Wifi hotspot on a timer for restaurant?

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chevrolux

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#1599155 26-Jul-2016 17:21

adamshand:

That's because honestly I don't know, I'm just looking at options on behalf.

At a guess a single AP would work for the size of the space (a single Apple Airport is covering the space now) and I'd be surprised if there were more than a half dozen people connected at any one time, but I suppose it could peak up into 12+ people. Not huge numbers either way.

Just looking for the simplest solution that ideally a smart somebody with a non-IT background can tweak if needed.

Thanks for the help.

What would they need to tweak?

RouterOS allows you to build custom skins for the Web GUI. So you could simply create a log in that loads up a custom skin that only shows the bits they need to see. I do this fairly often for the odd place that just want simple username/password combo's on the hotspot - so we just set up the web gui to show only the username, password and profile, makes it real simple for anyone to tweak.

olivernz

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#1599156 26-Jul-2016 17:29

I'd go with the MikroTik. Most professional solution while being the cheapest. Usually no 5Ghz though but that shouldn't be a detractor.
But you will need someone that can set it up for you or give you a hand. The learning curve is steep (but worthwhile). But the setup once and forget is actually true with these.

andrew027

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#1599348 27-Jul-2016 08:18

mcraenz: Why bother with a time limit. It's just internets, just let people use as much as they want and change the password regularly. In the unlikely event that it becomes an issue deal with it then. There I just significantly reduced your requirements ;p

Because it's a cafe? Giving people unlimited time will mean they buy one coffee and take up a table for the next two hours.

linw

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#1599359 27-Jul-2016 08:41

Does the router know if someone logs out and immediately logs back in for another half hour?

rhy7s

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#1599361 27-Jul-2016 08:59

linw:

Does the router know if someone logs out and immediately logs back in for another half hour?

A lot of the time, you can spoof a new MAC address to get more time on services that offer limited free access.

mcraenz

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#1599365 27-Jul-2016 09:22

andrew027:

mcraenz: Why bother with a time limit. It's just internets, just let people use as much as they want and change the password regularly. In the unlikely event that it becomes an issue deal with it then. There I just significantly reduced your requirements ;p

Because it's a cafe? Giving people unlimited time will mean they buy one coffee and take up a table for the next two hours.

I know that's the theory but how often will it actually happen? Are people really that hard up for internet? Most people who visit cafes and restaurants have things to do and places to go. Of course there could be the occasional person who takes the pi$$ and if that occurs at a time when all your tables are occupied then that could be an issue. But really how often is that going to happen?

Soon enough internet will be just like water, a cafe wouldn't put a limit on how much water you can take from the provided water jugs would they? That would just be weird.

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adamshand

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#1599742 27-Jul-2016 21:17

Alright, you guys have convinced me that Mikrotik is the way to go, thanks! :-)

All of you who have used Mikrotik before, any thoughts on the "hAP ac lite" model? Appears to support all the RouterOS features (including timed anonymous access), has 802.11ac, has a POE port so we could chain a second AP if needed? Any gotchas I'm missing?

Thanks!

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chevrolux

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#1599778 27-Jul-2016 22:24

The hAP might be a bit light weight for running hotspot. We use them on basic networks that don't require much in the way of firewall rules. Basically they really only manage a 100/100 UFB PPPoE connection with very basic firewall rules - adding hotspot (which in itself adds 10+ firewall rules) duties to it would be a bit too much.

Actually, thinking about it, if you went for the very slightly beefier hAP AC (not the lite), set it up in a double NAT situation so the WAN was just an IP interface that would get rid of the PPP overhead. Then it would probably be just fine for a low use hotspot situation. Unfortunately using hotspot stops fastpath working so you get none of those benefits.

What sort of connection is this going on? And what is your expected usage (as in people numbers)?

andrew027

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#1599983 28-Jul-2016 07:53

mcraenz:

andrew027:
mcraenz: Why bother with a time limit. It's just internets, just let people use as much as they want and change the password regularly. In the unlikely event that it becomes an issue deal with it then. There I just significantly reduced your requirements ;p

Because it's a cafe? Giving people unlimited time will mean they buy one coffee and take up a table for the next two hours.

I know that's the theory but how often will it actually happen? Are people really that hard up for internet? Most people who visit cafes and restaurants have things to do and places to go. Of course there could be the occasional person who takes the pi$$ and if that occurs at a time when all your tables are occupied then that could be an issue. But really how often is that going to happen?

Soon enough internet will be just like water, a cafe wouldn't put a limit on how much water you can take from the provided water jugs would they? That would just be weird.

Maybe it doesn't happen as much now as it used to as it's pretty easy to find free wifi in most cities these days, but going back only a couple of years it used to happen a lot. Often university students who didn't have a lecture or tutorial would sit in a nice warm cafe, spend $4 and use the wifi for two or three hours.

sbiddle

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#1599991 28-Jul-2016 08:15

There is no reason to opt for a hAP AC - the HAP is a very low price entry level product and there is also questionable need for 802.11ac in this type of environment since I can't imagine you're going to be giving people 30+ Mbps speeds.

adamshand

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#1600053 28-Jul-2016 10:26

sbiddle:

There is no reason to opt for a hAP AC - the HAP is a very low price entry level product and there is also questionable need for 802.11ac in this type of environment since I can't imagine you're going to be giving people 30+ Mbps speeds.

Yep, good point. Thanks.

Jonski

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#1600131 28-Jul-2016 11:56

Late to the convo but also consider Ubiquiti access points...

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