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Adding Wirless Access to an existing network

i currently operate a small business with 3 pcs on an ethernet network; file and printer sharing is enabled between PC's.

i want to intoduce a public wireless hotspot to my business which will be set up using 3 wireless access points.

i want both my company pcs and the public access to share the same internet connection. however i am not sure how best to do this in order to maintain network security.

any advice?

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michko

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IanTh

well one way is use a wireless router as one accesspoint

jekl2000

One way to set this up that provides the network security you are looking for plus using the same access points for both employees and customers is to use access points that have Multi-SSID, BSSID capabilities and VLAN tagging. This allows you to have a business and a guest SSID (the name of the network). The business side can be set up with wireless security and the guest side can be an open network.

Next is to have a switch with VLAN capability (Virtual Lans). This allows you to section off your network from the guest network.

The VLAN ID for the guest network would only be allowed to access the port for internet access.

I have provided links to a couple of products below that provide that functionality, I mention them only because of their reasonable price for the function they provide. There are others naturally.

http://www.usr.com/products/networking/networking-product.asp?type=features&sku=USR997716

http://www.usr.com/products/networking/wireless-product.asp?sku=USR5453