wireless networking a hotel

[fathead]

need some advice...I have a customer that owns 119 Marriott hotels. He wants to have high speed internet access to each hotel. I'm going to do a test at the Hotel here locally. He wants to use a wireless router and pcmcia network cards (this way it will save money from having to hard wire the entire hotel). I normally use either 3com or linksys wireless routers to do small offices and homes, but I need to know what will work the best for my situation. I need this test hotel to kick a@#. Any suggestions on the optimal configuration? I'm sure most of you have seen a Courtyard Marriot Hotel. I know it will be alot of trial and error as to how far the connections will go, but I mainly want to know what hardware will work the best.

[korpse]

Cisco Aironet 350 series...but be sure to get the right external antennas for optimal performance

[widget]

Every one has an opinion as far as the best hardware, so here is mine:

First a (old) comparison of 802.11 hardware:
<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2685340,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2685340,00.html</a> (editor's choice is orinoco, price ranges for all vendors is not correct)


While Cisco has a quality wirless AP for business it has several issues, first it incorporates some propietary software features (only compatible with other cisco products), price (one of the most expensive), and less range when using encryption then some competitors.

Orinoco Wireless (Agere Systems/Lucent Tech.) offers two access points that could fulfill your needs, the AP-1000 and the AS-1000. Both have reliable speed at distance (best when encrypted), and are very versatile. I would think you would want to look into the AS-1000 for your intended purpose, it has the ability to track and monitor each user's time on the network (via any rfc compliant RADIUS server, cisco ap's will only work with cisco RADIUS), i helped several hotel owners with this and they were able to incorporate a billing system fairly easy with this unit. More questions or advice respond to post, I would be more then happy to help ya with some details whatever vendors product you decide to use.......welcome to the wireless revolution......

P.S. Hotels are particulary vulnerable to hackers using Airsnort so I would suggest using a RADIUS server for security (per session per user encrypted key) even if ya don't need one for billing.

[Kymera]

Absolutely widget. That is what I would have suggested. Remember check that signal meter to ensure optimal coverage, even by the pool. Good luck.

[korpse]

I agree with Widget as far as using a Radius server for authentication. If you choose Cisco you might also look into using TACACS for some extra security.