Becca Coffee Shop Networking Plan

Becca Coffee Shop Networking Plan

Becca Coffee Shop's plans to offer five Internet workstations so customers can browse the Internet, check e-mail and Instant Message friends from the shop in addition to connecting to the Internet via wireless connections from their laptops, PDAs and cell phones. Becca needs to first realize that only a very high speed and reliable network connection should be considered, and this rules out dial-up or DSL, leaving access at 100 Mbps through a cable modem connection the only economical choice. For this service, Becca can expect to pay between $30 to $40 per month for a cable modem connection to the Internet for her coffee shop. This is well worth it, as offering this service will be seen as a reason to come to the shop and hang out. Starbucks' charges $12 for a day pass to use T-Mobile; there is no free Internet access at Starbucks', which is a great reason to offer it as a smaller coffee shop.

Once the cable company gets a live Internet cable to her shop, she needs to install a Linksys Wireless-G Cable Gateway, Model WCG200. This device is $121 on Amazon.com currently. Included in the Wireless-G Cable Gateway is a cable modem capable of sensing Internet speeds between 10 and 100 Mbps, a four port hub cable of supporting 10BaseT, Category 5 cabling, which will provide four of the five PCs in the shop with Internet connections, and a USB port for connecting the fifth PC via this interface to the network. Also included in the WCG200 is a wireless access port that supports 802.11G wireless access, also including firewalls and encryption. (Linksys, 2007).