This is mainly suitable to manage multiple hotspot locations of a single owner, wherein the hotspot server will usually be installed in a cloud-hosted-server (or alternatively it can also be installed in any PC/server with public static IP), and in each hotspot location, there will be a location-router. This location-router is usually linux based open source router with wired and WiFi ports. This location-router will be inserted in-between WAN and LAN networks in each hotspot location (alternatively, instead of location-router, any PC/server can also be simulated to work as a location router to manage very high Internet traffic).
When the user tries to access Internet, the captive portal built-in will sniff out the traffic triggered from unauthenticated users, and will insert the login page.
The post-login page can be either inside the location-router OR the user can be forwarded to any external domain-name/website as configured.
Any number of prepaid-plans can be created such as 1-hour, 1-day, with specific bandwidth and data-limit. Any number of tickets can be created in each prepaid-plan. The tickets can be printed in standard A4-sheets and cut and given to the receptionist which can be issued for fee/free as per your business policy OR if integrated, the Internet bills/invoice can be directly posted to the hotel accounting software or any third party software.
The location-routers can be marked with any specific location-name, and be grouped accordingly. All users are allowed to login into any of such grouped locations.
Controlled-Access-List is available with white-list and black-listing for specific IP-Numbers and MAC-IDs. This allows the hotel owners to have uninterrupted access but the hotel-employees be totally banned from Internet access or have only limited access per day.
Very large enterprise networks, employ hundreds of access points, usually connected to a wireless controller. In such cases, this controller can be directly integrated with the hotspot server. In this case, there is no need for location-router but the controller itself will handle the Internet traffic and login page, and the hotspot server will be used only during user authentication. Please consult us with the integration and user guide of the controller, for implementation.
