Anyone know what kind of technologies you must master to become involved in this industry? I don't really know anything about it, and wouldn't mind having a look to see if it would interest me.
Say, if I wanted to set up a hotspot for an internet cafe. Would I need to design it, or just "plug and play"? Damn, I wish I paid more attention to networks in college.
That depends. You don't have to charge for it in a coffeeshop if you're using it as a "draw" for a crowd. Let it be free to get people into the door.
If you're looking to make it a "charge based" service it gets more complex. You may have to look at issuing certificates that expire within a days time to allow people limited access to the network or things of that nature.
Additionally, with wireless, never just plug and play it. Especially when you're going to be offering it as a service. Take the time to learn about WEP, WAP, and other encryption tools to defend your network from a hostile attack (and someone using your network to hack others/download trojans).
Try searching for things like "turnkey hotspot" and look for package vendors. Then follow up by looking at their customer (sales) stuff, browse support options, read through documentation downloads, etc. Do some more searches on product names and models to locate 3rd-party talk about their stuff, etc.
Chase down the suppliers of their hardware and software (where this can be determined) for more details.
Going through a number of such vendors' sites thoroughly might give you an overview and help you determine what technical background you'll want to accumulate. Then you can dig into that deeper if it seems appropriate.
The market might be getting saturated at the "OEM" level. There might be room though in sales and support roles, and who knows? Maybe there's a vending machine outfit or telecom provider looking for a guy to help them break into the local market.
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