Hi All, I hope this is in the right place as there is not enought forums that are for every potential question. I have a client that wants to set-up wireless hotspots over various locations. So as i have little experiance in this, i am looking for a bit of advice on the subject. The standard requirements are: 1. Internet Access/Phone line 2. Wireless Router bit obvious those two!!! Now here is where i need the help? Do i have to have a server in each locations? or can the router deal with everything? I will need to bill customers for useage, therefore i will require software to do this. So can i preconfigure the router to direct the user to a specific URL (payment platform) and not allow the user to browse anything until payment is made? or Will i need a server in each location to manage the internet access? The idea situation for me would be only to get connectio0n and wireless router in each location, with all the payments/administration done remotely. Please advise if you can, i really need some help on this one. If you are an expert in this kind of thing and have a proven history in doing wifi hotspots then i would be willing to pay consultancey fees for you to provide me with all information and potential documentation about what i would require. Regards iamsgf
You def have the right Idea. I don't believe you need a server in each location. Places like panera bread and coffee shops do this. Yes you can have it go to a central site which could be a billing platform. Don't know what software you could use to do this but there are programs out there.
ok, so then the next question is about Routers..... so i can configure the router to connect to a specific site and then get the authorisation to browse after payment. So i could do with a little help from a router expert
You don't need a server in each location. If you don't have a lot of experience in this arena, check out Sputnik http://www.sputnik.com/ I developed the one we use for our company based on a free linux distro running on off the shelf hardware. OS we use http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php Hardware we use is either a Linksys WRT54G or a Powerstation as it looks a lot more professional than dropping a Linksys router http://www.wisp-router.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=PS2&eq=&Tp=
Hi Stugs, Thank you some good advice there. Do you know of any software that i can purchase rather then lease! They want to own a licence to the software rather than run it through a third party system. We have experiance to be able to set-up and manage once we have everything.
Check out Nomadix. It's pretty popular for an all-in-one hotspot or in the hospitality industry. You can setup their smaller hotspots to connect back the main controller for a fully integrated system. It's not cheap, but is overall a decent product. http://www.nomadix.com/products/