Wifi for a small coffe shop

[Jack Poutou]

Hi,

I am currently opening a small coffee shop. I would like to offer a wifi network to which you could connect by either leaving your email or connect with facebook.
Some commercial providers are already offering this but I was wondering if it would be possible to setup this myself.
I am not sure where to start and which router to buy.
Would you have any advice ?

Thanks

 

[RCoon]

UniFi!
https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ac/
I currently manage a 66 AP network at my place. All you need is the access point and any old PC on the same network to manage the points. You can make your own login portals, and it supports zero-handoff mode too. You can start with 1 AP and add as many more as you need in future - super easy to set up and fairly cheap. No licensing per AP or whatever like most companies. The hardware inside isn't bargain bin either. It might not be as powerful as Aruba gear, but the throughput is outstanding.

Note: You'll still need a router - this is just an AP.

 

[Nabarun]

Many cheap (yet good) routers can themselves be used as access points too. My Netis DL4322 N300 Wireless Modem Router has excellent range, stability and features - not just for the price. It has a Raltek FW. It has ADSL as well as Ethernet inputs and 4 Ethernet outputs. Good-enough, I'd say. Cost me about 23 USD.

 

[dirtyferret]

UniFi!
https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ac/
I currently manage a 66 AP network at my place. All you need is the access point and any old PC on the same network to manage the points. You can make your own login portals, and it supports zero-handoff mode too. You can start with 1 AP and add as many more as you need in future - super easy to set up and fairly cheap. No licensing per AP or whatever like most companies. The hardware inside isn't bargain bin either. It might not be as powerful as Aruba gear, but the throughput is outstanding.

Note: You'll still need a router - this is just an AP.

66 AP? What size place do you have?

 

[RCoon]

66 AP? What size place do you have?

Secondary(High) School, 1200 pupils. It's a rather jigsaw building, part of it is Grade 1 listed, part is Grade 2 listed, some bits were made 300 years ago, some were made 10 years ago etc.

EDIT: The network was built for pure 5Ghz coverage (802.11AC) so our AP density is higher than the norm (for 802.11 b/g/n 2.4Ghz).

 

[Bill_Bright]

Since this is a coffee shop, a commercial business and not a non-profit charity or educational facility, you probably need to contact your ISP to make sure you are not violating the terms of your contract agreement. Even if you are not charging for this wifi service, you are using it as incentive to bring customers into your shop in the same way a bar uses cable TV to bring in customers.

The ISP may even offer some technical services to help you set up.

Whatever you do, you need to make sure this wireless network is totally isolated from the shop's business network. The last thing you want is a "pretend customer" accessing all your legitimate customers' credit card information, or your shop's business and tax records. Having an IT consultant come in to check out your setup (at least your business side) for security might still be a good idea - and should be allowed as a business expense.

 

[protain]

UniFi!
https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ac/

2nd for UniFi - I installed these APs at about 30 UK based sites and conencted to a single "cloud" controller (essentially just a cheap PC back in HQ) to control and monitor the network. They work great - you can setup a guest SSID that only allows connctions to the internet, thus protecting your LAN devices, and also have a private SSID for any POS or tablets that you need to run the sales.

If you'd rather just go down the one box route I'd suggest the DrayTek Vigor line of routers - they have some good WiFi enabled models, such as the 2860n, that also allows you to isolate the customer side of the network from your own...

In fact the Draytek + UniFi APs was the method I used on the 30 sites, the Draytek provided the internet and I used the inbuild VLANs to segment the UniFi's from the internal LAN and as a belt and braces approach also set the UniFi to allow internet only on the customer SSID. I can provide more technical details on my exact setup (VLAN trunking/tagging etc.) if you want?

 

[remixedcat]

Ok heavy rotation with this list but it's so true:

Hi. Presented a few options for you: (Note: All from my own tests in our lab and ran for more then 1 month)

1) Cisco Meraki-Cisco in the clouds without a controller. Pros: They host it for you and with that comes nice remote control and very smooth provisioning. Intuitive interface and ease of defining traffic shaping, etc. Cons: Lacks extensive RF tools and you gotta shop around for a cloud license. (units tested MX60W/Z1/MR12/MR34)

2) Aruba Networks-Has 3 options;controller/standalone(but clusterable) instant/cloud. Pros: Excellent RF tools, 3 operational modes, high performance throughput with mixed clients, lots of traffic shaping options. Cons: Client station monitoring requires either cloud or airwave licensing and if you run cloud you can't have access to local config but you can convert at any time from one to the other. (units tested: RAP109 and IAP225)

3) Xirrus-Has both cloud and local. Pros:Amazing amount of RF controls and options, XR630 can handle 240 clients (120 per IAP), 5Ghz legacy clients won't slow .ac clients down, cloud and local can work at the same time. Cons:Easy to crash arrays with too many global filter policies, throughput can be low at times, VLAN issues occasionally. Support response times are not as fast and also sales reps are slower and a few good ones are no longer with the company. Also tested the XR520.

4) Fortinet-Local only no cloud+CLI. Pros: excellent firewall options (forti "wifi" 60D tested) very secure "locked down by default" config. Cons: TERRIBLE wireless performance. Very low throughput and very frequent disconnects. Major firefox issues to where changing wifi settings bricked the device and it took me a long time to revive it.

5) Airtight (Now Mojo Networks) - Cloud controller only. Pros: Excellent thoughput and performance. Lots of RF options. Cons: Not much unique to it but has a good bit of UI controls. Model tested C75

6)Xclaim - Cloud/Local/App Pros: decent throughput so far. Easy to use. Cons: lacks essentials like RF management or Client stats like errors and data rate. Model tested: Xi3

7)Aerohive - Cloud or local thru HiveMgr NG. Pros: Excellent throughput on AP230 but lacking on 370. Tons of RF options and other config options, nice UI. also has spectrum analyzer. Cons: Cant run both HM and local/NG, AP370 is inferior to AP230 in every way, AP370 has more dropped frames and such for streaming devices.

8) Ubiquiti - Self hosted controller or app. pros: excellent throughput on both devices and dirt cheap Cons: support was lacking in phone and stuff but has improved. Also expense of hosting controller can get pricey depending on network demand. Controller requires java. Ui needs work. Units tested: unifi AP-AC-Lite and Unifi AP-AC-LR.

9) Ligowave - Self hosted controller or on AP controller Pros: Solid PoE performance, easy to provision, detected fast, decent throughput, nice interface with CPU info on the top right. Cons: 2.4Ghz throughput highly variable, lacks QoS/firewall controls.