Waiting Room Internet

[B.Thomas]

This question is indirectly related to Opendental but one many users may have.

I would like to offer wireless internet and maybe even mount a Netbook in the waiting room for patients to use while waiting. My primary concern is how to completely separate the internet connection from my Local Network. I want to be sure no one outside my network has access to the Opendental files. How do I share 1 internet connection over 2 separate networks?

Some Google searches mentioned a Virtual LAN, but I'm not sure this is 100% hacker proof.


Thanks,

[enamelrod]

just get a wireless router and set up a secure password protected network. thats it. THe net books although cute and cheap are not really that practial.I have two of them and they work well for someone with small hands but really are a pain for people with good size hands or poor vision and some of the aweb pages and apps do not size well on the ackward screen size. We have wireless set up at the office through my sonic wall router and patients bring their own laptops if they want to connect to the internet

[jclaydds]

I don't profess to be an expert at setting up a network but I can tell you what I was told by the person that set up my network. This person has done computer installations in several hundred dental offices so I would expect he would know what he is talking about. I also wanted a wirelss signal available to those patients who had their laptops or PDA's/IPhones with WiFi capability to be able to have internet access. I also was very concerned about security and protecting the security of my confidential data. The person that did my network told me that if I set up the wireless router with a different Subnet Mask than the Subnet Mask that I used for the network that all my office computers that are hard wired use, I would have no issues with security. The people using the WiFi access would have no access to my network that had sensitive data on it. We still use a password to gain access to the wireless network but we freely give this password to any patient with a laptop or WiFi device that asks for it. I did a google search on using a different subnet mask and got some information that seemed to confirm this information is accurate. I couldn't actually tell you the steps involved in doing so but it didn't seem very complicated to set up as I watched them do it. Hope this was helpful.

[B.Thomas]

Thanks for your input. I will look into what a subnet mask is. I was looking more for a hardware solution. Some way of splitting the internet signal prior to sending it to the router and network switch.

[drtech]

I haven't tried it, but I think you may be able to put in two routers and then that is where you would set up the different subnet mask, ip#'s, etc. In other words that is a hardware split like you are mentioning and they will be completely separate.

[jclaydds]

All of the computers in our office are hard wired to the network through Cat 5 or Cat 6 cables. We only have one router and it is on a different subnet mask and it is only used by our patients that bring in their laptops or WiFi Device. As stated earlier, they can't access our network because the router is on a different subnet mask. The 2 router setup mentioned on the last post would be more desirable if you actually had laptops in the office that you used for business purposes that had to access the network wirelessly.

[enamelrod]

we have the two routers ser up at the office. you take the isp provider box and send one to your network switch and another to a wireless router. set wireless wire up with security. when pts come in their wirless device will see the wireless router give them the guess password and thats it.

[SmilingPatient]

Sorry guys, but just working with a different subnet mask will not keep your files safe from knowledgeable attackers.

To demonstrate:
I assume your routers have DHCP enabled. That means that the router will automatically assign IP address, subnet mask, dns, and gateway.
Try manually setting your computer client manually to the same IP, but a different subnet. (Most default to 255.255.255.0)

Once you confirm your new settings are active (start|run|cmd, then type "ipconfig /all" to get your network adapter settings), you'll see that your computers are on a different subnet mask.

Now, in explorer (not internet explorer, hit (WindowsKey+'E'). Type in the IP address of your server. Usually it's set to 192.168.1.100 (Do the (start|run|cmd, then type "ipconfig /all" to get your network adapter settings) to get your settings).

I was able to get access to all network shares on the server... all the business information essentially. Can anyone else confirm?

[Rickliftig]

I have avoided having wifi in the office. I am not worried about a patient hacking the system, but instead, I worry that someone in the neighborhood with a high gain antenna would love the challenge (and have all the time in the world) to gain access.

I think the idea of a second router is a good one - configured for tightest security. And not configured as username: Linksys Password:admin !

[richardwaite]

Having a second router will *not* isolate someone from your local network and subnet masks can be changed easily. This is not something I would do unless you knew exactly what you were doing (and hence, would not need to read this thread). There is simply too much risk involved.

[B.Thomas]

Hmmm, I will need to research this more. I think the only guaranteed way to separate the office network from the public one is to have 2 separate cable modems from my ISP. Of course I'm sure they will charge more. Any other sharing of a single internet connection will still leave a network connection between the two. I'll keep you posted if I come up with something better.

[SmilingPatient]

Hmmm, I will need to research this more. I think the only guaranteed way to separate the office network from the public one is to have 2 separate cable modems from my ISP. Of course I'm sure they will charge more. Any other sharing of a single internet connection will still leave a network connection between the two. I'll keep you posted if I come up with something better.

That's not the only way.

The best way is to hire a professional if you don't have the time to research and get it done right... it's like your patients asking a friend what they should do when they have dental pain.

Answer is Get professional help...

[B.Thomas]

Yep, I just did that. He said what I suspected. You can't 100% protect a shared internet connection. It can be hacked. He said he would never expose patient medical files to such a risk.