2 companies sharing broadband

Evening all, I've got some ideas already about this but wanted to pick some brains see if anyone had some make/model suggestions etc.

Have 2 places wanting to share the broadband they're in adjoining buildings so cabling isn't a problem. Place 1 has the xdsl & router, place 2 just needs WiFi access.

I don't need to complicate matters with QoS or balancing etc all I want to do is add a WAP in place 2 so we keep the traffic as separate as possible keeping wifi in place 1 secure too. I need to do this as cheap as possible as one is a charity & the other is a local service.

Place 1 is using WiFi on their router & wired Ethernet for 3 devices so don't need any huge switches etc.

So I'm thinking a new WAP on a VLAN but can anyone recommend the cheapest kit possible whether that's an 8 Port switch, new router etc

At present they're using a BT provided router, I don't mind buying used kit off ebay to keep costs down

On the hardware side, I would suggest running a suitable Cat5e/Cat6 cable between the two locations. Connect that to the existing router and in location 2 get a small 4 or 8 port switch ((£10 or so) and then add a WAP onto that. The switch may sound surplus to requirements but it does give a hard wired point for testing and sometime in future there will be something in need of a fixed connection.

I am assuming they want separation of traffic for the networks so that the devices on one network cannot see the other. That means some sort of capability to either support VLANs or to provide 2 secured networks from a single router.

I specifically avoided the VLAN question just suggested a possible hardware option with a specific interface point.

I raised it as it may not meet requirements. Especially if the 2 sites are running their own DHCP servers as if they can see each other at the network level then you never know which DHCP server a device might pick up the address from.

My guess is that the VLAN part is potentially key to the requirement.

VLAN to keep people apart, and not sharing a single publically visible IP, but different ones for each business.

Also worth having the discussion of what happens if/when Wi-Fi firm needs access to hardware to restart it, e.g. Wi-Fi crashes and need physical access to the router e.g. 10pm on Friday night, i.e. some way of getting physical access to the router may be needed

Another issue is capacity management, if firm A needs to upload 20GB of data what effect will this have on firm B, does that matter? Even when everyone one is amicable, having the discussion upfront will avoid moans latter.

Wouldn't this be in contravention of most ISP's T&C's?

In reply to a post by longedge:

Wouldn't this be in contravention of most ISP's T&C's?

maybe if you told them

Why would it be? It's no different to a caf� offering wifi to its customers. The company that has the contract with the ISP is directly liable for any misuse of the connection.

It's a moot point really, just that I have certainly in times past, when I've had nothing better to do than read small print, seen conditions that specifically disallow doing this. Admittedly that was in the case of a domestic account and not as here a business account .