IAS/RADIUS Implementation in a Coffee Shop?

noyler asks: "I've been asked to decide on the best way for metering a 'free' wireless network at a local coffee shop. Here's the scenario: currently, local college students come to the coffee shop, grab a cup of coffee, and then spread out like it's a study hall for 6 to 10 hours at a time and use the free internet. The coffee shop loves this, but it's getting really crowded for the other customers that just come in for some coffee and have nowhere to sit. The management wants to implement a system that, upon buying a drink, grants a time-limited connection for that customer of 3 or 4 hours. If the customer wants more access, another drink will need to be purchased. The store network is a simple cable modem with wireless access point attached right now. After implementation, customers should be prompted for a username/password (which can come from his or her receipt) and then have access to the 'net. One limitation is that the customers should not have to install any third-party software to use it--no window for software corruption liability that way. The customer base is mostly Windows with an ever-growing number of Mac users as well. What are some good ideas for doing this? I've considered RADIUS, or some kind of portal software, but don't see any clear answers. Any suggestions for software to use?? The coffee shop is very low budget, so cheap hardware and free software would be best!"

Comments

Give me a breakj

[LordNimon]

The management wants to implement a system that, upon buying a drink, grants a time-limited connection for that customer of 3 or 4 hours. If the customer wants more access, another drink will need to be purchased.

Looks to me like the management is a bunch of assholes. No other coffee shop does this, so why do you think customers will tolerate it?

Does the coffee shop have a problem with people buying one drink and staying there for more than 4 hours?!?!?!!? I doubt it. The extra complications and customer confusion aren't worth the one or two people who leech of the network.

A local coffee shop recently implemented a policy where wireless access is turned off from 11:30am to 1:30pm. They already get tons of business during lunch hours, so they don't need to attract any more.