non members accesing church Wifi.

Discussions about Internet service providers (ISPs), the Meetinghouse Firewall, wired and wireless networking, usage, management, and support of Meetinghouse Internet
davidmarmolejo
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non members accesing church Wifi.

#1

Post by davidmarmolejo »

There is many of Kids (mostly) that hack wifi ( they feel there is nothing
wrong with it )

I'm also a Volunteer for the employment specialist(I help with the tech stuff and other stuff ) Here in the Ensenada Stake in Mexico
Today we had our Video Conferance with the reginal Employment specialist

I feelt the web was not totally working well .I was thinking that maybe some kids
were using our wifi. .... and our Video Conf. was not as it could be ...



Is there a way to prevent non members from accesing the web? so we can have trouble
free in our Next Vid Conf???


BTW i have many more questions about Web Ex
russellhltn
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Re: non members accesing church Wifi.

#2

Post by russellhltn »

If nothing else is going on, you may want to disconnect the APs. That would disable the WiFi.
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davidmarmolejo
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Re: non members accesing church Wifi.

#3

Post by davidmarmolejo »

russellhltn wrote:If nothing else is going on, you may want to disconnect the APs. That would disable the WiFi.
I googled APs.... what is that'?
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aebrown
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Re: non members accesing church Wifi.

#4

Post by aebrown »

davidmarmolejo wrote:
russellhltn wrote:If nothing else is going on, you may want to disconnect the APs. That would disable the WiFi.
I googled APs.... what is that'?
AP = Access Point
WAP = Wireless Access Point

Those are the networking devices in a meetinghouse that distribute the wireless coverage throughout the building. But if you also have a Cisco 881W firewall (which is the standard firewall for meetinghouses now), then the firewall itself also has a wireless signal, which is not so easy to disable. If that is needed, have your stake technology specialist contact the Global Service Center.
aclawson
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Re: non members accesing church Wifi.

#5

Post by aclawson »

To disable the access points simply unplug the ethernet cables that connect to them. To disable the wireless on the firewall remove all of the antennas that screw into the back - that won't completely disable it, but you'd have to be within a couple of feet of the firewall to get into it.

Now this assumes that you will still have a method of plugging the things into the network that you actually want to use on the network. At the very least all chapels should have one or more hardwired ethernet drops. Having one in the gym and in other rooms where you might reasonably expect to have an important meeting where you need strong, reliable internet access without resorting to wireless such as the relief society room are good recommendations as well.

Personally I think that WiFi is more trouble than it is worth due to cost of the APs, frequent service interruptions, lack of compelling need, security and bandwidth. Coupled with lack of bandwidth to handle the multimedia presentations during classes that it was supposed to allow I just don't see much of a point to the resource allocation currently devoted to this. A one-time investment of hard drops into the various rooms and carefully selected - and tightly controlled - wireless available to a very select few individuals in a very select few locations seems to me to be more prudent, though my feelings on the matter have already been overruled.
russellhltn
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Re: non members accesing church Wifi.

#6

Post by russellhltn »

aclawson wrote:Personally I think that WiFi is more trouble than it is worth due to cost of the APs, frequent service interruptions, lack of compelling need, security and bandwidth. Coupled with lack of bandwidth to handle the multimedia presentations during classes that it was supposed to allow I just don't see much of a point to the resource allocation currently devoted to this.
I disagree. The WiFi is great for downloading needed manuals for LDS Gospel Library, updating LDS Tools, checking the calendar and any number of other things that can be done with a tablet - which has no hard-wired connection.
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gregwanderson
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Re: non members accesing church Wifi.

#7

Post by gregwanderson »

aclawson wrote:A one-time investment of hard drops into the various rooms and carefully selected - and tightly controlled - wireless available to a very select few individuals in a very select few locations seems to me to be more prudent, though my feelings on the matter have already been overruled.
Well, I'm glad you were overruled. I used to be the Executive Secretary in my ward. Now I have a calling that probably wouldn't be considered important enough to be among the "very select few" anymore. But I still have a Wi-Fi-only iPad and I really enjoy being able to use it at church. Someone references a Conference talk from three years ago and Bang! I'm able to access it and follow along better. I suddenly want to check the ward or stake calendar and, yes, I can get the latest information.

If this system were more tightly controlled, people would receive the message (whether intended or not) that, "Sorry, you're not important enough to use the church Wi-Fi." I'd rather have a congested Internet at church than send a message like that.
aclawson
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Re: non members accesing church Wifi.

#8

Post by aclawson »

mrrad wrote:Well, I'm glad you were overruled. I used to be the Executive Secretary in my ward. Now I have a calling that probably wouldn't be considered important enough to be among the "very select few" anymore. But I still have a Wi-Fi-only iPad and I really enjoy being able to use it at church. Someone references a Conference talk from three years ago and Bang! I'm able to access it and follow along better. I suddenly want to check the ward or stake calendar and, yes, I can get the latest information.
It is unfortunate, but "people enjoy using it" isn't necessarily a good enough reason to justify open WiFi for everybody. The official uses of the church come first and running into bandwidth problems that interrupt broadcasts because people enjoy being able to download conference talks on demand at the church rather than downloading everything in advance isn't worth it. If working QoS was implemented, or if they would get around to being able to shut down general WiFi access through a web interface then sure, no problem. But spending millions of dollars on wireless infrastructure to allow people to conveniently do things for personal benefit - things which hinder the really important things?
If this system were more tightly controlled, people would receive the message (whether intended or not) that, "Sorry, you're not important enough to use the church Wi-Fi." I'd rather have a congested Internet at church than send a message like that.
And when the congested internet prevents a conference from streaming? Or when a family history class can't operate because too many people are in Sunday School downloading general conference talks from three years ago? And again, instead of having a congested WiFi why not just put physical jacks in the rooms where internet is needed and remove WiFi entirely? Nobody would get the message that they weren't important enough to have access to a service that doesn't exist, so nobody's feather get ruffled.
russellhltn
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Re: non members accesing church Wifi.

#9

Post by russellhltn »

aclawson wrote:And again, instead of having a congested WiFi why not just put physical jacks in the rooms where internet is needed and remove WiFi entirely?
While I'm sure there are locations that have a serious problem with bandwidth, I think few buildings are that seriously limited. If you went with a jack, there would be weeks where the Internet wouldn't be used at all - including official uses.

The trend is that bandwidth will get faster and more assessable. So I don't think what you propose will happen.
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nelsonfam
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Re: non members accesing church Wifi.

#10

Post by nelsonfam »

Wireless will never go away in Meetinghouses. Church Engineers are working on implementing a Streaming Event Lockdown service that will only allow a specific range of static IP addresses at each Meetinghouse and no DHCP/Wireless APs will be in service during the schedule event. After the event has completed normal operations will resume.
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