Friday, July 27, 2007

New Features for Operators

We have some new features in the Operator Area.

PRE-PAID CARDS

You can now view how many Pre-Paid cards left at specific locations, groupped by the validity period for example 30 MINS / 3pcs, 1 HOUR / 15 pcs, etc.
If you see you have a few left you can order more cards. (Click on HotSpot Locations > Location Name and see the Pre-Paid cards section)

If you don't sell Pre-Paid cards at a location you should consider. We have locations where only 10% of customers buy accesses with Credit Cards.
If you operate the HotSPot in a hotel, you can easily add the price of the card to the room bill.


FREE TRIAL PACKAGE

You can now assign a free trial package to a location.
With this feature you can offer 10 minutes free internet to your customers. After 10 minutes users will be logged out automatically and they have to BUY a package to continue. They won't be able to use another free access becuase their MAC address will blocked in the system for 24 hours. After 24 hours they will be able to use the free period again. The 24 hours block can be modified so if you want to block the user for a week than you can do so.


E-MAIL NOTIFICATIONS

From 1th, August you'll be notified when a customer buys an access with a credit card and you can also get emails when a Pre-Paid card activated.
By default we'll send out these notifications to the contact email, but you can modify all these parameters.

Go to Settings in the Operator Area to turn on/off these notifications or set a different email address.


DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN USE THE SYSTEM TO SET UP A LOCAL DESKTOP COMPUTER?

If you have a chance, set up a desktop computer so users can buy internet access if they don't have a laptop.
You can use a used ($100) computer too, because you just need a browser to run on the computer (you can use Ubuntu instead of Windows which is a free operating system).

You can set the router to have paid LAN ports, and offer short packages (30 mins, 1hour) to increase your sales.

After we set up some desktop computers in a campground, we noticed a 90% INCREASE in sales, which is AMAZING!

If you need help about this, don't hesitate to contact us.


MORE FEATURES

More features coming in August, so stay tuned!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Chalet View Lodge (Featured Client)

Chalet View Lodge, located in Graeagle, US, is one of those clients that ordered our HotSpot In a Box solution. After a few days of placing the order they got a package with a preinstalled HotSpotSystem.com powered router in it. They just have to plug in the box and it worked. After a few minutes they began to generate transactions. It was simple and easy, and their clients are happy now becuase they can use their own laptop in this exclusive resort.

Click here to view the homepage of Chalet View Lodge

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

3 tips to increase your HotSpot sales

TIP #1: SET UP A DESKTOP COMPUTER TO YOUR CLIENTS (Perfect for campgrounds, hotels, etc)

Don't think that HotSpot is a wireless only thing. There are a lot more people who don't have their own laptop than the ones who do. Why would you lose that traffic?

With our system you can easily set up a local computer and restrict internet usage just like you do wirelessly.

Last month we did a campground installation and set up two desktop computers at the reception. These were $100 computers, used ones, but powerful enough to run a web browser or Skype. We used a free operating system (Ubuntu) with Firefox so we saved some money on the OS too. We set the router to have paid LAN ports (it's 3 easy steps as written here ) , then set up a 30mins and a 1 hour package for that location. Since the internet is restricted by the router it works just like a laptop: people have to buy an access package before they can use the browser, Skype or MSN.

THE RESULT WAS A BOOM. We got a 80% increase in HotSpot sales.

We experienced that the perfect installation was using 2 routers, 2 locations, 1st was set up for desktop computers with short access packages, the other was set up for wireless users with longer access packages (we don't want someone to buy a 24 hour package and sit in front of the desktop computer all day, huh?)


TIP #2: USE PREPAID CARDS

If you have someone at your location who can give prepaid cards for end users, then use it. People will may have difficulties with their credit cards, so you can offer them access cards for cash. If you run a hotel you can give them access cards, then you can add the price of the card to their room bill.

You can easily buy prepaid cards from the Wi-Fi shop, after you fixed the end user prices of the cards.


TIP #3: EXTEND COVERAGE WITH WDS

The more coverage you have the more users can see and use your HotSpot. You can set up access points with WDS (wireless distribution system) so you don't need cables to connect the to the router. You only need power and that's it. They will receive the internet from the main router wirelessly and they will extend your coverage. You can combine them with more powerful external antennas.

More on this can be found here.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Tween Lakes Resort (Featured Client)

Tween Lakes Resort is located between Kalamalka Lake and Wood Lake, just off Hwy 97, Canada in quiet surroundings. Such campgrounds and RV parks are typical places to operate a HotSpot. People usually stay for weeks therefore they would need internet access probably when they are away from home for a long time.

News for Operators

COMPANY CHANGES: As of 1st, July, HotSpot System Ltd. will begin to operate. This company will cover all areas that is related to HotSpotSystem.com. End users will see HotSpot System /HotSpot System Ltd. on their billing pages and in their credit card statements. New company information is already visible on the Help Desk pages.

PAYPAL PAYOUT LIMITS DECREASED: We've a new PayPal payout policy. From now on we will transfer payouts to PayPal accounts if the amount has reached 20 USD.

NEW CURRENCIES AVAILABLE WITH WORLDPAY: As of 1st, July, new currencies will be available for WorldPay. These are: EUR, IDR and ZAR. These additional currencies will be available for use with WorldPay without any setup fee.
For those who are already accepting EUR with PayPal, WorldPay will be set up and TURNED ON automatically on 1st, July.

SPANISH LANGUAGE ACTIVATED: Start pages are now available in spanish. Information for HotSpot operators in spanish language are also available now on our web site.