Large WIFI Network

phillip3153

I am trying to start a free Wifi service for a fairly large area (3, three story blocks, roughly 40m apart), because I am looking to make this free (but limited access by WEP encryption), what are the limits that I have i.e distance and numbers of users? I would appreciate any help.

T4i

Distance is all dependant on media used. This would be a large project to setup.

50ohm coax (ThinNet) - max 185m
75ohm coax (ThickNet) - max 500m

Cat 5 UTP 10baset - max 100m
Cat 5 UTP 100basetx - max 100m

Opticals 100basefx - max 2000m
Opticals 1000baselx - max 3000m

Wireless - 100m (outdoor) - can be improved with different aerials etc

Edit** igonre all that, u've already said wifi.

Mr_Squiddy

phillip3153 wrote:

I am trying to start a free Wifi service for a fairly large area...

Does your ISP know about this? They might object if they found out (personally I think it's a great idea.)

Best,
Pete

wonka

Phillip,

What you're trying to do is similar to "community wireless", but on a smaller scale. However, I think you may come across the same issues, so here are a few links to get you started:

http://wiki.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/WirelessFaq
http://www.freenetworks.org/
http://www.wlan.org.uk/page2.html
http://www.manchesterwireless.net/links.html
http://www.wlan.org.uk/operational_wlan_sites.html

wiraone

This website is useful too ..

http://en.fon.com/

phillip3153

Thanks for your help - I have not set up a boradband provider as yet, it is just all in the ideas/planning stage. But why should we all pay £15 a month for a service when with a little tinkering we can dramatically cut the costs?

marka87uk

By the way, I'd use WPA encryption, not WEP. WEP is weak and can be cracked easily.