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Wireless Routers 1
- Thread starter rjm65
- Start date
Unless I am mistaken, I believe it depends on the amount of bandwidth being chewed up. If there are going to be a lot of people then it may be better to set up access points. Here is an article I found, because I found your question interesting.
firewolfrl
Technical User
The HotSpot type routers are expensive...somewhere in the $600 to $1200 range. If you had a server you could using a router and an access point you could make a secure network with a fee base and a customer database...
it would go like this:
cable modem > router > Server in network card #1 (billing software(with credit card access) and connection sharing software) > network card #2 connected to access point with antenna amplifier and external antenna
this setup works great
and most home based routers are limited to combined 254 physical connections and wireless connections. Some of the owners manuals even state that fact.
I would recommend a router that will load balance all the connections at the same time to avoid the router crashing and dropped/slow connections to other users...that and also limit the virtual connections to 8 per computer. This is important because some people who file share can have hundreds of this type connections open at a time.
the average user usually opens 4 per web page and 2 per download.
the best advise is to block the file sharing ports
You have to have a plan in place...security breach to/from your users opens you to legal issues. Having an open network is asking for it and having a secure network with customers who get the access number from you then use it to hack other users in the same network is bad.
Hotspot routers are great because they isolate each user
here is a great article for you
and
it would go like this:
cable modem > router > Server in network card #1 (billing software(with credit card access) and connection sharing software) > network card #2 connected to access point with antenna amplifier and external antenna
this setup works great
and most home based routers are limited to combined 254 physical connections and wireless connections. Some of the owners manuals even state that fact.
I would recommend a router that will load balance all the connections at the same time to avoid the router crashing and dropped/slow connections to other users...that and also limit the virtual connections to 8 per computer. This is important because some people who file share can have hundreds of this type connections open at a time.
the average user usually opens 4 per web page and 2 per download.
the best advise is to block the file sharing ports
You have to have a plan in place...security breach to/from your users opens you to legal issues. Having an open network is asking for it and having a secure network with customers who get the access number from you then use it to hack other users in the same network is bad.
Hotspot routers are great because they isolate each user
here is a great article for you
and
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1
- #4
Hopefully this question is for home use rather than work. Otherwise you'll probably want something other than a wireless router (more like an access point as outlined above).
In theory, there shouldn't be a limit to the number of wireless devices that can use an access point. There is a finite amount of bandwidth, but as long as everything isn't hitting the router simultaneously that is less of an issue.
In practice, you are typically limited to 254 devices. But this is usually only because the router is passing out IP addresses via DHCP and only allocates a /24 subnet (256 addresses, one reserved for the router and one for the broadcast address). If you had a router that could handle DHCP scopes for larger subnets you could, in theory, do more. Keep in mind that this address pool is also shared with the wired devices, so if you hang wired PCs off of that router (or off of another switch behind the router) then the pool would be reduced.
The only other place where you might run into a limitation would be if you secure the router via MAC address. Most wireless routers allow you to restrict wireless access to only specified MAC addresses, and depending on the router model there may be a finite number of MAC addresses that you could specify.
In theory, there shouldn't be a limit to the number of wireless devices that can use an access point. There is a finite amount of bandwidth, but as long as everything isn't hitting the router simultaneously that is less of an issue.
In practice, you are typically limited to 254 devices. But this is usually only because the router is passing out IP addresses via DHCP and only allocates a /24 subnet (256 addresses, one reserved for the router and one for the broadcast address). If you had a router that could handle DHCP scopes for larger subnets you could, in theory, do more. Keep in mind that this address pool is also shared with the wired devices, so if you hang wired PCs off of that router (or off of another switch behind the router) then the pool would be reduced.
The only other place where you might run into a limitation would be if you secure the router via MAC address. Most wireless routers allow you to restrict wireless access to only specified MAC addresses, and depending on the router model there may be a finite number of MAC addresses that you could specify.
- Thread starter
- #5
- Thread starter
- #6
I do have one question or issue that I hope can be addressed that appears particular to wireless networks. We have a wireless router at work, my work computer has a wireless nic, and I can log onto it from home with remote desktop (both Win XP Pro computers).
The other day I had to do a remote restart (start->run-> shutdown -r) from home, waited long enough for the computer to reboot, but then couldn't log back on.
It looks like the wireless computer doesn't connect with the wireless router until I log into the computer. Is this something particular with my wireless nic card? (I picked up a fairly cheap one - Trendnet)Or can it be setup so that it connect with the router at startup and not have to wait until someone logs in?
Thanks
The other day I had to do a remote restart (start->run-> shutdown -r) from home, waited long enough for the computer to reboot, but then couldn't log back on.
It looks like the wireless computer doesn't connect with the wireless router until I log into the computer. Is this something particular with my wireless nic card? (I picked up a fairly cheap one - Trendnet)Or can it be setup so that it connect with the router at startup and not have to wait until someone logs in?
Thanks
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