Add ultra-low cost wireless Internet to your apartment complex.

Make money on your Wi-Fi Network; get paid to allow ads on your network, advisetize your business, collect rent through Paypal, charge for Wi-Fi service, or use it to market your complex with FREE Wi-Fi.

We communicate with our residents at Queen's Point Apartments through our splash page - see example below.

Ultra low-cost wireless network solution that spreads an Internet connection throughout an entire apartment complex. The dashboard is the hub of your network. It is a FREE, hosted solution that gives you complete control from a browser anywhere in the world.

We provide all the components you need: mini routers, indoor wall-plug and/or outdoor housings (w/ POE), free hosted management / control software, and an ethernet cable to connect one mini router to the Internet.

With your control software you can set the bandwidth users get, view usage & block users, view & edit node list, view a network diagram, design your own splash pages, and even easily add billing and user management options via several third-party solutions. The system has excellant security, you can actually prevent users on the wireless network from accesssing your wired LAN, and/or prevent your wireless users from being able to access each other's computers. In additon a seperate private secure network (mysecure) with its own (WPA-PSK Key) password is provided "FREE" where ever your resident Wi-Fi can be accessed.

The magic that makes this work is the mini routers (about the size of a pack of cards) that can spread a single DSL across multiple apartment units. A typical network consists of 2 or more routers, one connected to your DSL or cable modem, and others plugged into outlets around the area you'd like to cover.

In a traditional network (like you might have in your home or at the office), each computer has to be connected to the Internet via a hard-wired cable. The expense and inconvenience of retrofitting apartment buildings with cabling is usually prohibitive. The professional mini routers solve this problem by spreading a wireless signal across many apartment units - far beyond the range of a single wireless router.

The criteria we used in adapting a Wi-Fi network into low-income apartment communities was as follows:

• It must be affordable

• It must not require any configuration and be installable by volunteers, property managers or residents.

• It must be manageable by non-trained property managers.

• It must provide a connectible signal indoors without additional equipment.

• It must be able to let a manager know when there is a problem.

Selecting an Internet provider

The first step is to figure out where you will get your Internet connection.

Usually this will be DSL (thru Qwest Business Internet), or cable (thru Comcast Business class), or satellite (thru HughesNet).

Picking a location for the DSL/Cable/Satellite

If you only have a single Internet connection feeding your network, it is desirable to have the Gateway be as central to the area you want to cover as possible. The reason for this is that for each Repeater you pass through to get to the Gateway the maximum speed is cut roughly in half. So if most of your Repeaters have a direct (or single "hop") connection to the Gateway, speed is maximized. The easiest way to accomplish this is to put your DSL/cable/fiber connection as close to the middle of the area you want to cover.Another way is to have multiple DSL's. In fact, it is often better to have multiple lower-speed DSL's feeding your Network than a single high-speed DSL. If one DSL were to go down, your network will switch-over to the other DSL(s) keeping your network up, if a bit slower. Plus, by having multiple DSL's spread throughout your network, you minimize the speed loss of “hopping” the signal over several Repeaters to get from Internet to user.

How many professional mini routers do I need?

In apartments application, we recommend that you have one professional mini-router for every 4-6 units that you want to cover, on average. This will vary depending upon the type of construction used for the apartments. If concrete/brick/stone or other “dense” materials, you may need one for every 3 or 4 units. For wood frame construction, 5-6 seems about right.

Indoor vs. Outdoor installation?

Indoor vs. outdoor nodes?  Some things to keep in mind:

• Outdoor nodes are expensive to install

• Often require an electrician to install power

• Often involve getting up on ladders or rooftops

• Long Ethernet cables need to be installed and secured

• Lightning protection needed in many areas

• They are unsightly and often violate apartment/condo CC&Rs

• Strongest signals are outdoors - weakest are indoors, the opposite of what you want

So why are outdoors nodes used? Historically they were used, as mesh repeaters were expensive so you wanted to install as few as possible. This meant big antennas to both broadcast and be able to pickup tiny incoming wireless signals.

