Wireless Access Solution - At a caravan park

Hello all,

I have purchased a caravan near the seaside, and am trying to get internet
access there. My caravan has no land telephone line, or any other means of
wired broadband access. However in the centre of the caravan park, there is
a shop, which has adsl access. I have spoken to the owner of the shop, and
he is quite keen for us to set this up as a node for a wireless network
gateway, and then share the cost of the internet access, so that him, myself
and one other person can get wireless internet in our caravans.

Now the solution, that I have thought of (not entirely sure of weather it's
going to work, nor weather its practical or cost effective, comments
welcomed) is to get a wireless router in the shop, and to put an
Omni-Directional Antenna on the roof. Then to put cantennas on the roofs of
the caravans which want access pointing towards the shop. Now i don't know
exactly what equiptment to look for, i want to do this as cheaply as
possible, and would appreciate any help in what to buy, some links to how
to's to any kit i can make, or extend the use of, the equiptment, and any
links or advise in setting up the network. I would like to run the network
using wpa.

Kind Regards

Daniel

"Daniel T. Morgan .smartengine.co.uk>" <Daniel.t.m@<antispaim> wrote in
message newsm3qc.167$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello all,
>
> I have purchased a caravan near the seaside, and am trying to get internet
> access there. My caravan has no land telephone line, or any other means of
> wired broadband access. However in the centre of the caravan park, there
is
> a shop, which has adsl access. I have spoken to the owner of the shop, and
> he is quite keen for us to set this up as a node for a wireless network
> gateway, and then share the cost of the internet access, so that him,
myself
> and one other person can get wireless internet in our caravans.
>
> Now the solution, that I have thought of (not entirely sure of weather
it's
> going to work, nor weather its practical or cost effective, comments
> welcomed) is to get a wireless router in the shop, and to put an
> Omni-Directional Antenna on the roof. Then to put cantennas on the roofs
of
> the caravans which want access pointing towards the shop. Now i don't know
> exactly what equiptment to look for, i want to do this as cheaply as
> possible, and would appreciate any help in what to buy, some links to how
> to's to any kit i can make, or extend the use of, the equiptment, and any
> links or advise in setting up the network. I would like to run the network
> using wpa.
>
> Kind Regards
>
> Daniel
>
>
Rather than a wireless router I would suggest a router with a separate AP.
This will ensure that you can place the AP close to the antenna, reducing
any signal loss from the antenna coax. I use a DLink DWL-2000 AP attached to
a 8.5db omni which gives good range. Even my connection which is not line of
sight works well at 60 metres +, line of sight the signal quality is very
good.
Also I would recommend either Netgear or Dlink wireless USB devices at the
client end. The netgear WG121 uses a standard USB A-B cable and I have used
mine with a 5m USB cable. Disadvantages of the Netgear is that it doesn't
support wpa only wep.
The equipment is not particularly expensive, especially if you are sharing
the cost.
I have built my communal network on a trial & error basis, the above
configuration is the best I've found so far.

Shouldn't you be surfing in the sea ??? .

Good luck. John.

On Mon, 17 May 2004 13:46:00 +0100, "Daniel T. Morgan"
<Daniel.t.m@<antispaim>.smartengine.co.uk> wrote:

>Hello all,
>
>I have purchased a caravan near the seaside, and am trying to get internet
>access there. My caravan has no land telephone line, or any other means of
>wired broadband access. However in the centre of the caravan park, there is
>a shop, which has adsl access. I have spoken to the owner of the shop, and
>he is quite keen for us to set this up as a node for a wireless network
>gateway, and then share the cost of the internet access, so that him, myself
>and one other person can get wireless internet in our caravans.
>
>Now the solution, that I have thought of (not entirely sure of weather it's
>going to work, nor weather its practical or cost effective, comments
>welcomed) is to get a wireless router in the shop, and to put an
>Omni-Directional Antenna on the roof. Then to put cantennas on the roofs of
>the caravans which want access pointing towards the shop. Now i don't know
>exactly what equiptment to look for, i want to do this as cheaply as
>possible, and would appreciate any help in what to buy, some links to how
>to's to any kit i can make, or extend the use of, the equiptment, and any
>links or advise in setting up the network. I would like to run the network
>using wpa.
>
You didn't mention the size of the park. If it is too big and/or the
users are too far from the shop then the costs could be high. The
smaller/closer the better. About 300 feet or so and no antenna on your
part will be needed, more than that or if you have "objects" in the
direct line of sight and you could have problems. You could also need
an antenna if you have a metal skin on the caravan.
I would first get a wireless router that has the ability to connect an
external antenna to it, most do. Then put a wireless card in your
computer and see what happens, if you get a decent signal and can do
what you want to then you are good to go. If you have no signal, or an
inferior one, than start walking towards the shop and watch the signal
strength. The closer you get the stronger the signal should be. If you
can only get a signal inside the shop then an external antenna is
needed for the shop. If you get a good signal outside your caravan
then you need an antenna on the caravan. Go from there for the others
in the caravan.
If you only want paying people to have access, get a router that can
have MAC addresses entered into the setup therby excluding all that
are not entered. Most have this option too. If you use the MAC address
settings no WEP security settings are needed.
Here are some webpages that might help:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/

