Wi-fi Router - Free From Tt&t - Any Good? Long Range?

[uk_falang]

Hi

I am thinking of getting adsl from tt&t with a free wifi router.

I run a small restaruant and want to make a wi-fi hotspot for the whole street. Are these wi-fi routers powerful?

Also I want to be abel to block some people (a competing business over the road) I understand I may be able to block the MAC address of their wi-fi adapter to prevent them leeching for free - although I want to allow other people to use for free without a password.

What is the range of this router? Can I boost the range with a booster or bigger antennae? How?

Also I have been hearing about some high power wi fi stuff that goes 5km - is this available in THailand - legal?

Thanks

[lomatopo]

What is brand and model number of the free WiFi router?

What distances are you expecting to reach?

What obstructions are between the planned location of your Wifi router and the clients you hope to serve?

What kinds of services do you plan to offer/enable/restrict (gaming, P2P, VoIP)?

On most routers you can grant or block access based on a MAC address.

If the clients (PC/SW) support WPA I'd be inclined to enable that and then pass out the WPA password as needed.

5 kM sounds a stretch, but the record is, I believe, more than 100 miles! Improvements can be made at the client end with custom antennae.

802.11b allows an unobstructed range of 180 m (11 mb/s) -- 570 m (1 mb/s)

Some WiFi gear can be boosted by modifying the firmware. Who knows what that does to the life of the equipment, or nearby people/animals?

One of the big problems here is the materials used for construction, internal/external brick walls really seem to limit WiFi distances.

[uk_falang]

Thanks i will get back with the model number.

I want to restrict gaming etc and just allow web access for free. But I want to prevent the Internet shop over the road stealing my signal (and profiting from it) as I am offering a free servic I dont see why the internet shop should make money from me.

Perhaps someone with the free tt&t router could let me know how good it is, and the distances.

If no good, what is a good wi-fi system to buy in Thailand - and where

Thanks

What is brand and model number of the free WiFi router?

What distances are you expecting to reach?

What obstructions are between the planned location of your Wifi router and the clients you hope to serve?

What kinds of services do you plan to offer/enable/restrict (gaming, P2P, VoIP)?

On most routers you can grant or block access based on a MAC address.

If the clients (PC/SW) support WPA I'd be inclined to enable that and then pass out the WPA password as needed.

5 kM sounds a stretch, but the record is, I believe, more than 100 miles! Improvements can be made at the client end with custom antennae.

802.11b allows an unobstructed range of 180 m (11 mb/s) -- 570 m (1 mb/s)

Some WiFi gear can be boosted by modifying the firmware. Who knows what that does to the life of the equipment, or nearby people/animals?

One of the big problems here is the materials used for construction, internal/external brick walls really seem to limit WiFi distances.

[astral]

On most routers you can grant or block access based on a MAC address.

Not much use in a restaurant where people bring their own machines.

If the clients (PC/SW) support WPA I'd be inclined to enable that and then pass out the WPA password as needed.

The password will soon reach the cafe across the road...........

Limiting the DHCP lease time ( the time that ip address are valid for) to, say 30 minutes will discourage the cafe users across the road

as they will have to keep on re-establishing the session.

Make sure you put a strong password on the router admin page.

The default is often password or admin or something equally stupid.

Then no-one can tamper with your setup!!

[Crushdepth]

You may be able to exclude the cafe over the road by using directional antennae(s) on your router (rather than the omni directionals they come with). This will give you stronger signal but over a more limited coverage zone, so. you might be able to blast your signal down the length of your street (but not over the road).

Blocking their MAC address may not help as it is fairly simple to change the MAC address (not sure about doing this on a 'home use' kind of router, but certainly dead easy on a PC or notebook card).