Eric,

Though we are a Cisco shop, we haven't found a lot of value in the built-in 
guest access capabilities. Our requirements boil down to:


-          Guests can self-provision via portal on Guest SSID

-          They use 10-digit text-capable mobile number

-          We text them back a password

-          We use firewall rules/policies to restrict what they can do

-          Each guest gets a generous amount of bandwidth

-          Our own users can log in through the portal with their own 
credentials, but is rate limited to the point where they won't want to be on it 
for very long

We have no interest in social media credentials for login, despite WLAN vendors 
pushing that.

To meet the above, we found it easiest to use a BlueSocket BSC controller 
(stand-alone appliance).  It's a complete controller for the Bluesocket WLAN 
(they were bought by Adtran) and we helped them to develop the functionality. 
We use about 10% of the entire box's capabilities, but it works beautifully for 
how we wanted our guest access to work. I wish Adtran would spin it out as a 
3rd party guest access appliance option running on VM, but they seem to be an 
odd conglomeration to talk to.

The latest Meraki WLAN feature set also does a nice job of using Twilio  for 
texting guests their password in a functionality that is close to what 
Bluesocket gives us, and we use it in one remote location with great success

Staff to user is hard to quantify without more context.

-Lee Badman




From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv 
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Eric Wohlford
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2014 12:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Gust Account Provision Type:


Hello All,



First let me apologize if similar postings have been made I could not find any 
with these questions in the archives.



We have been asked to look into Self-Provisioning of Guest Accounts, and we are 
not all that sure where to start.  Most of the solutions I have seen are tied 
to the Wireless Vendors.



Currently we are using Ruckus Wireless and it's built in Guest Access for this 
which is a sponsor based system.  It's actually a very simple system.



Our Questions:



1.       If you use a self-provision system whom is your vendor, or is it 
homegrown?



2.       What are your Security Concerns, and are you a Sponsor Based system or 
a Self-Provisioning system?



3.       What is your staff to user ratio?



Thank you,

My Pleasure to Serve,

Eric R. Wohlford, MBA
MCDST, MCP, A+, Network+
_______________________________
Manager of Network Services
Bluefield College
3000 College Drive
Bluefield, VA
Office - 276.326.4278
Fax - 276.326.4288
www.bluefield.edu
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