Christmas Gift from HotSpotSystem.com

Today we have generated 10 Pre-Paid Vouchers for all operators and for every HOTSPOT PRO locations.
The base package was the smallest period that was set for the location.

You can sell these vouchers (which means free money to you) or give to your customers as a promotion.


All you have to do is to log in to the Operator Area and use the Voucher System to create high quality prints or export the codes to csv.


We wish you a merry christmas and a happy new hotspot year for you :)

Hope that your sales will increase in 2009.

Best Regards,
HotSpotSystem.com

Access Restrictions for Secondary Operators

You can now define which sections you would like the secondary operator have access to.

These sections are:

- Hotspot Location information, including router's state information, logged in/not logged in but active users
- User's personal information, User Search
- Transactions and sales (gross amounts only)
- Purchase report (gross amounts only)
- Usage report

You can also set a start date, so Secondary Operators won't see any historical data if you don't want to.

All of these can be set in the Manage Secondary Logins menu.

SAVE 40% ON PRE-PAID VOUCHERS

It is a great time to get your Vouchers!

From now on, until 5th, November Midnight GMT, you can get your Vouchers 40% cheaper than the official price.

Normally you can buy vouchers for 30% of the end-user price, which means you can keep 70% when you sell it. With this promotion you can buy vouchers for only 18% of the end user price (40% discount).

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO BUY VOUCHERS?

If you ordered Pre-Paid Vouchers before, you just have to go to the Wi-Fi Shop and buy the Vouchers there. First timers have to download and fill out our Pre-Paid Price Definition, send it to us via email or fax it to +36-1-269-49-62 or attach it in a ticket in the Help Desk. Then we'll set the prices in the system and will let you know when you can buy the Vouchers.

WHEN WILL THE VOUCHERS EXPIRE?

Vouchers will not expire until you sell them, so don't worry if your location is currently not operating. You can sell the Vouchers in the next season too.

HOW CAN I USE THE VOUCHERS?

Vouchers can be printed online with the Voucher System, after you log in to the Operator Area. You can design your own card, print it, or you can also export it in CSV format. If you want to print them, the system creates a high quality PDF file which you can print easily onto Avery Business Cards or to plain papers.

TIPS & TRICKS: DIFFERENT METHODS TO SELL VOUCHERS

The most easiest way to sell Vouchers is when you sell it for cash at the reception of the location. But there are other ways.

1. FOR HOTELS: INCLUDE THE PRICE IN THE BILL

You can give the voucher to your guest, then include it's price in the bill when the guest checks out.

2. SMS PAYMENTS

As you can export the codes in a csv file, you can easily use a mobile provider to accept payments via SMS in your location. The user sends a text message, then receives the voucher code to his/her mobile phone (one code from the exported csv file). He/she can activate this code on the hotspot's start page and log in to the hotspot. You can include an advertisement on your start page, which advertises this sms payment solution. For this you have to find a local mobile provider or use an international provider like SMSKambi which supports sms payments in 23 countries.

User Search

We've added a new feature to the Operator Area: User Search.

You can search users and see whether their account is valid or expired, see their registration details and all time usage.

You can also search Voucher codes to find out, if the Voucher code is still valid (is not activated), or activated but not used, used and still valid or expired.

You don't have to enter the full username, name, email or transaction id, you can do partial searches.

Why is this useful? There are several cases where this feature is important.

1. If a user has problems and there is a help desk at the location, they can check the user out
2. If the customer writes an email or talks to the operator via phone, the operator can easily trace the user
3. If the location sell vouchers, and someone returns with a voucher saying it's not working, they can easily check the voucher code

etc, etc.

This feature is also working for Secondary Operators.

Traffic limit now includes upload traffic

We've changed the way we count traffic limits, as of today. The change had to be made because most ISPs are also calculating the fees of an internet line by summarizing download and upload traffic, not just the download traffic.

Previously, only downloaded traffic was counted. Now the system counts the download and upload traffic by default.

If you would like to have a download only data traffic limit, you need to change your packages in the Operator Area. You can also create new packages and choose if you want to include download and upload traffic, or download only.

If you're using Vouchers and want to calculate the limits via the old way (count download traffic only), please send us a message as soon as possible so we can set the vouchers that way.

