Wireless LAN with web-based authentication. Problems?

Factual Questions
1

I want to set up a wireless network but I have just moved into an apartment that has an unfamiliar way of providing access to the internet. There is one LAN cable coming out of the wall. Currently, I am plugging the cable straight into my computer’s Ethernet port. When I open a web browser, it requests my user name and password, I enter them and my computer can connect to the internet. No modem involved.

The company that owns the apartment tell me that I will need a hub if I want to connect more devices - no problem, I can do that. But I would prefer to get a wireless router, so we can easily connect all our devices: laptops, Wii, DS and maybe more stuff if later. It would also be nice to have file sharing between computers and it seems that a router would be more secure than a hub too.

The apartment company says that wireless LAN is not specifically supported but they don’t say that it is impossible. Will the web-based authentication cause any problems? I have googled and searched the boards for answers but I can’t find anything definite. I don’t want to buy anything until I am fairly sure it will work. Is there anything else I need to worry about?

2

Probably depends on the router and the authentication protocol involved.

BTW, do you really want your landlord filtering all your internet comings and goings? Or to be on the same physical network as all your neighbors?

3

Is there any way for me to find out about the authentication protocol?

I don’t want to be on the same physical network, no. Is there any way I can make this secure?

4

Is there any company name/logo on the webpage where you authenticate?

From the little info we have, I’m going to guess that it’s similar to many hotel LANs where when you plug a PC in, it gets a DHCP address but all traffic goes thru a router of theirs that doesn’t allow anything thru except for http. The first http request you make with your browser gets redirected to their login page. Once you log in, their router then lets all your traffic go back and forth like a normal setup.

With that in mind, I’m going to say that it’s possible for you to use a wireless router on your side but that one of your PC’s is going to have to go thru the login process every so often (once a day?). Then after that’s done, the rest of the machines on your LAN will be able to access the internet.

Regarding the security – it’s true, your traffic will go thru their network and anything that is not SSL-encrypted (i.e., URL says https) is theoretically sniffable.

But again, if there is some company logo or name that you can point to, maybe someone is familiar with their system and how trustworthy they are.

5

The company name is LeoPalace. They rent small apartments. I found aPDF document that explains how to use their internet connection.

Are you sure that other devices will be able to access the internet after one computer logs on? I am worried that the different MAC addresses will cause problems.

Also, is there anything I can do to protect my privacy? What about the security of connecting directly to another network?

6

That shouldn’t be a problem, as the Mac address will be the Wireless router. That’s kinda the point of a router, to put a bunch of connections all under one.

7

Sounds good. Thanks for everyone’s help so far. The only concern I have now is privacy/security. Is it something I should worry about? Is there anything I can practically do?

8

The key phrase you can use in Google searches is “Captive Portal”

Not sure if you need to worry at all about spying. As long as you use a cable they provide, they can spy whether or not they have the login screen. If you are not comfortable with this, then you should get your own ISP, separate from the apartment service.

I set up a captive portal in my nephew’s school; it pops up the school Internet access guidelines and requires a clickthrough before the kid gets to the Internet.
Mine is implemented at the firewall level with an embedded firewall called m0n0wall. This particular implementation uses MAC addresses to sort things out.

The biggest hassle I have with a captive portal is that automated tasks are often blocked. For example, if your machine wants to look for Microsoft Windows updates in the wee hours of the morning, it will likely be blocked by the portal.

You can share your connection, and I have done so in hotels, hooking a small wireless router up to the cable coming from the wall.
I can’t see why it would be a problem since the cable from the wall sees a single device asking for web pages (the router keeps its own internal list of stuff it asked for and who to send it to).

Of course, if they have a short timeout then whoever is connected will get the login message. In other words, you might log in first, then a family member might get the same message four hours later.