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This is as technical as we get – we promise!
Contents:
High speed internet access
Technical Requirements for the equipment you provide
Wireless Coverage
Staff use of the guest access system
Controlled access by time of day
Limiting bandwidth for your visitors
High speed internet access
Any high speed service is fine. Bear in mind that you will be sharing this access service with your guests. If you have heavy use yourself or expect there to be a more that 10 guests using your service AT THE SAME TIME, then you may experience a reduced effective speed. On the other hand, you are getting a heck of a lot of value out of the service. If you are concerned about having enough speed for your business computers, limiting bandwidth for your visitors may be right for you.
Technical Requirements for the equipment you provide
You need to have a router with free Ethernet LAN port. The LAN port can be either 100Mbps or 10Mbps. AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller will negotiate a speed 100Mbps if possible, or 10Mbps if 100Mbps is not possible.
The LAN port on your router must have DHCP, and the assigned IP ranges must not be 192.168.182.X, or 10.168.182.X as these ranges are used by the AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller.
If you have a wireless network in the same area (either on your router, or another device) as the AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller, it must not be on Channel 8, as this channel is used by the AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller.
If you want to install a new high speed service for Courtesy Access, you must still provide a router with a LAN interface for the AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller. Note some High Speed modems include a router function, in this case you do not need a separate router.
Wireless Coverage
Wireless coverage is a bit of a tricky subject, because it depends upon the device, the power and sensitivity of the user’s device, distance, obstructions, and interference sources.
The AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller provides a standard Wi-Fi signal (802.11b/g).
The AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller device would get the normal range for Wi-Fi devices, which is about 30 meters (90 feet) indoors. But bear in mind that this can be reduced if the signal must go through walls and floors. You may want to locate the AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller in the centre of the area you want to have covered. If you do, you will need to provide and install an Ethernet cable from your router the AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller, there needs to be AC power for the AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller and that you want the AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller to be out of physical reach from typical users.
Here is a link with additional information on Wi-Fi coverage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#Protocols
If you don’t think that this coverage is sufficient, please contact us at 866-944-9525 to discuss other options.
Staff use of the guest access system
This is quite feasible, but remember, staff members connecting to the AirRoamer Wireless Access Controller will not be able to directly access your business computers. This communication is blocked as a safety feature of the AirRoamer Visitor Access Kit. If you have already set up a VPN for your staff to access your business computers securely when they are away from your location, this may be used by you staff through the AirRoamer Visitor Access Kit – they will actually be going out to the internet side of your router and coming back in as though they were accessing from their home or a hotel. They would first of all login using AirRoamer, and then they would establish the VPN for secure communication with your company systems.
Controlled access by time of day
Sometimes a business has peak hours when you are concerned with how long visitors stay - for example a restaurant at lunch hour. You may be concerned that offering wireless internet at this times will make your peak time congestion worse. If you want to limit the times that you offer wireless internet, a simple solution is to put the AirRoamer Wi-Fi Access Controller on a simple light timer. It won’t hurt our equipment or service a bit. It allows you to directly control when the service is available. The onyl thing we suggest is post the times it is available on a sign in your location so that your customers do not become confused.
Limiting bandwidth for your visitors
If you wish, we can set the maximum bandwidth that your visitors will share. For example, if your High Speed line has a speed of 1.5 Megabits per second, you could ask us to set the maximum total speed of your visitors to 1 Megabit per second so that your business applications would always have at least 500 kilobits per second. This is a setting that make before shipping the AirRoamer Wi-Fi Access Controller to you and unfortunately cannot be changed.
Still have questions? Contact us for more information.
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