setting up a internet cafe

B&W · 5 Jun 2006 at 22:32

update

well, getting closer now.

have decided on a setup. will be router(bridge mode)> censornet box>switch.

wiring from wall sockets(cat 5e twisted pair cabling) will be terminated at patch panel.

need help on two things.

1. what switch shall i get? will get a 16 port switch incase he expands.
will something like a netgear/linksys £75-100 do the job?

Netgear FS116 16 Port Switch - Retail (NW-006-NG) £52.82 . thinkin about somethin like this

2. the printer. will i have to get a print server and a third network card to attach to the censornet box?

agw_01 · 5 Jun 2006 at 22:37

fluiduk said:
Something like a draytek would be a good router/modem.

Eww eww eww. We've got a Draytek at home. It can't cope with 5 users on at once. Alwasy falling over, the connection is unreliable (both WAN and LAN).

Nasty router.

garyh · 5 Jun 2006 at 22:39

The switch will be fine - if he wants more ports in future, he can string them together.

As for the print server.. it's up to you.. you could either enable printer sharing on the censornet box (considering it will always be on 24/7) and connect the printer to it, and route all clients to the censornet print share... or you could, as you said... buy a seperate print server.. it's all about cost - the print sharing on the censornet being cheaper.

B&W · 5 Jun 2006 at 22:53

thanks gary. the censornet route looks fine

Skiddley · 6 Jun 2006 at 14:40

For a commercial venture such as this I wouldn't touch consumer equiptment. If they don't have the required knowledge to operate a professional service they probbably shouldn't be getting into the business in the first place.

hybrid · 6 Jun 2006 at 20:53

hmm, i'd say get a decent printer with a NIC already built in tbh. Seriously you dont wanna be overloading that CN box.

Least this way you can just patch it in anywhere you feel like it.

Good laser printers can be picked up nice and cheaply now.

Most of ours are Brother 1870N... rock solid printers, consumables last a while too.

unknowndomain · 7 Jun 2006 at 12:59

Also have a look at an application called SmartLaunch, its a way of managing the computers, with a simple and powerful interface. It also looks quite nice too.

B&W · 3 Oct 2006 at 21:57

update:

the cafe will open on thursday.

setup is:

linksys wag54 router going to 16 port switch.

simple and does the job, we are using cyber monitor for the software, http://www.cybermonitor.net/

6 pcs so far, 4 have 15" tfts, 2 have 17" tfts. specs are 2.4ghz p4, 256 ram.

all pcs have webcams & headsets.

printers are 1 b&w laser printer, 1 HP officejet thingy which does scan/fax/copy etc.

have to setup them up tomorrow so any of the pcs can print to them, cyber monitor has its own print server.

line is BT 4mb download, 800k upload. wanted 8mb but thats the best we can get considering our distance from the local exchange. should be adequate, BT is offering a wireless deal to us where we enable wireless and BT pays us when customers use it. i have wireless disabled atm.

apart from scan/fax/copy (need to get a seperate photocopier eventually, have a seperate scanner so officejet will just be used for fax/copy/color printing) we are having VOIP on 2 seperate pcs aswell, BT is sending us something called 10v which we plug into our router and then plug our officejet into it for fax (FOIP) and pcs for VOIP.

just writin a list of what needs to be done tomorrow, should go ok.

Phil99 · 3 Oct 2006 at 23:02

What sort of prices are you charging?

Software & Network Setup looks good, Good luck

B&W · 4 Oct 2006 at 00:04

hi phil, 50p for 30 mins, 80p for 1 hour.

no_1_dave · 4 Oct 2006 at 00:30

You'd probably get £1 for half an hour & £1.80 for an hour easy. In fact, thats too cheap with only 6pcs. At £1 an hour then the person running the place can only make £6 an hour max all day, then there's the price of everything to pay & thats assuming there is customers all day filling up the place.
Linksys are rubbish, my mates is always flaking out. Ya should have gone with a Netgear for a good reliable cheap solution

Get a cheap fridge in there & stock it up with cans of coke etc and sell them for a profit.

Lex · 4 Oct 2006 at 09:57

B&W said:
hi phil, 50p for 30 mins, 80p for 1 hour.

could you make a profit from those prices???

fluiduk · 4 Oct 2006 at 10:06

Thats far far too cheap. Have you done any forecasts or anything. I think unless your over heads are mega low then I dont think your business will last long

Aaron

Skiddley · 4 Oct 2006 at 10:08

Where is the cafe? Price will largly be dependent upon location.

Moley · 4 Oct 2006 at 10:36

Frankly I'm surprised to see anyone going into business as an Internet Cafe nowadays. They're so late '90s.

The business model just doesn't stack up anymore, the people who used to use them most where the ones who had dial-up at home and the cafe's had leased lines - offering fantastic performance over the home environment.

Nowadays anyone who wants can have comparable performance (and better) at home without any restrictions on usage or having to pay through the nose for bad coffee and stale sandwiches....

Thats why so many have been closing down for the past 5 years. No demand.

The only ones that really survive are the ones who provide the internet access as a secondary service to something else - proper Cafe for example, or cheap international phone service.

Just my tuppence worth, hope I'm wrong and the business succeeds.

:rolleyes:

Skiddley · 4 Oct 2006 at 10:39

^^ I agree, unless you have a captive audience (hotel, airport etc.)

unknowndomain · 4 Oct 2006 at 13:07

I think that its so late 90's is wrong, I live in Epsom at the moment and theres an internet cafe here stuffed with people playing games and surfing all day, they charge £1 an hr for net and more for gaming, I dont think its possible to only do internet but if gaming is available then theres the chance for local kids and teens to come in and play

B&W · 6 Oct 2006 at 21:52

well i convinced him to up the 1hr fee to £1. which is the same as a cafe which operates about 1 mile away that is always full.

hes doin quite good so far, the area is mostly asian and a lot of people aint got pcs.

apart from the pcs (were gettin 2 more in), hes selling fonecards, stationery. also got fax/photocopy (a lot of ppl come in for fotocopies). and VOIP is installed, we just need the software to monitor the fones (havin a tuff time finding that, most of the VOIP software is for the pcs).

a lot of ppl will come for the international calls, he'll get most of the money from that. im also putting a few online games on the pc's aswell.

-Mike- · 6 Oct 2006 at 22:00

are 2.4ghz p4, 256 ram

Are you going to up the ram for the game playing machines? What graphics cards do these have? 256mb on (im assuming) an xp based machine is really going to grind for gameplay!

gavindo · 6 Oct 2006 at 22:08

well i run a 20 pc lan centre and we charge :
Net/online gaming
15 to 30 mins £1.50
1 hr £2.50

lan gaming
30 mins £1.00
1 hr £2.00

but we also do full day pass

net all day £15.00 we seem to be fully booked all weekend with clans coming in playing wow/eve
been running 4 years so i must be doing something right