The scenario

A local pub has a fast fibre connection for the business. However, the standard ISP router does not provide sufficient wifi coverage to all the required areas throughout the pub, those areas being the 2 separate bars where the tills need wireless internet access in order for them to function properly.

• The owner would also like to offer wireless internet access to customers using a separate SSID and password.
• It is very important that the customer wifi has guest isolation so there is no access or visibility of any other device on the network by customers.
• It was also requested that a log was kept of connection access on the network.

Upon visiting the pub to assess the current situation and infrastructure, it could be seen that the main router was inside the main office in an area of pretty high interference from other devices and quite a distance from the main bar so it was understandable why wifi coverage from that router would not reach the main bar.

So at that time of visiting, there was an ethernet cable running from the main office up through roofing area into the main bar area where there was a basic router acting as an access point on 2.4ghz only. This was providing a wifi to the bar area however this was prone to dropping our regularly causing the tills to work intermittently and it would not cover the whole of the room which was quite large.

The smaller bar was near the main office and was able to pick up wifi directly from the router inside the office. However, this was also prone to being intermittent and wifi would only cover the bar area and not the rest of the room.

The requirement

The main aims of the install were:

1. To provide strong, reliable wifi connections for the tills to use in both bars.
2. To provide strong coverage throughout each bar throughout the whole room.
3. To provide customers with free wifi with a fair bandwidth usage policy isolated from all other devices, whilst also providing security and privacy for all other devices within the building.
4. To provide better self management of the internet and the wifi within the property which could be done either locally on the network or remotely.

The hardware solutions

After surveying the property, it was agreed that a wireless access point installed in each bar would provide strong wifi to potentially give the best speed internet possible to users anywhere within the room.

Wifi 6 Access points from the TP Link Omada series were chosen and installed in each room. They would be hardwired by ethernet cable and either ceiling or wall mounted depending on the best location in the bar.

• There was already an ethernet cable running into the main bar which connected the basic router acting as the access point, This router would then be replaced with a POE injector and the new ceiling mounted access point installed and powered by that.
• A new ethernet cable would be installed running from the office into the second smaller bar which would then run directly into the back of the wall mounted access point in the second bar. A POE injector would also be used to provide power to the access point.
• Both access points were installed in positions within each bar that would give the best coverage throughout the room.

The software solutions/configuration

• Configuration and management of the access points would be set up to use cloud based controllers as opposed to hardware based ones. This would allow remote access and management of the access points by authorised administrators via the web based interface.
• Remote logging was made possible by use of a raspberry pi located remotely off the premises.

The network was configured to broadcast to SSIDs which were the following:

1. A password protected private SSID exclusively for the business to connect to in either bar for use with their equipment such as tills, ipads etc.
2. A password protected customer SSID for the customers to log in to and use where each device was isolated from all other devices on the network.

The chosen cloud controller solution meant that the network was able to be configured and managed with many features including:

• Seamless roaming between access points without the need to disconnect and reconnect.
• Network analysis and optimization of faults, setup and traffic.
• The ability to configure the wireless settings of each access point to give the best possible coverage such as channel and transmission settings.
• Check the traffic and usage of each access points.
• Manage the security of the network with features such as url filtering, access control, blocking certain devices where needed, limit bandwidth where required.
• Manage methods of how customers can authenticate to log on to the network. i.e. password, voucher codes, SMS authentication.
• Create a landing page that guests can see when they first connect.
• Keep a log of all activity on the network for a specified length of time

The end result

• There is now a strong coverage of wifi giving full speed in all areas of each bar.
• The business tills and all other equipment in each bar now has a fast, reliable internet connection whilst maintaining full security from guests.
• Guests can now long in to the guest network via a secure portal. Each guest device is isolated from all others and has a bandwidth restriction to ensure balanced usage across all customers.
• The authorised administrator of the network can manage and troubleshoot the system remotely as required.
• A secure log is kept of all activity across the access points.

Furthermore, after the initial cost of the installation, the cost of running the network is very low. The only costs are the licences for the cloud controller software which is low and extremely cost effective. The only other cost after that would generally tend to be any upgrades or maintence if required, however TP Link Omada equipment is generally reliable and low maintenance.