This change won't affect old users, only new transactions and Voucher activations.

Voucher System

We proudly present a brand new feature in the Operator Area: the Voucher System.

With this system you can create and print high quality Vouchers from the Operator Area. You can also use the system to see all of your vouchers that were generated, you can find out which is valid and which was activated. You can also export the codes in CSV format so you can import the data to somewhere else. For example if you need to print the codes on to a receipt, you can import the codes to your database and print the codes from there.

If you want to print the Vouchers, the system creates high quality PDF files which you can print on plain papers or Avery Business cards. You can choose from different background color options and you can also use your own background.

We will update the documentation for this soon, and there will also be a FAQ for the Voucher System.

Until then feel free to try the new system (you can find it in the menu of the Operator Area) and let us know if you have questions or problems. If you haven't used the Pre-Paid card options yet, it is now time to order some codes via the Wi-Fi Shop. Be sure to send us the Price Definition Appendix first so we can set the prices in the system.

Different versions of DD-WRT v24

There are 4 different DD-WRT v24 firmware versions that are compatible with our system:

STANDARD - Standard version contains the following modules: Chillispot, JFFS2, kaid, MMC/SD Card Support, PPTP/PPTP Client, radvd, RFlow, Samba/CIFS client, SNMP, SSH, UPnP, Wiviz.

NOKAID - All features from Standard except KAI (Kai Console Gaming). USE THIS FIRMWARE IF YOU UPGRADE DIRECTLY FROM LIKSYS FIRMWARE, because it is 300 Kb less, than the standard version, so you can upgrade directly.

MEGA - Standard features, plus OpenVPN and SIPatH. This firmware can only be used in devices which contain at least 64 MB ROM (WRT54GL contains 32 MB only).

SPECIAL - Special version of DD-WRT has extended QoS capabilities: set maximum bandwidth available per netmask/MAC address (even for different vlans), set a default rule for any unconfigured netmask/MAC address. Special version is a paid version of DD-WRT.

For more information you can visit DD-WRT Version Info page.

Improved DD-WRT v24 Support

Due to the increased popularity of DD-WRT v24, we are now offering improved support for this new firmware.

We've updated the installation video and instructions, and we're now suggesting every operators to use the new v24 SP1 firmware release.

Upgrading the firmware to DD-WRT v24 SP1 is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for all hotspot operators with high traffic locations (for locations that often have 5 or more simultaneous users logged in to the hotspot). We've found out that the new firmware is much more stable than v23 SP2 under these circumstances.

DD-WRT v24 also offers more features, includes a traffic grapher, support for multiple SSID's and more.

The setup script is now fully compatible with v24, there is no need to manually set anything after running the setup script.

Also, you can set a few options for the setup script, which are the following:

Firmware version: v24 or v23 (for those who still want to setup the router with DD-WRT v23)

Router's internal IP: You can change the subnet here. Default is 192.168.20.1, but we found out that there are situations, where you'd like to install multiple routers on the same network, so changing the subnet before installation will avoid IP conflicts.

Setup Type: You can now select if the router is the single/first router at the location, or you're using a second, third, etc. via WDS. That way you'll get the Router Alert working for all your routers.

You can find these options in the Operator Area, above the setup command for a location. Changing any settings will automatically update the setup command, so you can copy+paste it to the router's command box via a very simply way.

Usage Report: New Feature in the Operator Area

There is another new feature for Operators and Secondary Operators, which is called: Usage Report.

Now you can see the traffic on your routers within a period which you can define.
You can break down by days or months, or by users.

It'll be interesting to see which user generated the most traffic, what were the busiest days or months, or - if you're using multiple locations - you can see what location generated the most traffic.

Please note that usage statistics are just approximate, the real usage can be different.
What the script does is to count sessions (every time a user logs in, a new session will be generated), which were started between the dates you select. For example if you select 2008-06-01 as a start date, it will count all users who logged in after 2008-06-01 00:00:00. It won't count those sessions that were started before this date, even if the user actually logged out after the start date. The same is true for the end date.

Extend Coverage of Your Wi-Fi Hotspot (WDS)

The most frequently asked question by Hotspot Operators is: How can i extend my Hotspot's coverage?

There are several methods for that.

