Introduction
Setting up a hotspot in a public space requires careful consideration. Will you be charging your customers, or will this be free? How will you provide bandwidth? Will the bandwidth sharing be a violation of your provider's Terms of Service?
Finally, you must make some decisions about security.
Security issues in a public space can become a bit tricky because public hotspots generally have no security at all. For example, at a Starbucks or Borders location, it is considered the user's responsibility to ensure her own security (typically via a VPN). This happens because public hotspots, by their very definition, are intended to be open. Therefore, WEP, WPA, TKIP, etc., are generally not employed.
As a location owner, you have many options for deploying a hotspot. Some services come prepackaged and ready to go. You may want to check out these solutions if you wish to charge your visitors for Internet access:
You may want to roll your own solution. In this chapter, we will review some of your choices and walk you through some sample configurations.