Internet for a Village Hall

I have been tasked with organising the relocation of the NTE5 and getting internet into three rooms, one of which is the manager's office. The other two rooms to have Wi-Fi provided to users on a f.o.c. guest basis.

Currently the NTE5 is in the totally wrong location, near the main door, the manager's office is on the first floor. The building is from the late 1800s and the cordless phone plugged into the NTE5 can be a challenge. Similarly, our internet connection is provided f.o.c. by the business user of a spare first floor room. However, due to the thick stone walls, the only way we have a reliable Wi-Fi connection in the manager's office, is to use a directional Wi-Fi aerial.

My initial thoughts are that the other two room, both on the ground floor will need Wireless Access Points, likely POE.

Our telephone supplier is BT and looking at BT Business (I am not sure whether our existing telephone account is down as Residential or Business. The Bills supplied are not VAT Invoices and the Village Hall name is not shown on them. But, we appear as a Business online in the BT Book.) I note that the BT hub has provision for Guest Wi-Fi, would Wireless Access Points plugged into that Hub also have that Guest facility? I ask this because as powerful as BT claim their Hub is, the thick stone walls are a problem.

What other ways, say if the BT Hub Guest Wi-Fi is not extendable via CAT5 into the Hub from a WAP, can Guest Wi-Fi be implemented?

I am not against using other internet providers, but was hoping that BT might move the NTE5 by running a new drop wire.

Grateful for any comments, suggestions, ideas etc.

Many thanks!

Clive

Of course the NTE can be shifted - ring up and order it - but there will be a charge.

If keeping the existing phone number isn't an issue then getting a new line + broadband is often bizarrely less expensive than having the existing NTE relocated.

As you mention the BT Hub are you looking at your own broadband to replace the current f.o.c service?

I don't know if the BT Hub can provide the guest network on the wired connections, but as you would still need additional access points I would be tempted to use Ubiquiti UniFi or Mikrotik throughout plus an ADSL or FTTC modem. The UniFi kit looks good and has a reasonably friendly UI, most of the Mikrotik kit doesn't have such a polished design and you need to know what you are doing to configure it.

I've found CIX (the direct retail sales arm of ICUK) good value and very helpful in sorting out any issues.

whatever happens, Guest SSID or Main SSID
the bandwidth will be shared ...

And with the current BT products,the "BT wifi" SSID is only on the Main Hub, all the LAN sockets are connected to users network and primary/Main SSID LAN.

The only advantage of BT Wifi is
a) it is on private VPN so traffic isolated from the Main users LAN
b) each user has to login with a BT username/password from their BT Wifi account (so paid for unless free account from your BT home broadband) - and that identifies any abuser of the service (illegal downloads etc).

If you are going to share the Guest Wifi, you might as well just set up any 2nd SSID and share the LAN. (several routers offer multiple SSID's - different passwords)

if coverage is an issue, you might therefore look at BT Whole Home DisK solution - and run it on it's own common SSID. Reviews show it to be a value for money solution.

Given that it has to be paid for/account associated
Using BT Wifi as your Guest solution might not be the best route.
and you could extend with cable to the BT whole home disks now..

I thought that if ordering VDSL (FTTC) that a rearrangement of the NTE5 was available f.o.c. if requested with the order, especially since we considering BT Business as supplier?

Cheers!

Only if paying for an engineer install £99+VAT if memory serves me right

I thought that if ordering VDSL (FTTC) that a rearrangement of the NTE5 was available f.o.c. if requested with the order,

Not come across that I'm afraid.




* Or as Mr.S suggests, but not so many offering engineer installed FTTC these days I believe.

Edited by Zarjaz (Sat 03-Feb-18 17:25:59)

Ah!

The current NTE5 position is as far away as possible from the office and to either re-route internally - both filtered (phone) and unfiltered (VDSL) would be a nightmare. Being a Grade II listed building does not help. Whereas the removal of the existing NTE5 and drop-wire and fitting a new drop-wire to the building adjacent to the first floor office would look better. CAT5 or CAT6 from the router to Wi-Fi Access Points is relatively easy. I am considering BT Whole Home for the "Guest Access" via Ethernet due to the thick walled construction. This choice of Wi-Fi APs subject to the number of concurrent Wi-Fi connects possible. Unless I'm mistaken (which is often the case) similar systems may need an annual payment after the first couple of years. I like the ability to set operating hours for the Guest Access, which should prevent freeloaders sitting in the car-park at night .

Cheers!

Any reason as to why you would want to use BT Whole Home WiFi? You could achieve a similar setup for a much cheaper price e.g. Google Whole Home WiFi.

You could achieve a similar setup for a much cheaper price e.g. Google Whole Home WiFi.

Are you sure about that William? A quick check on Amazon shows a 3 disc BT system available for £189 (2 disc £140) whereas a 2 disc Google system looks to be around £229. No doubt both prices can be bettered but can't see a Google system dropping below the BT system with the same number of discs.