How to prevent other bars’ customers from using my bar’s wifi?

[Mobi]

At present, I share my bar’s wifi with the bar next door. (we each pay 50%) but I am thinking of getting my own Internet connection installed.

The present arraangement works reasonably well except that my customers are often ‘locked out’ because too many people have already connected to the wifi and the router will not allow new ‘log ons’, until it has been reset.

If the router was in my bar it would be no problem, but it is quite difficult to explain to the bar staff next door every time we need them to reset their router as the owner is rarely there and they don’t really understand.

The second reason is that I need a more reliable wifi connection so that I can play non-stop music from You Tube. At present, we sometimes experience buffering or the connection even drops out completely because too many people are using the wifi.

But there is little point in us having our own wifi because when we make the password available to our own customers, it won’t take long for the customers in the next bar to get hold of the password and log in as well.

So is there any way I can let my own customers use the wifi, and stop the other bars’ customers from using it?

The only thing I can think of is to change the password each day, but that would be a real hassle, and my regulars would have to continually reset the password on their phones etc as well.

Any ideas anyone or shall I just go with the flow and hope that with each bar having its own wifi I should probably be OK?

[casualbiker]

There is software available so that you can give individual codes to customers, only one code per device. We have it at our school. I think it has to run from a server.

[Mobi]

There is software available so that you can give individual codes to customers, only one code per device. We have it at our school. I think it has to run from a server.

That sounds like the perfect solution, thanks.

Anyone have any idea how I might go about implementing such a system?

[Guest]

You can get a cheapish access point which supports multiple virtual accesspoint names with separate password.

The issue one for daily customers and change the password for example every day.

Make another APN for your regular customers and say to them not to share the information with others.

You can also make third for your own devices and then setup quality of service (QoS) on your router to make that as highest priority route for your youtube videos.

[Likener1]

Why stream ?, why not record and play as I would have thought that vast majority of the stuff you play time and again as its older music its merely accessing an archive, why not create your own ?

External hard drives are very cheap and YouTube capture software is free.

Your existing shared connection would not need to be changed as its YouTube that's taking most of the available bandwidth.

Maybe you stream because of some licensing issue that I'm unaware of.

Edited August 17, 2014 by Likener1

[Mobi]

Why stream ?, why not record and play as I would have thought that vast majority of the stuff you play time and again as its older music its merely accessing an archive, why not create your own ?

External hard drives are very cheap and YouTube capture software is free.

Your existing shared connection would not need to be changed as its YouTube that's taking most of the available bandwidth.

Maybe you stream because of some licensing issue that I'm unaware of.

I do download and I also play from hard disk - in fact I've probably got over 3,000 vid tracks on hard disc.

For various reasons i won't go into here I also like to play direct from You Tube.

However, the YouTube band width issue is a relatively minor problem, and it generally works OK, even with a shared wifi, so I'm sure it will be fine if I have my own wifi.

The main issue is our customers keep getting locked out, and they find this annoying. This is the prime reason I am looking for a solution so that I can restrict access.

[Mobi]

You can get a cheapish access point which supports multiple virtual accesspoint names with separate password.

The issue one for daily customers and change the password for example every day.

Make another APN for your regular customers and say to them not to share the information with others.

You can also make third for your own devices and then setup quality of service (QoS) on your router to make that as highest priority route for your youtube videos.

Can I set this up with any bog standard router that the internet company usually provides, or do I need to buy something a bit more sophisticated?

Sorry, I'm a bit of an dunce where routers are concerned.

[KittenKong]

Just change your password every day. Next door's customers will only know it if they come and buy a drink from you.

[Likener1]

Okay, a bit mysterious but you have your reasons.

The bottom line is a password, even one only for your regular customers will end up being shared so I would just get my own connection and change the password everyday.

The adjoining bar will then never need to try to gain access to yours, if you find that your connections being slowed just change the password as and when it happens.

The problem with any complex solution to a simple problem is there are more things to go wrong, just tell your staff not to give the password to the next bar if asked as its not good for "our bar" and "our customers"

"More customers who are happy makes more money for us all "

As you know Thais tend to be proud of where they work and want the best for it and their boss, especially when money comes into play for themselves.

[muratremix]

Get an internet connection of yourself if you run a business for Buddha's sake!

Use a better router / modem that can support more logged in people than 1000 baht router/modem.

Provide wifi password to clients when they seat (can be changed every day)

[casualbiker]

Maybe give him some names / models of reasonable price routers.

[wooloomooloo]

Maybe give him some names / models of reasonable price routers.

That takes research. You could google 'wireless routers for business' to test the water and read as many reviews as you can cope with, Mobi.

Your own autonomous setup along with the best speeds available is the first step.

Thereafter, how much are you prepared to pay for a decent router that meets your requirements.

[Bazt]

If you get your own , why would the customers from the other bar use yours if they are already getting it from the other bar ?

[Likener1]

If you get your own , why would the customers from the other bar use yours if they are already getting it from the other bar ?

And there lays another issue, if Mobi gets an all singing and dancing mega router rather than the free one that comes with the package, its broadcast range will be far higher.

http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/R7000.aspx

We have that one and I can get a very strong signal around 100 metres away outside

The signal strength from a "decent" router to adjoining bars may well make it far more desirable to connect to than their own, or for that matter anyone else in the area.

