How do I set up a wireless hotspot?

vedwards

How easy (difficult) would it be to set up a secure wireless hotspot in a bar/restaurant area?
Would I need to set up a spare PC and website?

bhickey

There are a lot of different ways that a hoptspot can be setup. Could you elaborate a bit on the sort of setup you had in mind? For example would it be free? Time-limited? Integrated with existing POS etc.?

vedwards

bhickey wrote: »

There are a lot of different ways that a hoptspot can be setup. Could you elaborate a bit on the sort of setup you had in mind? For example would it be free? Time-limited? Integrated with existing POS etc.?

This is really following on from a previous post where I was concerned (and with the replies from other boards members my fears were founded). ...

I suggested to a local cafe that to attract customers they should advertise 'free wireless broadband available here'. I thought that he would seek professional advise and they would look after the security and accessibility arrangements. But all they did was give them an extra line and open wireless router. Board members set my alarm bells ringing when they mentioned that the cafe could be liable if someone was abusing the facility as it is possible to park outside the cafe and surf for free and now they tell me that they never switched it off in the evening at close of business :eek: .

I have a little knowledge on accessing the router settings and if it not a major IT issue perhaps I could help them as now I feel partially responsible for the situation

vedwards

....also...I would envisage that access would be free with a purchase, but time limited depending on the purchase i.e. coffee 15 minutes, brunch 30 mins, lunch/dinner 45 mins etc.. "Integrated with existing POS etc.?" Sorry, don't know what that means .

PogMoThoin

With a decent wireless router like this one, You can install the free custom Dd-wrt firmware on it and use the built in Chillspot, this is setup to run a hotspot properly and all it will cost is the price of the wireless router and a little time to figure it out

Once setup, when users first connect to the hotspot they'll be greeted with a landing page in their browser advertising the premesis, if needed they can be prompted to agree to a user agreement or be asked for the simple access code (means they actually have to enter the premesis and ask staff first before connecting and its no good just pulling up outside). You can set a time limit to something like free for the first 30 mins per day, this gets limited by mac address so if they return later with the same laptop they will connect but won't get internet access. Once they go beyond the initial free 30 mins they must ask staff for a further ticket (charge for it if You need to cover costs) so they may feel obliged to buy something. You can also use Chillspot to limit speeds per user so nobody affects other users by using all the bandwidth.

vedwards

Much obliged PogMoThoin. I think that is straight forward enough.

PogMoThoin

Looks easy, it probably isn't, probably not that straightforward.
I've not done this BTW, I've seen it setup and it is impressive and does exactly as I described. Google should throw up lots of guides.
There's actually a company in the UK that will sell You a preconfigured Linksys router and a bundle of pre-printed tickets for a fee (not expensive, IIRC €35 on top of the price of the router), their name has slipped my mind completely though

vedwards

http://www.hotspotsystem.com? and I also found with your guidance http://www.howtoforge.com/wifi_hotspot_setup.
I agree, that you would need to be familiar with the terminology and hardware so with that in mind I'm going to ask an expert for a price and pass it onto the cafe owner. P.S> I have alert the owner to the dangers of leaving the system open and all the time.

dub45

Shouldn't there be a set of terms and conditions for the user to acknowledge somewhere in the process?