The best way is to set up another internet source if you can, away from the first source (order one more ADSL line for example) and connect another router to that source. This is good for busy venues.

But you can extend your existing coverage by setting up repeaters. You can connect 2 routers by cable, but you can also connect 2 or more routers via WDS (Wireless Distribution System).
You can find a well written tutorial here about setting up WDS.

There are 2 methods to get WDS routers working with Hotspot System:

1) You can set the first router's LAN port to get through the Hotspot login page as well. The second router will receive paid internet so the same start page will be displayed to anyone who connect to the second router. With this method you can use any repeaters. The disadvantage is that the Router Alert function will not work so you will not know when the WDS router is down.

2) You give free internet to the second router (by leaving the LAN ports to have FREE internet access), and run the same setup command on the second router. For busy venues, this is the suggested method because it will reduce the system load on the first router (there will be 2 routers who will handle Hotspot accesses).

Alternatively you can add a new location to your account and run the command for this location to track which routers were used by your customers.

If you're using the same location's command on both routers, don't forget to add '_wds' to the Radius NAS ID to get Router Alerts from the WDS router too (on the Chillispot page of the router's admin panel). If you're using more WDS routers, you can add '_wds_2', '_wds_3', etc, AND turn off SPI Firewalls on the routers (Security tab).


DON'T MISS OUT!
Now you can get a LinkSys WRT54GL from Amazon with a $10 rebate from LinkSys (Offer valid through June 30).

Router Alert Support for WDS Routers

If you're using WDS to extend your Hotspot coverage, you can now get life signals from your WDS Router. This method is working only if you run Chillispot on both routers and if you've ran the same location's command on both routers (if you're using a different location on the WDS Router, the Router Alert function will work automatically).

To get the Router Alert function working for your WDS Router, you have to do the following:

1. Add '_wds' to the Radius NAS ID. So if the Radius NAS ID was 'operator', then modify it to 'operator_wds'. If it was 'operator_2', then modify it to 'operator_2_wds'. If you are using multiple WDS routers, you can add a number to it, so it will be 'operator_wds_2' or 'operator_2_wds_2'. (Administration/Hotspot or Services/Hotspot > Chillispot tab on the router's admin panel)

2. You have to turn off the SPI Firewall on the routers (Security tab on the router's admin panel)

Windows Vista Wireless Incompatibility Issues

We have just learned that there can be incompatibility issues with Windows Vista users, when they are trying to connect to your Hotspot. The most important thing that EVERY OPERATOR MUST CHECK is the Wireless Channel which the Hotspot uses.

You must set the Wireless Channel to 11 OR BELOW, otherwise some Windows Vista users will have problems connecting to the Hotspot.

Go to Wireless > Basic Settings and change the Wireless Channel to a number between 1-11. Don't forget to test the hotspot after doing this, because there can be interferences on that channel. Try Channel 1, 6 and 11 first, these are the most compatible ones.

There can be other incompatibility issues with Vista computers, for more information please visit our troubleshooting article.

How to Make Money with Wi-Fi Hotspots

We have found a great article on Squidoo which describes money making opportunities with Hotspot Services. The article is featuring HotSpotSystem.com of course...

How to Make Money with Wi-Fi Hotspots

DD-WRT v24 Compatibility (UPDATED)

DD-WRT v24 final came out a few days ago ( click here for binary downloads ). Our Hotspot System is fully compatible with v24, so if you'd like to use this firmware to create your Wi-Fi hotspot, you need to do the following:

The installation can be done the same way as v23, via the automatic command. If you upgrade from the original LinkSys firmware, it is recommended to upgrade it with the NoKaid firmware. Other option is to upgrade it with the mini, then the NoKaid/Standard.

After that your Hotspot router will be working perfectly, including the Router Alert feature. If you have already installed/upgraded to v24, then Reset the router to Factory Defaults, then run the command again.

It is now recommended to upgrade to v24 if you used v23 before as this release is much stable, especially when you have lots of Wi-Fi hotspot users connecting simultaneously to the router.

Note: After you run the command, be sure that DHCP Interface is set to "WLAN" in the Services > Hotspot menu.

Support for your Hotspot users

Some changes has been made related to the support for your Wi-Fi Hotspot users.

