![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
Hi all,
My uncle's got a business where he provides free wifi access to his clients, but there are a few problems with the network as it's designed. First, the wifi access point is only 1, and it's literally outside the building in a 'mechanical' room so the signal strength sucks. The IT person that set up the network is using a wifi router because the ISP comes to that closet as well.... so rather than extending it outwards into the main office, he just put the wifi router there, which serves serves DHCP and the rest of the network.
What I want to do is this... I want to get a router (not wifi) for that closet so I can intake the signal for the ISP and pass it onto the LAN through the router.
I am going to buy two access points to put at the north and south of the office, but those APs need to have a switch on it so that I can make sure I'm not losing ports. The way the office was wired is that there's only 1 port per computer, which is supremely annoying.
Also, the LAN runs on old 10/100 equipment that he probably charged them a lot for. I want to bring that up to gigabit so there's no bottlenecks.
So what my shopping list is looks like this:
A 48 port gigabit switch. I don't need it manageable as it's a single network that's very simplistic.
A router that has no wifi or a router where I can turn wifi off. I also want to be able to block porn on the router level, so clients don't come in and browse that stuff.
Two access points that will serve with a single SSID so clients just switch over to the stronger of the two.
That's it -- budget is open but obviously I'm looking for cheap stuff because it's a simple network. I don't need anything highly customizable or with POE or anything, just a stable network that works and works fast. There is a server on the network that serves as a home for the POS systems and serves about 20 PCs, so that's the only real requirement.
Thanks for any help!
My uncle's got a business where he provides free wifi access to his clients, but there are a few problems with the network as it's designed. First, the wifi access point is only 1, and it's literally outside the building in a 'mechanical' room so the signal strength sucks. The IT person that set up the network is using a wifi router because the ISP comes to that closet as well.... so rather than extending it outwards into the main office, he just put the wifi router there, which serves serves DHCP and the rest of the network.
What I want to do is this... I want to get a router (not wifi) for that closet so I can intake the signal for the ISP and pass it onto the LAN through the router.
I am going to buy two access points to put at the north and south of the office, but those APs need to have a switch on it so that I can make sure I'm not losing ports. The way the office was wired is that there's only 1 port per computer, which is supremely annoying.
Also, the LAN runs on old 10/100 equipment that he probably charged them a lot for. I want to bring that up to gigabit so there's no bottlenecks.
So what my shopping list is looks like this:
A 48 port gigabit switch. I don't need it manageable as it's a single network that's very simplistic.
A router that has no wifi or a router where I can turn wifi off. I also want to be able to block porn on the router level, so clients don't come in and browse that stuff.
Two access points that will serve with a single SSID so clients just switch over to the stronger of the two.
That's it -- budget is open but obviously I'm looking for cheap stuff because it's a simple network. I don't need anything highly customizable or with POE or anything, just a stable network that works and works fast. There is a server on the network that serves as a home for the POS systems and serves about 20 PCs, so that's the only real requirement.
Thanks for any help!