Wireless network extender?

hopeful_builder · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:15

A friend of mine has a hotel, and has got a BT Wireless router. He wants the network to be available around the hotel and in the rooms so that guests can access it. i'd say at the moment only 50% of the Hotel has coverage.

What would you folks recommend to extend it?

I've setup a few wifi networks before, but other than that I'm a total noob when it comes to this.

monkeyspank · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:25

Legal nightmare mate!
Unless he lets them just use the openzone thing that BT have on some of their routers.

xb8browney · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:34

What about buying a few Netgear WN3000RP Universal WiFi Range Extender's.

hopeful_builder · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:39

monkeyspank said:
Legal nightmare mate!
Unless he lets them just use the openzone thing that BT have on some of their routers.

is it against the law to do this then?

sorry I'm clueless :confused:

hopeful_builder · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:40

xb8browney said:
What about buying a few Netgear WN3000RP Universal WiFi Range Extender's.

do they plug in to the router?

or if they don't how do you install them? is it easy enough

monkeyspank · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:44

Data retention
Relevant law and regulation includes: The European Directive (2006/24/EC) which has been implemented in the UK under the Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 and the January 2004 the Code of Practice (for voluntary retention of communications data) implemented under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.

Under the above directive, certain types of data are required to be retained necessary to identify end users accessing the Internet. The type of data to be retained is traffic data and location data which can trace the source of a communication. Examples of relevant data include:

User ID; name and address; date and time of login and log off
IP address allocated to a user; MAC Address, originator of the communication;
The internet service used (“communications data”).HTTP,POP,IMAP,SKYPE etc
The Home Office would expect such data to be retained for a period of 12 months. As a matter of best practice an establishment should have in place facilities to store and access communications data for a period of 12 months from the date of the data coming into existence. The purpose of maintaining communications data is to assist intelligence and law enforcement agencies such as the police in their investigation of criminal and terrorist activities.

etc

monkeyspank · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:45

Basically he's liable for people downloading dodgy stuff on his network and also he needs to keep a log of who used it, when and what for.

hopeful_builder · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:49

monkeyspank said:
Basically he's liable for people downloading dodgy stuff on his network and also he needs to keep a log of who used it, when and what for.

ah, thanks for that Monkeyspank. Will print it off for him to have a look at when I see him.

So is there a solution for him? maybe phone BT up and see if there is an openzone?

I think he gets a lot of business clients who stay there and probably expect wifi in a hotel. hence why hes trying to offer it throughout the hotel for free as some do.

PiKe · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:50

Powerline access points maybe?

monkeyspank · 11 Jul 2012 at 16:56

hopeful_builder said:
ah, thanks for that Monkeyspank. Will print it off for him to have a look at when I see him.

So is there a solution for him? maybe phone BT up and see if there is an openzone?

I think he gets a lot of business clients who stay there and probably expect wifi in a hotel. hence why hes trying to offer it throughout the hotel for free as some do.

Yeah BT Business broadband comes with a router that has a 'BT openzone' hotspot turned on by default.

OBviously, the guests will need to be able to log in to BT openzone, but at least it is something. I think you can buy access cards, or the guests might have access as part of their home broadband package etc.

That way he isn't liable for anything

BT will take care of all of that for him. You could ask BT if he can have 2 or three routers for his one line.

SimonR · 11 Jul 2012 at 17:15

How big is the hotel ? Is it a 4 or 5 room guest house, 20 or 30 room hotel or a 200+ room Hilton. The solution is very much dependent on building size, number of floors, number of rooms etc. Being honest I would only use the BT hub as a router and look at more robust solutions, either a dedicated radius server and a wireless router with a separate antenna to provide better coverage or some additional wireless access points. There is a very good provider of this kind of gear, but I cannot mention their name as they are classed as an OCUK competitor, think of a mexican beer and clever.
If you speak to Steve Mace he will be able to point you in the direction of the best kit for this application. They sell kit like meshing wireless repeaters, hotspot kits and commercial grade routers. Plus they have white papers on wifi for holiday parks etc and advise you on any legal issues.

hopeful_builder · 11 Jul 2012 at 19:32

its approximately 10 rooms of varied size. I think it was originally a farm house which has been extended, then most of the land sold off.

So its a fair size with many old school super thick walls.