http://www.wown.com/

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/

Even with MAC address tables, you should STILL use WEP. Reason being is
even with the address table people could still passively sniff for traffic
and see clear text passwords and other possibly sensitive data. WEP's
primary use is traffic encryption and secondly access restriction.

"f/f george" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Mon, 17 May 2004 13:46:00 +0100, "Daniel T. Morgan"
> <Daniel.t.m@<antispaim>.smartengine.co.uk> wrote:
>

> If you only want paying people to have access, get a router that can
> have MAC addresses entered into the setup therby excluding all that
> are not entered. Most have this option too. If you use the MAC address
> settings no WEP security settings are needed.
> Here are some webpages that might help:
> http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/
>
> http://www.wown.com/
>
> http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/
>

Furthermore, I've seen implementations of MAC address filtering that only
filter access through the router to the Internet, and did not filter traffic
within the LAN.

Ron Bandes, CCNP, CTT+, etc.

"Josh Auger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Even with MAC address tables, you should STILL use WEP. Reason being is
> even with the address table people could still passively sniff for traffic
> and see clear text passwords and other possibly sensitive data. WEP's
> primary use is traffic encryption and secondly access restriction.
>
> "f/f george" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > On Mon, 17 May 2004 13:46:00 +0100, "Daniel T. Morgan"
> > <Daniel.t.m@<antispaim>.smartengine.co.uk> wrote:
> >
>
> > If you only want paying people to have access, get a router that can
> > have MAC addresses entered into the setup therby excluding all that
> > are not entered. Most have this option too. If you use the MAC address
> > settings no WEP security settings are needed.
> > Here are some webpages that might help:
> > http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/
> >
> > http://www.wown.com/
> >
> > http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/
> >
>
>

Check www nomadisp.com .It uses a starband satellite system here in US, but
can use any broadband as a backhaul. (cheap too: about $650 US and accepts
credit cards for payment.)

"Daniel T. Morgan .smartengine.co.uk>" <Daniel.t.m@<antispaim> wrote in
message newsm3qc.167$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello all,
>
> I have purchased a caravan near the seaside, and am trying to get internet
> access there. My caravan has no land telephone line, or any other means of
> wired broadband access. However in the centre of the caravan park, there
is
> a shop, which has adsl access. I have spoken to the owner of the shop, and
> he is quite keen for us to set this up as a node for a wireless network
> gateway, and then share the cost of the internet access, so that him,
myself
> and one other person can get wireless internet in our caravans.
>
> Now the solution, that I have thought of (not entirely sure of weather
it's
> going to work, nor weather its practical or cost effective, comments
> welcomed) is to get a wireless router in the shop, and to put an
> Omni-Directional Antenna on the roof. Then to put cantennas on the roofs
of
> the caravans which want access pointing towards the shop. Now i don't know
> exactly what equiptment to look for, i want to do this as cheaply as
> possible, and would appreciate any help in what to buy, some links to how
> to's to any kit i can make, or extend the use of, the equiptment, and any
> links or advise in setting up the network. I would like to run the network
> using wpa.
>
> Kind Regards
>
> Daniel
>
>

In Reply to a few questions

The caravan park i would say is approximately 300 metres radius around the
shop, however all three caravans are within a 100 hundred metre radius of
the shop. The shop is directly in the centre of the park, and is slightly
more raised than the rest of the park. All caravans have a metal skin. I am
in the UK, and have allready looked previously towards sattelite broadband,
but have run into legal difficulties with planning permission (some rubbish
about two satellites on one property)

Thankyou for the feedback, and i will indeed try the trial and error
approach outlined, i currently own a 3com OfficeConnect Wireless 11g Access
Point for my home network, this is my third access point, and I am more than
happy with it. WPA is great to use, and from what I have read about it, not
the easiest to misuse.

I will keep you posted with my progress, and more help or advice will be
appreciated.

Regards

Daniel