With the advent of very low cost mini router, this often isn't necessary any more. Let's face it - you typically don't care about outdoor wireless. You want it indoors. So we suggest turning the historical installation approach "inside out" and instead use a greater number of very low cost devices indoors (where the people and computers are) and save money on installation (which goes to nearly zero $). By deploying densely indoors (e.g., one indoor device for 4-6 apartments), your total cost is lower and you will have better indoor performance.

We usually don't do outdoor installations or limit the number of outdoor nodes to provide only "back-haul" connection over longer distances. In many situations they aren't needed and the $ they consume is often better spent in more densely deploying indoor nodes. Before installing an outdoor node, please ask yourself if this is needed. You'll often save yourself time, money and grief by deploying indoor, where possible.

Here are some important installation suggestions:

• First, remember that it will really help if the DSL can be central to the area being covered. If you put it on the edge, you'll likely find that users far away from the DSL will have slower speed than the users close in. Residents computer must have wireless capability and Internet Explorer 8 or better

• Each node can cover an area that is roughly a 50-150 foot "sphere" indoors, depending upon the number of walls and their construction. You will want to have the edges of these spheres overlap so that each node can talk to at least one (and preferably two) other node, with good signal quality.

• For multi-story buildings, you'll want to think vertically as well. If you have 2-3 floors to cover, placing the nodes on the second floor is a good idea. This keeps them centered between the floors where they can provide coverage above and below. If you have more than 3 floors, then repeating the installation on every other floor will usually do the trick.

• If the building has brick, cement or stone on the outside walls (or lots of fireplaces indoors), your range will be significantly reduced. In this case, you may want to keep everything (all Repeaters and Gateways) indoors to avoid having to penetrate stonewalls.

• In an apartment complex with internal hallways, we **HIGHLY** recommend putting the routers there. There are a few reasons for this: First, as this is common space, you'll have access to it without disturbing residents. Secondly, placing the routers down a long corridor means they can all see each other without having to go through walls. This maximizes the signal between the Minis and minimizes potential "hops" that will slow down the network. Our wall plug housings put the routers in a secure case that doesn't look like something valuable people should steal. Note that our wall plug housings cover one plug of an outlet (required by most building and fire codes). This also leaves a plug for vacuum cleaners, etc 

Comments from viewers of this information:

from AP in seatle     Hello, I connected with your website, and I see you have proposed solutions for a thorny niche market. I am a volunteer with a group trying to assist/guide several subsidized housing projects in the Seattle area; I have some network training but not enough to guide the housing administrators.  In a nutshell, the housing admins are experts in subsidized housing and know next to nothing about emerging network technologies--they employ and/or contract IT people but again, those individuals have little expertise about emerging technologies and/or they have a tendency to try and sell a "bill of goods" that may or may not be in the best long term interests of the low income people the housing admins serve.I have some questions.

• 1)  Regarding bandwidth--does your solution of "mini-repeaters" apply to a single DSL connections.  We have instances where new apartment buildings were wired for Ethernet, and free service is provided to tenants; however, the equipment installed five years ago apparently is failing on a regular basis.  We suspect that the new demands for tenants to view TV over their free internet connection, stream movies, etc., is causing an overload on the cheap modem/DNS server that was initially installed five years ago.  The buildings are four floors with a total of about 40 units per building.  I guess the question is can a single DSL connection actually support future needs?
  A single DSL line at say 3-5Mps (which is about MAX for Qwest) will marginally handle one computer viewing a online movie, Hulu video, etc.

  All of these service have their fine print on multi-users accessing a single line. After a lot of research, the best I can fine is COMCAST Business Class service. Their fine print allows multi-users.

•  2)  Your website indicates that "dashboard" can control the bandwidth users get--I understand the concept of QoS and traffic shaping/policing; however, I need a better handle on what you are proposing for low-income situations.  I was under the impression that truly responsive traffic shaping required dedicated servers. The issue is that the main justification for free internet or low-cost internet to tenants is that in order to participate in a progressive society today, you need internet access to apply for jobs, deal with Social Security, take on-line classes, etc., etc.  This involves different levels of bandwidth; however, as mentioned above, today, computer users also want to be able to view TV, download movies, stream YouTube, etc. I guess the groups I volunteer with need to define what those levels of availability should be; but in order to do so we need to know what is possible--I can see where the ability to take an on-line class might approach the same bandwidth needs of a tenant that wants to stream video all day.  How can we communicate some level of acceptable cut-off?

