Andrew @ ATM Logic wrote:
> I am looking into setting up a system that "may" go nationwide (Canada)
> where a user can purchace a wireless card in one City, then travel to the
> next City (or Cities) and be able to use the same card/time.

We have done this.  (However, free wifi seems to be a better business 
right now)

As to existing infrastructure; You can use an existing system like 
Airpath, Wiboss, Boingo or similar, or start your own.  We have used 
both Airpath and Wiboss, and they suck.  Expensive, difficult to work 
with, and customer service that makes Best Buy look downright friendly. 
  However, if you replace it you will need; A call center 24/7, and 
multiple radius servers in different geographic regions and networks. 
You will also need some way to bill to a credit card automatically.

As to hardware; A lot of it stinks.  WSG, Nexgate, Nomadix...  Expensive 
and not half the troubleshooting features of m0n0wall.  But...  (and 
this is a big but) You NEED consistent hardware enterprise wide.  I mean 
same hard drives (sleep or not) and nics all around, as well as 
backplane direction.  Otherwise you will put a config from a dead unit 
in a new one and have issues.  Trust me.

Management;  This is little at the level we are at.  We had to write it 
from scratch.  And you will need it.  Consider how you want to monitor 
APs and who should reboot them, as well as other outages.

But don't let this get you down.  I know of one other company in the US 
with a lot of venues using m0n0wall happily.  If you set everything up 
right, it can be a very nice business.  If you want to talk more, shoot 
me a private e-mail.

			Lee