When it comes to support, your hotspot users have the following alternatives:

1. They can contact you directly using the location's contact details you've provided for the location.
2. They can use the online form. The content of the form is sent to us (Hotspot System Staff) AND your contact email additionally (this is a new feature).
3. They can contact us using our standard Help Desk, or phone and fax numbers.

The reason why we send the form to you too is that there are several tasks that have to be handled by the Operator (f.e. the user cannot connect to the router, has low signal problems, need a tax invoice, etc.), and there are others that have to be handled by us (f.e. the user paid twice by accident and needs a refund, or cannot login because of mistyping the username or password, etc.

More features added for Secondary Logins

Secondary Logins are sub-accounts that are created by the Operators. For example if an operator runs a camping network, he can create Secondary Logins for each campground where the local camping owner or receptionist can check/view some important information about the hotspot. Operators assign which location(s) are viewable by a Secondary Login.

Some new functions have been added to Secondary Logins:

- Hotspot Locations menu (View a list of assigned locations, check system load, check active/logged-in users, view basic hotspot information)
- Purchase report on Gross Purchases only: this is very useful if the local owner sells Pre-Paid cards, so after each month he can generate a report so he can see how much money he collected in that month.

They can also see transactions, and usage by hotspot users.

RSS feed is also working so they can check their transaction real time.

View active / logged-in users

This is a long-awaited feature and we have added this by popular request.

You can now see who has valid account to a hotspot, and you can also see, who is currently logged-in.

Go to 'Hotspot Locations'. You can see a router icon on the right, with two numbers next to it. It shows how many users have valid account (first number) and how many are logged in (second number). When you click on these numbers you can get a list of the users in details, with expiration, last login date and usage.

Live RSS Stats

You can now use your favorite RSS reader to check your statistics LIVE without having to log in each time. The feed includes the total summary of purchases and gross profit for today, yesterday, this month, previous month and also contains the last 10 transactions (date, package, price, location) and the customer's details (name, country, username).

To find out the URL of your RSS feed, log in to the Operator Area and find 'Live RSS Stats' on the upper right.

If you don't know how to handle RSS, click here.

Purchase Stats - April, 2008

Here're some interesting information about user's purchase at all Hotspots operated by HotSpotSystem.com.


In the first chart you can see that payments by PayPal are less than 10%. That's why it is important to accept credit card payments directly in your Hotspot (this is a feature which you can rarely find with other hotspot solutions).


Visa is ahead with almost 60% (including Visa Delta), Mastercard is below 40%. As you can see you can accept Visa Delta cards too in your Hotspot.

Grande Hytteutleige Camping (Featured Client)

In Grande Hytteutleige og Camping in Geiranger, Norway, situated in beautiful surroundings below the "Eagle road", down by the famous "Geirangerfjord", the summer season is about to begin. They have cabins, all with a fantastic view of the mountains and fjord. The camping ground is suitable for caravans, camping cars and tents. Hotspot access is available of course.

Click here to visit their website.

New Servers in Singapore

Hotspot System Operators have the option to use our asian servers, located in Singapore.

This is a recommended option for all operators in that area, especially Australia and New Zealand.

To test the speed just compare http://asia.hotspotsystem.com/ and http://www.hotspotsystem.com/ .

To switch to the new servers, just log in to your router's admin panel and go to Administration > HotSpot or Services > Hotspot, and

1. Find the line:
Redirect URL> https://customer.hotspotsystem.com/customer/hotspotlogin.php
CHANGE IT TO: https://asia.hotspotsystem.com/customer/hotspotlogin.php

2. Find the Line:
Additional Chillispot Options> uamhomepage https://customer.hotspotsystem.com/customer/index.php?operator=...
CHANGE IT TO: uamhomepage https://asia.hotspotsystem.com/customer/index.php?operator=...

Then press SAVE. The router will reboot and you're done.

Waterfront Terraces (Featured Client)

From time to time we make post of some featured clients and it has been a while when we posted one. So here's another featured client: Waterfront Terraces Luxury Holiday Apartments on the Cairns Esplanade. You have to see this place, the location is beautiful and they have wi-fi internet access of course, using our system :)

Changes regarding the Custom Packages

When you've created a custom package, there were some optional parameters, like download/upload bandwidth/traffic limits. If you haven't set any limits, then the limits were set to unlimited.

