it seems fairly straight fwd and there is no need to bother with the primary router.

if not ... I'll go the USB route for ease and flexibility. Throughput will be brutal but I'm only looking to provide basic web surfing and access to some cloud based storage.

We'll see how it goes.

Cheers

 

[styrafoam]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833156152

$5 a piece for these, i have used a few and they have worked well.

 

[donfm]

I would aim to reduce the wireless traffic as much as possible. STAs send a lot of management frames, the more STAs you have associated with one AP the less actual usable bandwidth you have.

I would get an ethernet switch for all of the PCs, and then get a decent wireless N300 router that you can put DD-WRT on, and then set it up as Wireless Client mode connected to the public wifi. That way, the PCs in your lab get local IPs from your local DD-WRT router, and they can all access the internet via the public wifi.

This would be my suggestion as well.