[Bobby J]

I am not well versed in networking yet. We have a wireless internet router in our car dealership which we would like to share with our customers in our service waiting area. Can we set up a secure connection so our customers can access the internet but not gain acces to our network? Password protecting every shared file would not be an option. Is there a way of sharing our DSL line without sharing the network? Thank you.

Edited by Bobby J, 20 June 2005 - 03:25 PM.

[Advertisements]

has anyone tried connecting with a wireless device yet to see what happens with the current set up?

[dsenette]

has anyone tried connecting with a wireless device yet to see what happens with the current set up?

[Mycah]

What brand router is it?

[Bobby J]

I have not tried with a laptop just to access the internet because all ours are already tied into our internal network. We use a wep key and as far as I can tell if we allow our customers access to our wep key then they can also access our network just by going through their Network Wizard. We are using a Linksys Router for the wireless. I will check what brand DSL router we have and post back. Thank you.

[dsenette]

theoretically they shouldnt be able to access the windows network without windows authentication. they may be able to see entries for the network but they shouldn't be able to connect

[Bobby J]

A guess it would be worth getting a hold of a laptop or handheld to try it. I'll give it a shot and post the results. Thanks again.

[NumberTWO]

This is like setting up a wireless access in our home, you do not want your neighbour to share it..
I just use the WEP feature of the wireless network for security and setting up a workgroup for sharing among all the stations (PC, laptops) in my home.

So, i think in order to share the network stations you have to have a network workgroup so I don't think your customer will have access unless you setup the workgroup for him?

Sorry i m a newbie to network too..

[Greazy]

I would recommend using two wireless routers. From modem, go to a switch, from switch, connect each wireless router. The router for your network, set up the exact same as you have it, with the WEP and all. For the second router, just set it up wide open and let anyone use it. Then on the first router (yours), you can even advance the security by entering in the MAC addresses of all the machines that you want to be able to access that router in the MAC Filter. This is a little bit more of an effort on your part, but in the long run, it helps.

Note: this will only work if: a)Your modem also acts as a small router and hands out more than one IP address to the internal network b) if you have two IP addresses at that location and can assign one to each router, c) if a or b doesn't work, you will need to purchase a second IP address from your ISP and assign one to each router.


Greazy Mcgeezy

[Bobby J]

[Note: this will only work if: a)Your modem also acts as a small router and hands out more than one IP address to the internal network b) if you have two IP addresses at that location and can assign one to each router, c) if a or b doesn't work, you will need to purchase a second IP address from your ISP and assign one to each router.]



Is there an easy way to find out if the modem hands out more than one IP address? I wasn't involved in setting up our network. Thanks

[Greazy]

Well, right now you probably have the router connected directly to the modem. To find out if the modem hands out more than one, all you would need is the second router and a switch/hub. Plug the modem into one of the ports on the switch/hub using a crossover cable. Then connect each of the two routers using standard patch cables from the hub to the WAN port on each router.

You will be better off assigning different internal IP addresses on each router before you connect everything. Also, until the setup is complete, I would recommend leaving laptop/PC nearby to connect directly to the routers via Cat5 so we always have access.

Now, in the configuration interface of each router, visit the "Status" page. There you should find all the information on each interface, at this moment, we are concerned with the WAN (internet) interface, if you compare each routers WAN (internet) interfaces, and they both have an address, each address is different, and neither of them are 0.0.0.0 or 169.254.?.?, then you will probably be ok without having to purchase another IP address.

I also thought of another idea that should work if you would rather not purchase another IP address, but you would need a total of 3 routers, one could be a simple wired one, the other two could be the wireless connections. You would no longer need a hub, nor need to worry about what your modem is handing out.

Greazy Mcgeezy