Sharing broadband with tenant

I have had many tenants asking for broadband when renting a room.

How do I provide wireless internet to all the rooms without each room person able to see each other. Also having some sort of bandwidth limit so one person doesn't hog the internet?

You can do this with a wireless router - depending on how the rooms are located, you may need more than 1. The PCs won't be able to see each other unless they have file sharing enabled. A wireless router with QOS will allow you to limit bandwidth by IP address, see http://lifehacker.com/178132/hack-attack-turn-your-6...

If you happen to be a BT Home Hub user you can limit times of the day that devices can use the internet. The Hub Manager software list all devices using your hub and you can stipulate times that each individual device can access the hub. Not quite the same as bandwidth monitoring but useful if you want to prevent all night downloading on P2P sites

Depends on what is meant by "see" each other. If they are on a standard wireless router they can ping each other and are open to attacks from the other users - the user becomes responsible for ensuring security in the same way they would be at any public hotspot.

I have a feeling some routers can essentially treat each end PC as a non-routable device but have never used the facility myself so can't give solid experience.

In reply to a post by ian72:

Depends on what is meant by "see" each other. If they are on a standard wireless router they can ping each other and are open to attacks from the other users

If they're on the internet they can be pinged and attacked by other users on the internet too.

In reply to a post by ian72:

I have a feeling some routers can essentially treat each end PC as a non-routable device

I think that is what the OP may be looking for.

I had look at the ddwrt, and it sounds good. That was the kind of solution i was looking for. Is that what most people do when they offer free broadband to their tenants?

You may be held accountable for their activities while using your broadband - you would be the one getting the warning letters for infringements if current legislation goes though.

Certainly a wireless router that can do "client isolation" is a good idea as otherwise they can infect each other being on a shared LAN (malware can spread much more easily this way than from the internet alone, especially if they are not all up to date with their patching).

Some wireless routers can create separate SSIDs each with a different password which would also be better than tenants sharing one. I'm guessing DD-WRT and similar custom firmwares can do this.

Otherwise, advising them to turn off file sharing on the wireless interface of their laptops would help, but does not eliminate entirely the means for malware to spread.

NAT means that internal laptops would not be visible directly on the internet, so internet malware necessarily has to rely more on exploited websites / infected downloads / attachments / social engineering rather than a direct attack.

There is an argument, despite the initial cost overhead, for putting the tenants on a second line with its own broadband so if they use up all their allowance it does not use up yours. This could be on a monthly rolling contract if needed. It would be neater from a legal/tax standpoint to have your domestic broadband separate from the broadband being provided as a landlord/lady.

Newnet for example do let you set a fixed or flexible cap so you can have more control of the total cost, or maybe you could go for something like Be on a suitable package that won't lead to unexpected costs.

Have you added any wording to the contract that the tenants have some (shared) responsibility not to abuse the free/ inclusive service, or it might be withdrawn for one or all at any time?

Just a few thoughts, not wanting to knock any of the ideas expressed earlier.

In reply to a post by prlzx:

You may be held accountable for their activities while using your broadband - you would be the one getting the warning letters for infringements if current legislation goes though.

or not... http://aaisp.net.uk/legal-cp.html

Hence my suggestion to consider a second line for providing broadband which the tenants share between themselves but not with the landlord/lady,

If the OP shares their own broadband with the tenants they are still a subscriber even in AAISP's wording, which incidently also states

In reference to aaisp.net.uk/legal-cp.html:

Bear in mind this is not legal advice, just our opinion

.