  A single line Comcast Business line (5-20Mps) will accommodate about 20 units running light duty access, such as e-mail. The information provided on the website is about one year old but is still state of the art for a low cost system. The Mesh Network is all wireless which provides the advantage of not needing a expense costly installation of wire. That does add the requirement of the tenant to have a computer equipped with wireless (G).  Your facility already has the wiring ... really great. In my travels the best application for this would be a Comcast "trunk" line to some special distribution equipment. Make sure you work closely with Comcast to only be charged for the "trunk" line. Than it would be up to management whether they would charge the tenant a per line fee. The equipment and trunk line are NOT cheap. This solution would provide high speed internet to tenants wishing to access large amounts of video.

• 3)  Several national and international non-profit and/or charitable foundations exist that promote free or low-cost internet access--one name I have been referred to is "One Economy"; do you work with any of these foundations.  Can you provide me any leads ? As you can surmise, we are in the early stages of assembling information to advocate for proper cutting edge solutions to providing low-cost/free internet to our subsidized housing in Seattle--there are several groups but it is questionable whether they are arriving at "optimal" solutions. 

  Any feedback you can provide would be appreciated !

  Technology is changing fast................ 

   I really believe most low income individuals will own smart phones or tablets. With these devices you can access wifi services, the cell towers, etc.. The phones and tablets will soon output HDMI (high def TV) mostly wirelessly which can be connected to your flat screen TV. By using your cell phone or tablet, you don't need a landline, computer, digital camera, cell service, etc. Yet you have access to video TV, e-mail, social media sites, text messaging, e-books, GPS, scanner, and just about anything else you desire. All this comes for the price of the smart phone or tablet and a phone service data package if you choose -- for less than $50. If you get the bundle package from any of the usual services, Qwest, Comcast... etc. your looking at $120+ a month... than if you move you have to set it all up again.

from AES in Arcadia, CA      Tired of paying expensive cable and satellite bills just for mediocre channels?

The cost can be about $60 just for the most basic cable channels. That doesn't even include HBO channels, or any of the premium channels after the promotion runs out.  Want a way to get around the system and receive TV shows and movie channels? 

Using your PC and an old analog TV set .......There’s a way, with just your personal computer, you can buy a converter box called PCtoTV and watch all your favorite shows for free or for a very low price! How the PCtoTV box works is, you would also need a VGA signal splitter; we take the VGA signal from the PC into the splitter, and feed the contents going to your computer monitor to your television screen. The box converts the signal to S-Video, and is able to input on the television. The audio comes from the computer speakers, but it can easily be fed to the TV. However, since these programs would be from the computer it wouldn’t be in true HD.

Using your digital TV.......With a digital TV antenna, you can receive local channels in HD. New televisions already have a digital converter built in; analog TVs would need a digital converter box. But with a TV antenna, you can get local channels in HD and it would be clearer than cable and satellite. This is because; those companies compress the signal for transmission. Over the air HD channels are not compressed and are super clear, this is great for watching sports games like football or basketball.  Also with HD channels, stations like NBC for example have second and third channels that carry only the local news content, and another that gives weather and news and traffic graphics.  

Using your Wii (or other gaming device) ......Most new televisions have web connections built in and allow the hooking up of an Ethernet or even a wireless connection. If it doesn’t, devices like a Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3 or an Xbox can connect to the internet. With an internet connection, you can subscribe to companies like Netflix and watch as many movies as you’d like for as little as $7.99 a month.

Using your PC direct to a digital TV ........Also with an internet connection to internet ready TV, or  internet ready DVD player, or having your computer hooked up directly to your digital TV,  you can stream videos and shows from websites like Hulu.com. With Hulu.com, it also has a premium plus which you can get for $7.99 and you can receive more archived shows and watch shows in HD. There’s also fox.com, nbc.com and pbs.org which has online shows and programs that can be watched. You can also stream live sports games, watch your favorite shows and this is all free via the web. 

Of course you would need internet access, and a fast high speed Internet connection would be best. However, the internet would be used for far more things than just watching TV so to invest in high speed internet wouldn’t be a bad idea. With any of these methods you can count on saving tons of money that otherwise would have vanished into cyber air.