How do I create a wifi "hotspot" for our apartment complex?

May 31, 2008 12:15 PM

I've been asked to help create a wifi "hotspot" for the outdoor common area of our apartment complex...

We will have a dedicated broadband connection (cable modem) for this purpose. I'm thinking that we do not want it to be "wide open" as it might get abused -- I could be wrong, I'm not sure. But I'm interested to hear from anyone who may have created their own hotspot, and perhaps additional information on various solutions that might allow us to require tenants to register for an account, etc. Are there any turnkey/"hotspot in a box" solutions out there that do not require us to have (lots of) additional equipment outside of the transmitter/router itself? In addition, any recommendations for an outdoor/weather-safe signal-providing device? Any help or leads in this direction would be most appreciated. Thanks! (BTW, I am tech-savvy, so feel free to answer in technical terms.)

posted by lot49 to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Might be that this is what you are interested in from the management side.

For the actual housing, well maybe you'd consider keeping the gear in a sheltered location and running an omni-directional hi-gain antenna to the general use area.

Or go read this article.

The proper WRT54G (and you have to make sure you get the right one).

Will be flexible enough to do whatever you need, even if you don't go with the chillispot solution and do manual administration.
posted by iamabot at 12:56 PM on May 31

As long as you're considering flashing a WRT54G, I'll throw in a plug for DD-WRT, which has support for several hotspot applications out-of-the box (sputnik, chilisoft, wifi-dog and nocatsplash). Seconding the recommendation that you choose the correct make and model of WRT. It's possible that the most you'd need in addition to the WRT is a single box for RADIUS authentication or for your nocat splash page.
posted by jquinby at 1:03 PM on May 31

I can personally recommend MikroTik units, which come with a very flexible operating system and a built-in hotspot module (allowing you to direct people to an information page when they first arrive, then optionally having them register, controlling their allowed time, upload/download rate, etc).

These units come as small boards to which you add a wireless card. They can be put in a variety of cases to meet your environmental needs, and can be powered from a Power-over-Ethernet injector, making it super easy to mount them outdoors and only need to run one wire to them.

The operating system gives you a ton of flexibility as far as controlling the system goes. You can use SSH, Telnet, or a GUI interface to maintain it.

You can also just use the RouterOS on your own X86 hardware if you prefer, but the MikroTik boards are super neat.
posted by odinsdream at 1:10 PM on May 31

You can get outdoor enclosures suitable for the Linksys from http://www.fab-corp.com and http://www.hyperlinktech.com . Larger omnidirectional antennas which have a N-Female connection on them are also available for less than $75 online. Buy the prefabricated pigtail cable which is N-Male to (whatever connector the AP needs).
posted by thewalrus at 1:32 PM on May 31

Having set up several external APs I'd strongly recommend going with commercial / semi-commercial hardware over a consumer device like a WRT54G, unless you think you'll like replacing them every 6~12 months. Consumer devices don't last very long even when sitting in the relatively benign conditions of the average study or lounge; stick them in an uncooled / unheated / unprotected common area, roof space, or verandah, and their life is even shorter.

All the ones I've done have been pieced together from commercial hardware bits, including the Routerboard hardware the Mikrotik stuff uses. Out of about 10 installed over the last few years, I've replaced 1 main board and 2 (or was it 3?) wireless cards, all due to nearby lightning strikes. It's worth noting that the 1 motherboard replaced was powered by PoE, but I don't know if that was a factor in its storm-assisted demise. I've also heard good things about the Linksys WAP200E, but it's a bit expensive locally.
posted by Pinback at 5:25 PM on May 31

Meraki, or, better yet, openMesh?
posted by bhance at 8:50 PM on May 31

There's not turnkey hardware for this AFAIK, but there's the next best thing: CoovaAP. Think of it as DD-WRT or OpenWRT with all the work done for you.
posted by PueExMachina at 10:03 PM on May 31

Mikrotik for the win!
posted by evilelvis at 10:04 AM on June 1

Seconding Meraki.
posted by DJWeezy at 10:08 AM on June 1