Small Business network setup

CFu

Baseband Member
Messages
53
The scenario is as follows:

A typical Small Business setting inside a big building that houses other Small Businesses. We are allotted a small office within that large building. That area has ethernet sockets on the walls. When you plug in your computers into those sockets via a patch cable, you get a working internet connection.

My manager has asked me to buy a router (Netgear Nighthawk) so that we can have a small WiFi network in that office.

A few questions:

- What connection typically comes out of that ethernet wall socket? I typically don't have access to talk to the network administrator because he's rarely there, so the network setup behind that socket is unknown to me.

- Could I just plug in a patch cable into the WAN port of that router, then plug that router into the ethernet wall socket and plug a laptop into one of the router's LAN ports and that laptop would then have internet access?
 
I don't entirely understand your question but if you plug your computers into a wall socket and that connects you to the internet then that wall socket must go to some sort of server or external router that isn't administered by you or your manager. Obviously if that is the case then any business that your company conducts over the that network is subject to scrutiny by whoever runs that network. You don't actually need a router to have wireless connectivity between your companies computers although a router will perform that function. Having a router though could mean that your company has it's own internet access via your company's phone lines and thus would be able to conduct your business internet access relatively securely.
 
IT sounds like you're just sharing a lan over the whole building.

(You should definitely make sure machines have firewalls etc enabled!!)

As you just plug it in and it works it sounds like you have two choices...

Either get a wireless access point. (Not a router) and just setup the ssid and password and rely on the DNS/DHCP that you're getting from the building.

Or, get a router, with built in wireless and setup a new network with new address range, NAT to get out to the internet etc, the problem here is that you cable connected machines will be on the other side of Te firewall and unable to communicate with wireless clients.


I guess a third method would be to ask to install your own managed equipment in the central comms room and control your own network, but your building provider may not like that.
 
You can get a wifi router or a managed switch with aps it depends on security level needed and how secure your Lan must be.
 
I don't know if I understood your question correctly but I'd get a wifi router in this case. I think you can connect it even without the network administrator. But honestly, I'd better discuss all the nuances with him. Can't you get his phone number? Anyway, to have a secure connection to the internet you need to get a new router with a new address range. But as root mentioned in his post, this method can negatively affect your communication with wireless clients. You can discuss it with Grownomics Digital before implementing this just to be sure you're doing everything right. I guess they could explain how to make it without hurting the feedback with your clients.
 
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