Wireless Hotspot Creation?

ezodon asks: "I have been tasked by management to submit a plan on creating a wireless hot-spot in several of our locations. Management would like to be able to charge for the wireless access from our customers. Because of the desire to charge, I have not been able to find any Open Source software, and just a few commercial offerings. I have checked out PublicIP and LessNetworks wireless management software, but neither has a direct billing option. We already have a merchant account and credit card machines at all of our locations. Can anyone in Slashdot land give me some recommendations on how to get this done?"

Comments

Perfigo's Smart enforcer

[Goeland86]

I'm in college, and recently to prevent anyone from the outside to connecting to the campus' wireless network they decided to use Perfigo's smart enforcer client, which requires one to login... I'm pretty sure the server for that thing can accomodate tracking time and or limiting time based on an account balance... Give it a kick.

Colubris + Airpath = Perfection

[legend]

If you can do without the open source aspect of it, and embrace the world of capitalism, Colubris access controllers, and Airpath backend billing work very well together. The Colurbis even runs Linux.

www.colubris.com
www.airpath.com

Re:Quid pro quo

[JabberWokky]

Well, he's also asking a large group of people who are more likely to be using a paid service and have experiences with the user end and/or be admins for pay-per-play wifi companies.

Truckstop.net uses a nice and easy system for the user end. I can't recall the software off the top of my head, but a simple Google will find it - they did several press releases about the software they were using, and the software company has Truckstop.net listed as a success story on their website. Obviously, this means they are a commercial software provider. But it works well with my Linux laptop and my SO's Powerbook... and keeps us from using the same account at the same time. I've renewed a few times, and it was a easy "pick a plan, add minutes" affair.

Of course, I know all this because they are currently down, and I was Googling to see who their bandwidth provider is (since they blame it on them). Looks like Sprint. Other than the current outage, good service.

--
Evan

Re:Quid pro quo

[JabberWokky]

Heh. So I hit Truckstop.net's site, and it appears that I was right for the wrong reason. There's now a "We sued Sprint because the equipment they sold us was faulty, they just shut off our bandwidth" press release linked in the center of the first page on the website.

Sumbitch. And I just paid for another month. I'd be wary about Sprint if you're looking to partner.

--
Evan

NoCatAuth

[slashjames]

NoCatAuth is what you are looking for. Authentication is required before access is granted beyond the local network with all traffic being redirected to a login page that you can specify.

ZyXEL ZyAIR B-4000

[nuxx]

I think this might be the kind of thing you are looking for: ZyXEL ZyAIR B-4000. It's basically an AP and receipt printer, with a few buttons on it. Via a web-based interface, you set the device up, and a clerk presses a button, and out pops a receipt you had to the user. They use the information on the receipt to log into the system, allowing their MAC to access the internet for a specified period of time.

I recommended this to a small shop, and they've been using it since with no problems. It's trivial to get set up, and the clerks selling the access don't need to be technical.

IIRC, you can also allow certain machines access all the time, use it as a normal NAT box for some devices and pay for others, etc.

Hope this helps...

BlueSocket & AirPath

[LoaTao]

I work for a WISP and we use BlueSocket for authentication and security. Combine it with AirPath and it should fit the bill...although of course it's not free.

Linksys WRT54G/S + Sveasoft firmware

[maggard]

Check out Sveasoft. They've been making a very well regarded series of alternative firmware images for the popular Linksys WRT54G/GS consumer routers. The current beta, Alchemy, offers a Hotspot if paired with Chillispot and an external Radius server, and is about to go release ('any day now').

More interestingly the about to be inaugurated new beta series, Talisman, which will offer 1-click Hotspot out of the box. Sveasoft has cut a deal with a billing service (and apparently there will be alternatives possible) so with almost no effort one turn on a hotspot and start recouping some expenses (TOS permitting.)

Yes, I said beta. So it won't be an appropraite solution unless you've got some folks willing to become reasonably knowledgable on your staff and the business is open to being 'cutting edge'. On the other hand if this project is like many the firmware may well be out of beta well before the project is ever ready to be widely deployed.

Fair warning: There is a noisy bunch of folks who don't like Sveasoft's beta distribution & support policies. Me, I've no problem with 'em, and apparently the FSF doesn't either, but I figured I'd say it before the barracks-lawyers and tinfoil-hat crowd starts in.

Anyway, that noise aside their firmwares are excellent and do offer fantastic functionality for a US$40-70 series of boxes. I also find it heartening they offer a bounty system for folks developing with their firmware: If there's a feature you specially want put up some cash and see if any of them take the bait & deliver your dream-code Indeed my only complaint is their lack of a wiki for support (also 'due any day now'.)