I know nocat has bandwidth throttling based on user login, so if that's a hassle you feel comfortable putting your users through, that would be an easy solution. Personally, I use Soekris boxes running BSD as my Aps so I could do it there if I wanted it user specific but I just have it set up as I described earlier where the throttling takes place at the edge of the network and everyone has the same bandwidth cap.
I've never bothered to check, but say you have an Internet connection, plugged into a box (eth0) doing NAT plugged into an AP (eth1). On eth1, does the NAT box see the MAC addresses of the wireless clients or the AP? If it sees the clients MAC, then you should be able to do your throttling there based on hardware addresses. Of course, that is assuming you have a non-routed network and there isn't anything (router/bridge, etc) to hide the customer's MAC from the NAT box further down the line. It's my belief that you should accomplish as much of the "processing" at the main base station as you can, keeping the overhead and extra management off the APs. I'm sure enterprise APs have these features built in, and an easy way to manage them centrally...but I've never been fortunate enough to use that kind of stuff. :-/ YMMV -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Taylor Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 9:53 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [BAWUG] How Can I control the customers bandwidth They obviously can't consume more than than the gateway, but perhaps he wants to limit them at their AP which allows him to create a pricing structure based on speed. That way he can charge more for higher speeds, and can reliably guarantee his customers higher speed. Its much like cable internet. There are basically two ways to handle the speed. One is you let the customers run wide open and the speed will throttle itself based on how many people on are. My father's house for example gets about 4mb/s late at night. Peak time you usually get 1-2mb/s. Now, the cable company only guarantees 512kb/s, but I have often heard of people calling in and complaining about "slow" internet when they were still getting 2-3 times their guaranteed rate. My local cable company runs their modems at set speeds locked down by the DOCSIS layer controls. It was a major nuisance when I moved here, since I was used to up to 4mb/s, but here I am guaranteed 1mb/s and I always get it. This allows the cable company to charge more for those who need more speed, and to more accurately gauge the needed bandwidth. As a result, the quality of service in my area is very high. Now, to answer the original question, limiting the users access speed is different for every piece of access hardware. I know my Hyperlink H-ROR wireless routers and my SmartBridges have bandwidth settings in them that let you limit the amout of data passed. I also know a local WISP that uses all Orinoco equipment and does speed limiting, although I haven't been into the setup on the bridge to see if that is where it is limited. Brian Taylor Technology Coordinator Waconda USD #272 - Cawker City, KS ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fred Weston" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Jim Thompson'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 8:18 AM Subject: RE: [BAWUG] How Can I control the customers bandwidth > Perhaps in a community wireless network, run by enthusiasts you would > need to assume that your users would have a desire to occupy all > 11Mbit transferring files to each other. It sounds like this > gentleman is setting up a commercial WISP. If that is indeed the > case, 99% of his users will be interested only in connecting to AOL > and Kazaa. Perhaps I am missing something, but if all their traffic > is Internet bound I don't see how they can consume more bandwidth on > the wireless network than is available to them at the gateway. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Thompson > Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 1:38 AM > To: Fred Weston > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [BAWUG] How Can I control the customers bandwidth > > > > I think you misunderstand the capacity issues of wireless networks. > > Jim > > Fred Weston writes: > > There wouldn't be any need to. In a typical WISP setup, you > > wouldn't care so much about how much bandwidth they use on the local > > network, all you care about is how much of your hardwired Internet > > connection they utilize. Therefore, you can put a box doing traffic > > shaping at the edge of the network and accomplish it at the "CO". > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Jim Thompson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 1:12 AM > > To: Fred Weston > > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: RE: [BAWUG] How Can I control the customers bandwidth > > > > > > > > Good luck running FreeBSD on your CPE. > > > > Fred Weston writes: > > > M0n0wall also has basic traffic shaping ability. > > > > > > http://www.m0n0.ch/wall > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Thompson > > > Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 12:56 AM > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Subject: Re: [BAWUG] How Can I control the customers bandwidth > > > > > > > > > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > > Hello, > > > > > > > > This may seam like a really dumb question but how do you control > > > > the customers bandwidth? I have read four books on deploying as > > > > a WISP > > and > > > > > > > scoured the net looking for this answer. Is software available > > > > that controls the bandwidth? I looked at http://www.funk.com and > > > > did not see a mention about this. I currently am in the first > > > > phases of an initial roll-out to a rural area and need some help > > > > with this last detail. As a matter of fact any help would be > > > > appreciated. > > > > > > Nearly impossible until you control the last hop at your > > > cusotmer's location, then its merely difficult. > > > > > > Google for "frottle" or "WiCCP" if you like to roll your own, or > > > "Karlnet" if you like to pay a small mint. > > > > > > -- > > > "Speed, it seems to me, provides the one genuinely modern > > > pleasure." > > > -- Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963) > > > > > > -- > > > general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> > > > [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > > > > > > > > -- > > > general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> > > > [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > > > > > > -- > > "Speed, it seems to me, provides the one genuinely modern pleasure." > > -- Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963) > > > > > > > > > > -- > "Speed, it seems to me, provides the one genuinely modern pleasure." > -- Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963) > > -- > general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> > [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > > -- > general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> > [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > -- general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless -- general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
