BugNuker

I am trying to find out how I should go about making a hotspot avaible to a nearby college. I have a t1 for this hotspot, so the bandwith is there, but I have a couple of questions.

First off, let me explain my goals:
I would like this hotspot to be free and charge. Mainly free, though.
Also, this t1 is providing internet to our store, so I dont want "ALL" of the t1 to be avaible to the hotspot. For this, I have thought of two possible ideas.
1) Cut the t1 up, and let the store have some and the hotspot have some (like a 60/40 thing)
2) limit each user to a defined connection speed on the t1.
I dont know how to do either of those, but thats all I can think of at this time.
Also, I need to put the hotspot on a whole differant subnet and ip network than what I have the store running on. I dont want users to be able to run a webserver or any other kind of server. This should be easily done with a simple firewall. But I would like to limit the incomming ports as well, mainly only have users able to access a couple of ports, like http, maybe irc, email, and thats it. I can give more ports if users come to me and want to use an application for something else.
I want this hotspot to be pretty much open as far as seeing the SSID. I would like them to be able to see the wi-fi, but when they try to get on, it will take them to a page saying "this is a hotspot for this college, blah blah blah" and then informing them they need to come into the store and get a password or something. I'll add them to the system (I want to add there mac address) This way only the specified mac can get on the hotspot.
I have looked at some software solutions. The best I have seen so far is ControlAP. this looks like it might work pretty well, but it seems buggy (java errors).
As far as everything else, how would I go about this? Has anyone ever done something like this before? I have a small budget, but already have most of the hardware. Any help would be great!!!

Thanks to all who reply!!

-BugNuker

audit

Do a search for NoCat

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wrzwaldo

Please do a quick search on "MAC Spoofing".

As for limiting banwidth to the hotspot look/search for "Bandwidth Control Unit"

The Others

Then run it on a Linksys WRT54G, it's a beautiful combination:

http://nocat.net/~rob/wrt54g/

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BugNuker

Have you done this yourself?
This sounds like it could work rather easy, but I have no exp with TUX.
Can I do this linksys + nocat thing with windows?
thanks
-BugNuker

The Others

I'm afraid that to run a nice hotspot, you'll probably need to play with linux. It all gets expensive when you start paying for someone else to do it for you.

I havn't run nocat on a WWRT54G myself, no. I want to though

As for installing it with a windows machine, I can't remember without re-reading that page. So I'll leave it to you

If you don't use Nocat, there are some other very good alternatives for the WRT54G. Look up the sveasoft firmware. They do some cool hotspot stuff, including bandwidth shaping. More options can be found on www.seattlewireless.net and search for WRT54G.

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Thorn

No.

Learn Linux and go with NoCat. It will do everything you want. Other packages will do some or all of these things in Windows, but will cost.

Search through these forums of "NoCat" "Mikrotik" and "ControlAP" and "captive portal". This has all been discussed before in detail.

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Thorn
"Lawyers should never marry lawyers. This is called inbreeding. It produces idiot children and more lawyers."

Sooner Al

...on the DSL Reports forums may be of interest...

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...1730~mode=flat

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LiquidEdge

Good Lord that's awesome. And EASY!

It took me like 20 minutes to do this and it worked the first time. AND I SUCK AT THIS STUFF!

lincomatic

these guys

http://www.sputnik.com/

used to have a free downloadable CD. it was a piece of cake. plug in orinoco or prism wifi card. insert boot cd and bingo, instant hotspot. i used it on an old Dell Inspiron 3000 w/ an orinoco and it worked great. i can't seem to find the download link for it anymore though wonder if they still have it.

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The Others

I agree, I've got a copy of it; it's very good.

Some months back I tried to download it again, but it was not easily visible on their site. I eventually found an URL for it and posted it here.

That post is unfindable now, presumed deleted. As is the URL on the sputnik site.

"Free" sputnik has gone forever.

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lincomatic

5 frownies to get past the min 5 char post limit

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The Others

I understand your pain.

I guess that the sputnik we used to love is now considered warez (if anything linux can be called such a thing). I'm keeping a tight hold on my remaining copy. If I ever get a FTP server going, I'll create a .iso and put it up there.

This is supposed to be the download location, but obviously isn't.

Sputnik did have its flaws, however. It would only authenticate HTTP traffic, leaving no restrictions on any other protocol. It also allowed users free access to the internal LAN. At best, Sputnik was a completly unsecure access point that prohibited only HTTP traffic. An alternative to sputnik could easily be created with hostAP drivers or the windows registry hack I completed in another thread.

Still, it would've been nice if they kept hosting it...

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lincomatic

i have a really old ISO of it somewhere too. but i guess if i were to create a hotspot myself i would go the WRT54G way now. what was nice about free sputnik was the plug and playablility of it, despite its flaws.

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The Others

Yeah, it's outdated now and the WRT54G is a much better alternative. It was, however, as you say, easier than anything to use. I liked that.

I guess I'm just sentimental for the old days of WIFI. Sniff, memory lane and all that...

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