We've found out that in most cases it's not recommended to set the bandwidth limits to unlimited, because with multiple users, for example if one user is uploading large files, it would slow down the other users' speeds dramatically.

There's an option now in the package creation page, where you can select 'Use location's default' (this is cheked by default when you create a package). This means that if a user buys this package, the location's default limits would be assigned to it (which you can set for each locations at 'HotSpot Locations' > Click on the location > 'Modify Hotspot Data').

If you're using Custom Packages please review your packages to ensure that you have set the correct limits. For reviewing your package listing, just go to 'HotSpot Locations' > click on name, and see what limits are used by your packages under 'Hotspot Packages'.

If you're using the Default Packages, then there're no changes, default packages will use the default limits which you can set at 'HotSpot Locations' > Click on the location > 'Modify Hotspot Data'.

'CHARTS': New Feature in the Operator Area

'CHARTS': NEW FEATURE IN THE OPERATOR AREA

A brand new feature is available in the Operator Area, called 'Charts'.

Currently there are 2 types of charts available, which contains the following charts:


1.SHOPPER CHARTS

- Country of Registered Users
- Language of Registered Users
- Type of Credit/Debit Cards
- Credit Card vs PayPal vs PrePaid Card

2. PURCHASE CHARTS

- All sales by the length of accesses
- All sales by access packages
- All sales by the price of accesses
- Credit Card/PayPal income by HotSpot Locations
- All income by HotSpot Locations

All charts can be filtered by date and by location.

These charts can be extremely useful to analyze the productivity of your hotspot(s).

We'll add more charts to the Operator Area soon, but until then, feel free to write your opinions to us about this.


HOTSPOT LOCATIONS OVERVIEW CHANGE WITH SYSTEM LOAD

We have changed the look of 'HotSpot Locations', now you can see your router's status on this page, and the system load if the router is online.

System load is a standard unix load, explained here: http://www.lifeaftercoffee.com/2006/03/13/unix-load-averages-explained/

We're displaying the 1 minute average, but you can see all 3 averages by clicking on the location.
On the routers, the load should not be more than 2, but if it's around or more than 1.00, you should consider setting up another or a more powerful router on that location.

WorldPay System Upgrade

UPDATED: Worldpay System has been upgraded, credit card processing is back to normal.

Our primary credit card payment processor, WorldPay will be perfoming a major system upgrade On Saturday 9 February 2008. Payment processing via WorldPay will be unavailable whilst they apply the Upgrade for up to 8,5 hours.

Unavailable from: 01:30 GMT (9 Feb)
Duration: for up to 8,5 hours

If you're not using WorldPay then your service will not be affected.

New Servers, Improved Security

NEW SERVERS

Several services of HotSpotSystem.com are running on brand new servers. Here's a quick overview:

- Multiple IBM x3400 servers with Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processors (seperated web server and database server)
- Each server contains multiple SAS HDDs with RAID for redundancy
- Servers are hosted in Data Park which is located in the heart of the city
- Servers get 40 Gbit/s domestic bandwidth and 6 Gbit/s of international bandwidth
- Availability of electric current: 99,999 %
- Guaranteeing of regulated temperature: 99,999 %
- Availability of Internet connection: 99,5%

See some pictures at the end of the post.


IMPROVED SECURITY

All client and operator pages are using SSL 128-bit data encryption to protect user's data.

IT'S STRONGLY RECOMMENDED TO UPDATE YOUR ROUTER'S FIRMWARE to enable https connections on the end user pages.

To do this, just log in to your router's admin panel and run the setup command of the location. If you'd like to manually update the settings, you'll need to change http:// to https:// 2 times in the router's admin page. Go to Administration > HotSpot or Services > Hotspot, and

1. Find the line:
Redirect URL> http://customer.hotspotsystem.com/customer/hotspotlogin.php
CHANGE IT TO: https://customer.hotspotsystem.com/customer/hotspotlogin.php

2. Find the Line:
Additional Chillispot Options> uamhomepage http://customer.hotspotsystem.com/customer/index.php?operator=...
CHANGE IT TO: uamhomepage https://customer.hotspotsystem.com/customer/index.php?operator=...

Then press SAVE. The router will reboot and you're done.

Here're some pictures of the new servers: