Looking into setting up Hotspot
Hi there,
I'm looking into setting up a hotspot controller system, but I'm not sure in the best way to do this. I've got a few setups in mind, but I'm not sure what would be best, so any input on this would be great. I'm thinking about two ways of doing this - either through DDwrt or Mikrotik. I'm sorry for all the questions on this topic!
Situation:
Looking to create a building-wide wifi/wired solution - connecting upto 40 clients.
ISP > Modem > Router > EAPs > End users
At the moment I'm using EAP-3660 units flashed with openmesh controlled by pro-mesh.net (for user creation/monitoring of timings/billing). But the problem with this setup is with the openmesh - it doesn't allow mail clients to work natively; also there is very little protection from BT users which would cripple the network.
The router used is current running DDwrt.
Aim:
Create a system that can be used, with both wireless and wired solutions, which can block BT downloading/uploading and either continue to use pro-mesh.net for the hotspot or something else to manage the users time/billing.
Potential solutions:
1) Flash all the EAPs with DD-wrt and setup them up as hotspot controllers forwarding to the main DD-wrt router.
2) Flash all the EAPs with DD-wrt (again has hotspot controllers) and setup a Mikrotik router (not sure which would would be best) and use that to prevent BT?
3) Flash all the EAPs back to standard firmware and get the Mikrotik router to affectively be the hotspot controller, therefore everything would be controlled by that.
Questions:
Given your knowledge, which way would provide most cost effective/trouble free solution?
I have at the moment basic knowledge of Mikrotik and I haven't tried hotspot configuration yet. So can someone tell me how well it works?
Can MT's create/delete/self manage/track/billing/auth/ users on the network and how involved is the setup of this?
Is the hotspot system easy to hack (i.e. get free access)?
Would it be better to use an external system to manage this?