setting up school internet access through airport

[krossfyter]

Okay ive been asked to help at looking into getting a certain department at a university hooked up with the internet by way of airport base station/s. yes they already have internet access but now they are inquiring on trying to use a basestation. the reason is because a number of faculty members have just purchased powerbooks. the base stations would also be used to access the internet by way of the powermac lab already established.
so my question to you all is is it possible? what kind of things will have to be done to make this possible or anything else that would help. i believe i would have to take into consideration what kind of material/s are in the wall, range, disruption from electric sources i guess... etc. etc.


bare with me im not technically inclined (which is why im asking about this in the first place) so don't knock me for the lack of proper jargon.




thanks.

 

[jonapete2001]

the best thing i could suggest would be to buy a wireless router and see how far it transmits. If you are dealing with a large distance that needs to be covered you would likely want wireless range extenders. I know this is how we have it set up at my work.(Small comunity college).

Also i imagine that you are on a limited budget. Do not buy the apple base stations. Try D-Link or Lynksis. They are usually cheaper and also have wireless range extenders. They seem to be the best bang for the buck.

 

[Mord]

my school has a wireless network (it uses wintels mainly and a few macs grr) if I ge an airport card for my ibook will i be able to use the internet anyware easly?

 

[jtown]

Re: setting up school internet access through airport

Originally posted by krossfyter
bare with me im not technically inclined (which is why im asking about this in the first place) so don't knock me for the lack of proper jargon.

Not knocking you but if this is an official university project, it should be turned over to the department or campus IT people who are technically inclined. If it's not an official university project, don't do it.

Seriously.

There are a lot of things to consider when designing, building, and maintaining a wireless network. The university has staff to handle that sort of thing and I guarantee they're not going to be happy if they find out that someone is putting in wireless equipment without at least discussing it with them first. Talk to the IT department and see what they say. They should be able to help you determine what equipment to use, how to properly install and secure it, and how to get the best performance.

 

[krossfyter]

Re: Re: setting up school internet access through airport

Originally posted by jtown
Not knocking you but if this is an official university project, it should be turned over to the department or campus IT people who are technically inclined. If it's not an official university project, don't do it.

Seriously.

There are a lot of things to consider when designing, building, and maintaining a wireless network. The university has staff to handle that sort of thing and I guarantee they're not going to be happy if they find out that someone is putting in wireless equipment without at least discussing it with them first. Talk to the IT department and see what they say. They should be able to help you determine what equipment to use, how to properly install and secure it, and how to get the best performance.

i completly agree with you. however weve delt with them in the past and a lot of "red tape" you know buracracy has to be done before they can come over to deal with the situation.... and generally they don't know much about macs since these guys are pc people... in the past they almost refused to work with this department because they were they only ones with macs and didnt see them as significant... gave an attitude etc. etc. silly but true.

 

[krossfyter]

Originally posted by jonapete2001
the best thing i could suggest would be to buy a wireless router and see how far it transmits. If you are dealing with a large distance that needs to be covered you would likely want wireless range extenders. I know this is how we have it set up at my work.(Small comunity college).

Also i imagine that you are on a limited budget. Do not buy the apple base stations. Try D-Link or Lynksis. They are usually cheaper and also have wireless range extenders. They seem to be the best bang for the buck.

so you are saying to go an purchase a router just to test it out?