Password protection when given out is not protection so I stick with standard router and daily password change as my best advice.

Edited August 17, 2014 by Likener1

[HooHaa]

purchase a decent router with your own bandwidth and it wont be an issue even if you do have a few extra leeches on board

[RichCor]

You can get a cheapish access point which supports multiple virtual accesspoint names with separate password.

The issue one for daily customers and change the password for example every day.

Make another APN for your regular customers and say to them not to share the information with others.

You can also make third for your own devices and then setup quality of service (QoS) on your router to make that as highest priority route for your youtube videos.

Yep. I second this.

Buy a WiFi Access Point w/4-port Ethernet Switch, as oilinki suggests.

Run an Ethernet Cable from the neighbor's setup (back of Modem/Router or WifiAP) to a location in your bar where you want your WiFi Access Point.

Place it in a location:

has POWER (a place for the wall-wart AC/DC adapter to plug in),

only bar personnel will have access to it, and can power cycle (off/on) if needed,

antennas will be above head-height,

You can then set up One, Two or More WiFi SSIDs as people are suggesting.

While you can access your WiFi AP wirelessly, you might also want to directly cable the bar computer/laptop to it to give you priority access.

[RandomSand]

Share one connection for staff use (youtube etc) and share another for customer access. Then the headache of "leeching" is not an issue.

Edited August 17, 2014 by RandomSand

[Bazt]

Or get the password from the next bar and just use theirs.

[Guest]

I purchased D-link DSL-2750E which seems to support various guest/virtual accesspoints and their islolation from the rest of the network.

I did not play with that functionality, but interpret it so that it's possible to have your own NAS on the same router, which can be only accessed when using some accesspoint names, while the the guest access points can be isolated from the intranet.

[sfokevin]

You might find that there is usually just a few regulars next door who are freeloaders who are the problem... Most routers allow you to ban their specific device MAC addresses... so even if they have your password them cannot access your wifi

[Turkleton]

I purchased D-link DSL-2750E which seems to support various guest/virtual accesspoints and their islolation from the rest of the network.

^^

yepp, that's the way we operate it too.

Router is an Asus DSL-N55U, which is able to open three additional Guest networks, which are strictly separated from your main Internet/Intranet connection.

These guest networks can also shut down themselves after a certain time.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Turkleton

[lostinisaan]

I would understand if you use a neighbors signal at home. But running a business and asking such a question on an internet forum is just insane.

If you can't afford it, please let it be. Changing the password is pretty much easy. Gesshhh

Edited August 18, 2014 by lostinisaan

[yankee99]

I can't imagine between the 2bars there are so many customers that you we need anything more then you own service. My house probably uses more bandwidth by a lot then most bars on the Darkside without issue. Get your own service then worry about passwords if it's a issue. I can't even think of a bar that changes their passwords daily only big hotels and McDonalds

[Bazt]

If you get your own , why would the customers from the other bar use yours if they are already getting it from the other bar ?

[Chicog]

Sounds like you should redecorate with this:

http://internettechspecialists.com/blog/tag/metapapier/

[Mobi]

I would understand if you use a neighbors signal at home. But running a business and asking such a question on an internet forum is just insane.

If you can't afford it, please let it be. Changing the password is pretty much easy. Gesshhh

Why is it insane??

If you look at some of the responses I have already had some good solutions that I wasn't previously aware of.

That is what forums are for......

As for not being able to afford it... Please point out where I have said anything about cost... in fact on the contrary, I am prepared to invest to have my own internet and router....

If you haven't got anything constructive to offer, may I suggest, with respect, that you keep out of the discussion.

[Mobi]

Or get the password from the next bar and just use theirs.

That's what we are are currently doing, albeit with their permission and sharing the cost....

Hence the problem.

[Mobi]

Thanks for all the helpful replies guys - with the exception of some guy who thinks I am insane to even ask a question about something I admittedly know very little. (That probably means that around of half of Thai Visa members should be consigned to the loony bin....)

It seems to me that I might as well go the simple route - i.e. just get a bog standard router from 3BB, and see how it goes.

I will only start changing the password if it becomes a problem, for as someone quite rightly said, why should the next bar along use my WIFI when they have their own? I guess I was overreacting.

A friend suggested that I set the router so that the 'lease time' for users is set for 3 hours; that way old mac addresses would be discarded and I wouldn't have the current problem of having to reset the router to get rid of them.

I will suck it and see.

[UKCanuk]

Depending on the router, you can create an invisible SSID. This discourages the opportunistic browsers of your service because you need to key-in the correct name of the service to access it. This setup may also be password protected and you can change the password as often as is necessary.

[fritzzz25]

Get yourself a router with advanced settings that you can limit the speeds your customers can connect at. They do not need high speeds to use email, messaging apps and checking social media. If they want to stream videos, they can do that on their own time.

A router that accepts the dd-wrt firmware is easy to configure in the "wireless" tab and then under the WL0-Advanced tab (as well as the WL1-Advanced tab). Someone with a mediocre understanding of router set up could do this for you.