Introduction
Many businesses have a requirement to provide Internet access for visitors to their Offices. It can be very helpful to provide your visitors with a WiFi connection in the reception area or meeting rooms of your Offices. Many business people or customers visiting your business premises would welcome having an Internet connection to pick-up their email.  We have a lot of business from auto dealers and garages who want to provide Internet access to their customers while they are waiting.

Requirements
The most common requirements we hear are:

Easy for a genuine visitor to use - No WEP or WPA key.
Secure - Visitors do not have access to Internal LAN.
Secure - Can't be used by neighbours or unauthorised persons.
Easy to set-up and administer.

Security
Most business would not want visitors to have access to their Internal network. This can be archived with firewall rules or VLANs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlan) to prevent the traffic from the guest access points accessing the Internal networks. A more drastic measure is to have a separate Internet connection for the guest network so that the guest and Internal networks are physically segregated. 

Another consideration is the balance between making the system easy to use for guests while still having some control to prevent unauthorised use. One option would be to set-up WEP or WPA encryption on the guest  access point however this is not a popular option as you would have to tell the guests the WEP key or WPA password which could prove inconvenient.

The better solution is to have a "open" access point with some form of access control to prevent neighbours to your business or other unauthorised people from using your network.  

Guest WiFi with UseMyNet
The UseMyNet system provides an easy way to provide guest or visitor WiFi. UseMyNet is available as firmware for the Linksys WRT54GL router or as a PC application. Both versions let you set-up a stand-alone "open" WiFi network for visitors. Your guests and visitors are redirected to a landing page which can advertise your business. Visitors can optionally be asked to enter a security code before gaining Internet access.  The UseMyNet unit plugs into your internal network but has a built in firewall to prevent guests from accessing your internal network, only traffic out onto the Internet is allowed.

Find out more at usemynet.com

We're pleased to announce that we're close to launching our newest product; UseMyNet for PayPal. This is a totally new firmware that will allow customers to purchase online time through Paypal. The system is completely self contained and supports PayPal Instant Payment Notification (IPN). Hotspot operators will be able to setup the unit with their own Paypal email address to receive payments into. The unit can operate automatically with no need to create ticket codes. This is an ideal solution for situations where an administrator is not present to sell ticket codes.

UseMyNet for Paypal will be released before 31/5/2010

For more information please contact sales@usemynet.com

Here's some feedback we've had from our customers. Positive feedback matters a lot to us, please take the time to leave you feedback in the comments below.  Many thanks for all you custom !

UseMyNet was very easy to implement and a fully featured solution for Hotspot Management. My customers love the solution as it turned their monthly ISP expense into a source of monthly income. If you run into issues, their support is excellent and timely.

Andy Thomas, Frisco, Texas

http://www.totherescuedfw.com

"Great stuff, easy to set up and excellent support."
De Tureluur Camping

Netersel, Nederlands.
http://www.michiels.nl/tureluur/

Your product is outstanding and really easy to use.
Hotel Mediterraneo
Tirrenia , Italy
www.medithotel.it

"It was easy set up quite literally anyone could do it. Plug in LAN cable turn on power. I have sales managers that can hardly open a spreadsheet they are capable of setting this up. £90 very well spent"

Alan Day Volkswagen
London
www.alandayVW.co.uk

"First class  easy to use software  with customer support  that is second to none. We would thouroughly recommend this product"

Where to stay in Eastbourne

www.eastbourne.org

"Great system, very stable compaired to PC based hotspot software with virtually all the features of a PC based system. UseMyNet is also great for saving space built in to a linksys router and is very easy to use, and a preinstalled system is ready to go out of the box! "

The Bird Cage Pub
Thame, Oxfordshire
www.birdcagepub.co.uk

Peninsula Computing
Mornington, Victoria
http://www.peninsulacomputing.com/

Banda Inns Bed and Breakfast in Muyenga
Kampala Uganda
www.bandainns.com

The Woodpecker Inn
Todmorden, West Yorkshire
www.thewoodpecker.org.uk

Ellary & Castle Sween Holiday Cottages
Argyll, Scotland
www.ellary.com

Access Point - A networking device that provides WiFi. Ranges from cheap domestic units to expensive industrial devices for outdoor use. Term now used interchangeably with WiFi router.

Hotspot - The area in which WiFi service is available. Term also used for the networking device that provides the service. See also: Access Point and WiFi Router.

Captive Portal - A system which intercepts request from WiFi users and redirects them from their desired website to a landing page or splash page.

Landing Page  - A web page to which WiFi users are first redirected. May give the user several options, for example:  To enter a user name and password, To enter a voucher code; To sign up for service with a Credit Card. See also Splash Page

Splash Page - A web page to which WiFi users are first redirected. Like a landing page but normally simpler. Normally only prompts user to agree to terms of service.

Walled Garden - A term for websites that are allowed to unauthenticated users. For example a hotel may choose to let customers browse the hotel website for free but then charge for Internet access.

WiFi Router - A networking device that provides WiFi and network routing. All WiFi routers are also Access Points. May also contain an ADSL modem.    

Coverage

Decide if you want WiFi to cover all of your guest rooms or just the reception area. The size and construction of the hotel will determine how many WiFi access points are required.

Site Survey

You can conduct your own site survey with the following equipment

• Laptop with WiFi
• Copy of NetStumbler (http://www.netstumbler.com)
• WiFi access point, a inexpensive WiFi router will be fine

First run NetStumbler on the laptop and see which WiFi channels are in use in your neighbourhood. You will get the best signal strength on an unused channel. Next setup the WiFi access point on that channel and set the network name (SSID) It's not necessary to connect the access point to the Internet at this stage. Place the access point in a suitable location and move from room to room with the laptop noting the signal strength shown by NetStumbler. It's best to leave the laptop in one place for 2 minutes before reading the signal so that the signal can stabilise. Move the access point to another suitable location and repeat the exercise, in this way you can determine the best location to place access points and how many you will require to cover the hotel.

Linking the access points.

If you need more than one access point they will need to be linked together and to the Internet. There are various ways of doing this:

Wired backbone.

Running Ethernet cables (also known as CAT5) between the access points provides a very reliable connection. However running cables can require a lot work and care in placing the units. It can be hard to find routes for the cables in an established hotel and can make a mess.

Homeplug

For smaller hotels the access points can be linked with Homeplug units, these transmit data over the electrical wiring. Each access point will require a Homeplug unit. Homeplug units can be bought for around £30 from (http://www.homeplugs.co.uk)

Wireless Distribution System (WDS)

Many access points support WDS which can be setup to allow access points to communicate with each other. When you setup access points with WDS it provides an extended WiFi network with the same network name (SSID). The throughput of WDS will be slightly lower than the other methods as the access point has to use some of its bandwidth to repeat the signal to the next unit.

Controlling Access

Decide if you want to offer guest free WiFi access or if you wish to charge them. Also consider whether you want to restrict neighbours to your hotel from making use of the free service ! Various methods of controlling access are available; you could give each guest a unique code to enter; or you could provide a few hours each day free and only charge heavy users. These decisions will depend on the type of hotel and the local availability of Internet access.