Prof. Dr. Silver
Well-known member
Here it goes: I’ve been playing with the idea of creating a large wired/wireless network in the apartment building I live in and perhaps use this as a small business opportunity. This is still in the VERY early ‘thinking of’ stage, so bare with me. I have a few reasons for doing so.
Number 1 reason: I hate Rogers for the exorbitant amount of money they charge for their internet usage! In the building I live are 23 floors with 10 apartments each. The average price for Rogers internet access is around $ 45 tax in. Let’s say that 75%(172.5) of the apt. has internet which totals approx $ 7,500.00(!) Myself, being a real Dutch Cheapass, thinks this is retarded! (Keep those numbers in your mind)
Number 2 reason: Buying bulk makes it cheaper for everyone, so does sharing. Here’s what I’m thinking: In Holland it is fairly common to share an internet connection via wireless. One person pays for it, gets a router, hands out a wireless key and receives half the money of the internet cost from the neighbour. If there is more interest, hand out more keys and lower your cost! Sharing is caring right?
Now that is my idea for our apt. building. I would like to set up a huge wired/wireless network throughout my building so that everyone has access to it. I actually prefer wireless because I believe that gives me the least issues/work to set it all up. I need advice on pretty much everything though since I’m a fairly big network n00b :haha:
Here’s what I’m thinking:
• Run fibre-optic from the street into the building (less than $ 1000 monthly cost)
• Put a wireless N- access point ($ ~75 ea.) up on every floor in the ceiling of the hallways. One should be enough on every floor and if we criss/cross them through the building we should have optimal signals everywhere. There is power and space for cables.
• Put a good quality wireless N router on the ground floor. No more CAT cables necessary because the system connects/expands via WDS
• I would need a device(switch) that converts fiber into RJ45 signals? Are there fiber optic routers/switches (?)
• Secure the network with a WPA2 key to hand out to customers (?)
• Sell wireless USB sticks to apt for ($ 15 ea.)
This is how it should work: Initial building/network setup is done by me and this is financed by the landlord/building owner. They market their new service to their tenants who can sign up for cheap wireless internet. The network setup is an investment for them with a possible great return. Only a few pennies need to be calculated in the monthly cost for the internet. Now depending on the cost for all of this we can now calculate the price for internet access. The more people sign up the cheaper it could be. Example: The same amount of people give up Rogers and sign up for ONLY $ 10 a month (That is on average $ 420 in savings per year per apt, compared to Rogers), the building would still have an income of approx $ 1700 per month. Fibre is cost $ 1000 per month, so they could be netting $ 700
Now for a few questions: Where does one get fibre optic and what does it cost?(Found it). How much bandwidth does one apt building need/use? What speeds are necessary? How many devices could I connect to this network? How may IP adresses would I need? Is this setup somewhat decent? How would one go about kicking people who stopped paying of your network? How to go about monitoring bandwidth usage? Attached is a pic of the buildings floorplan btw…. Have a look!
Fire off all comments you may have and I’m always open for tips, suggestions, etc….
Number 1 reason: I hate Rogers for the exorbitant amount of money they charge for their internet usage! In the building I live are 23 floors with 10 apartments each. The average price for Rogers internet access is around $ 45 tax in. Let’s say that 75%(172.5) of the apt. has internet which totals approx $ 7,500.00(!) Myself, being a real Dutch Cheapass, thinks this is retarded! (Keep those numbers in your mind)
Number 2 reason: Buying bulk makes it cheaper for everyone, so does sharing. Here’s what I’m thinking: In Holland it is fairly common to share an internet connection via wireless. One person pays for it, gets a router, hands out a wireless key and receives half the money of the internet cost from the neighbour. If there is more interest, hand out more keys and lower your cost! Sharing is caring right?
Now that is my idea for our apt. building. I would like to set up a huge wired/wireless network throughout my building so that everyone has access to it. I actually prefer wireless because I believe that gives me the least issues/work to set it all up. I need advice on pretty much everything though since I’m a fairly big network n00b :haha:
Here’s what I’m thinking:
• Run fibre-optic from the street into the building (less than $ 1000 monthly cost)
• Put a wireless N- access point ($ ~75 ea.) up on every floor in the ceiling of the hallways. One should be enough on every floor and if we criss/cross them through the building we should have optimal signals everywhere. There is power and space for cables.
• Put a good quality wireless N router on the ground floor. No more CAT cables necessary because the system connects/expands via WDS
• I would need a device(switch) that converts fiber into RJ45 signals? Are there fiber optic routers/switches (?)
• Secure the network with a WPA2 key to hand out to customers (?)
• Sell wireless USB sticks to apt for ($ 15 ea.)
This is how it should work: Initial building/network setup is done by me and this is financed by the landlord/building owner. They market their new service to their tenants who can sign up for cheap wireless internet. The network setup is an investment for them with a possible great return. Only a few pennies need to be calculated in the monthly cost for the internet. Now depending on the cost for all of this we can now calculate the price for internet access. The more people sign up the cheaper it could be. Example: The same amount of people give up Rogers and sign up for ONLY $ 10 a month (That is on average $ 420 in savings per year per apt, compared to Rogers), the building would still have an income of approx $ 1700 per month. Fibre is cost $ 1000 per month, so they could be netting $ 700
Now for a few questions: Where does one get fibre optic and what does it cost?(Found it). How much bandwidth does one apt building need/use? What speeds are necessary? How many devices could I connect to this network? How may IP adresses would I need? Is this setup somewhat decent? How would one go about kicking people who stopped paying of your network? How to go about monitoring bandwidth usage? Attached is a pic of the buildings floorplan btw…. Have a look!
Fire off all comments you may have and I’m always open for tips, suggestions, etc….
Last edited:
funky:
