my inner geek wrote:
> Today I ate lunch in Marlene's, our local health food store.
> snip....
> It's her customers I'm thinking about. How to get reasonable
> internet access from a table in Marlene's cafe? Flashbacks: NT
> Server with DSL connection: Proxy Server: DHCP Server: RJ-45 jacks.
>
> An then, some common sense.
>
> How about something simple? For Marlene, and the whole vertical
> market she represents...
>
> For now, at the end of the copper era, maybe a transition strategy:
>
> DSL in one end: wireless DHCP within 50 feet of the expresso machine.
> Get a PCMCIA card for your laptop, come in and enjoy the wheatgrass!
>
> Can this be done? And please don't give me any bullshit about
> proxy/firewall software and billable outlets! Marlene wants
> simplicity or nothing at all.
The primary question is: How many seats? How many simultaneous laptop users are expected? My personal recommendation is to use a WebRamp with two 56k modems and a network hub of the desired size on the user side, and 10 base network connections to 10base PCMCIA cards. You should be able to handle 6 or more users on a dual modem WebRamp simultaneously with relatively normal throughput behavior for each user. You wouldn't want to route payperview programs through it, of course, but its serviceable for most all browsing/email/ftp needs. WebRamp is administered by web pages resident on the device, and is relatively inexpensive.
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael S. Lorrey
Owner, Lorrey Systems
http://www.lorrey.com
ArtLocate.Com
http://www.artlocate.com
Director, Grafton County Fish & Game Assoc.
http://www.lorrey.com/gcfga/
Member, Extropy Institute
http://www.extropy.org
Member, National Rifle Association
http://www.nra.org
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
- General John Stark