Wireless Internet for Community

I admit, I don't have a clue as to the details of the upcoming community wireless project, (you need to get those details from the folks in charge of the new network), but my approach would be to put ONE device (a router) on their network and keep all of your other devices on YOUR network.

That way you only have to give them one MAC address, and you can add/remove devices such as laptops and wireless printers as often as you wish, without further coordination with the community project.

If/when you post back, please provide make and model information for all of your networking gear, as well as any technical information you have on the new wireless project.

les wrote in news:77512fc4-0a0a-4d26-82b4- snipped-for-privacy@d45g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:

You *would* need to hang onto the Linksys rtr if you wanted to connect more than one device to use their internet service.

What you need to use their service, assuming it's 802.11x, is a device that offers a 'client mode'. That is, a device that can connect to an AP, and be used as a gateway for other computers on your network.

For good connectivity, it's best to have an outside antenna pointing directly at their AP's antenna. One such device is the Engenius/Senao EOC-3220. This would suit your needs exactly. It is a POE device, meaning the only connection to it is a CAT5 cable, and has an integrated 9dbi panel antenna. No need to run expensive low-loss coax, or mount a Linksys rtr (juiced up with DD-WRT firmware to do client mode) in a weather proof box, and buy an antenna/coax.

The EOC-3220 does 'client-mode w/NAT' and supports DHCP on the wireless side. All that would need to be done is configure it as such, and plug it into the switch portion (not the LAN port) of the Linksys rtr you already have, and give it (the ETH side) an IP address in your existing LAN. The internet gateway (default gateway) would then be the Eth address you have given the outside device. The EOC will NAT your traffic back to the ISP. I believe it also does act as a DHCP server for the wired side if you so desire.

Something does not sound right...on several counts.

• Your future wireless provider wants the MAC addresses of everything you want to connect to their wireless network.

Often a WISP (Wireless ISP) will use MAC authentication when connecting THEIR client radios to their network, and their radios will have an embedded firewall/router or an external router between their radio and your networked devices (therefore the MAC addresses of your networked devices will not be visible).

If they intend to authenticate all the MAC addresses on their network, that implies they will run out of IP addresses real quick and that all your networked devices will be visible on everyone elses' network.

• You can still get a wireless printer and run it one YOUR own wireless network, the wireless printer will NOT be part of their wireless network .

• Other piece of equipment?

They might be saying that you have to buy THEIR wireless client radio.

If the computers themselves are going to make a direct wireless connection to the network, then yes they'd need that info.

But you'd have to ask why you'd want to do this. For roaming purposes when you're not near your own house, maybe. But when you're in your own house it would be considerable more secure (and likely faster) to connect to your own in-house router FIRST. And then have that make the uplink to the community network. If you do it this way then YOU maintain control over what can or cannot connect to your own wireless gear.

You'd need to tell us more info regarding the ISP, like what network devices they suggest using.

Thank you for the replies. Unfortunately, at this time, I do not have any info on the wireless ISP. All I know is that bring in a data line to our Clubhouse and broadcast the data to antennas around the community, and subscribers that have a wireless adapter on their computer can get onto their network.

I'll also suggest it may be a lot slower than anything you could get on your own. You'll be sharing the wireless bandwidth among everyone else trying to use it. Even when it's "done right" there's still no way to make it truly as fast as a wired connection.