New Skin Color Options

We have released new skin colors to our Generic Skin. You can change the skin of your hotspot splash page in the Control Center by clicking Manage > Locations, then click on hotspot name, then Modify Hotspot Data > Splash Page settings. You will find the Skin selector there. More specific skin options will be available soon, for example for cafes, hotels, campgrounds, etc. so stay tuned.

See skin previews here: http://www.hotspotsystem.com/customer/skinpreview/

How to continue your Boingo Hotspot In a Box Service?

If you are looking for Boingo's Hotspot In a Box solution, don't look further. Boingo has stopped this service recently, but we can offer a perfect alternative.

It has came to our attention that Boingo stopped offering their Hotspot In a Box service to businesses recently.

In 2004 Boingo was one of the first companies who offered a service to small businesses which enabled them to create a Wi-Fi hotspot service.

Now hundreds (or thousands?) of them left without the service, the question is what they can do now?

The answer: continue the service with HotSpotSystem.com.

HotSpotSystem.com service can also run perfectly on several routers, including Linksys WRT54GL, Mikrotik, Ubiquity or others, so they can offer the same service (with added benefits like creating their own pricing, using their own currency, and a lot more).

Click here to find out how to create a pay-per-use hotspot or a free hotspot.

To order a Hotspot In a Box, an all-in-one unit, pre-flashed with hotspot software, you need to create an account first and order the Hotspot In a Box package from the Wi-FI shop, within the Control Center.

DD-WRT v24 SP1 httpd vulnerability

As reported at www.miw0rm.com there is a vulnerability in the http-server for the DD-WRT management GUI that can be used for execution of an exploit to gain control over the router.

By default, if you have used our DD-WRT install guide, followed those steps only, and didn't enable the remote web gui management in the router, your router is safe.

BUT if you have enabled the remote web gui management in the Administration tab AND your router is connected directly to the internet (is not behind another router, but is connecting to the ADSL modem directly with an ADSL username or password for example), your router is vulnerable and you should do one of the following to make your router safe:

- You can turn off the remote web gui management under the Administration tab in the router's admin panel if you don't need this function

- You can update your firewall settings through the Administration > Commands tab. Press EDIT in the firewall section and paste these commands into the box:

insmod ipt_webstr
ln -s /dev/null /tmp/exec.tmp
iptables -D INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -m webstr --url cgi-bin -j REJECT --reject-with tcp-reset
iptables -I INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -m webstr --url cgi-bin -j REJECT --reject-with tcp-reset

then press "Save Firewall" and reboot your router.

If you do this, be sure that if you have HTTPS Management turned ON under > Administration > Management > Remote Access, then turn it off.

- You can replace the DD-WRT firmware to a newer one (latest is v24 preSP2 build 12533), you can download it from dd-wrt.com using the router search. However, this firmware is a beta firmware, so use it at your own risk. The setup command from the Control Center should work, but be sure to reset the firmware to factory defaults before using the command.

- You can change your firmware to CoovaAP. Only do this if you don't use special functions in DD-WRT like the secondary SSID function.

Featured Client: Beach Road Hotel, Cambodia

From time to time we introduce some of our clients. This month's featured client is Beach Road Hotel in Cambodia with white sand beaches, beautiful nature and great nightlife. Here're some photos of the location:





They have also printed "Wi-FI Internet Hotspot by HotspotSystem.com" to a large banner:






About the installation:

Buffalo is controlling everything, it's in the office, so cat5 is going to
bar/reception area where's small d-link ap and other one goes to big antenna where's big d-link ap and big antenna, we also plan to put couple of ap-s to the back of the hotel area, so everything is filled, because big antenna makes pretty much black hole where it is, but in the mean time it's working well around the hotel, like 500m from hotel is pretty good reception, so all the ap-s have same SSID called BEACH ROAD HOTEL.

And what do they say about our system?

HotSpotSystem Rocks!
We tried different services before, bought also separate pc system for controlling the internet, but nothing really worked better than hotspotsystem, as long you have internet for sale you're on board...

Thanks Tarmo for the photos, detailed explanation and testimonal.

Would you like to see your location in our blog? Just send your pictures with a short explanation to us!

Important Service Changes

- FROM 15th June 2009, Contracting Company information will be MANDATORY. If you haven't filled out the company information in your Profile, please do so by logging in to the Control Center and modify your Profile. If you don't have a company, you can put your own name and address there so you can run the service as an individual. IMPORTANT: You won't be able to accept payments in your Hotspot until you fill out that information.

Also, the new Generic / Green Skin will be applied to all locations except if you send a ticket and asking us to leave your existing Skin. You will also be able to change back the Skin after we change it.

- FROM 1st of July 2009, VAT will be 25% instead of 20%. If your company resides in the EU and don't have a valid VAT number, we will add 25% to our commission from the 1st of July 2009.

- BROWSER ISSUES: We have had some problems with the Control Center with IE8, this issue has been resolved. We also have problems with Safari4 Beta, please upgrade it to FINAL version and clear all cookies if you experience problems.

New Skin is available for Splash Pages

A new skin has been released in the Control Center which can be used for Wi-Fi Start (Splash) pages.

The new Skin is called "Generic / Green", it's "Generic" because it is suitable for all kind of locations, and it's "Green" because there are green circles in the package selection pages.

What's new in this Skin?

- Much cleaner and fresh design which replaces the old one that we've been using for 3 years
- More informal: Bandwidth and traffic limits are clearly visible
- Advanced data verification with ajax: Username and other registration data are checked in real-time against our database which helps users to fill out the registration form more easily
- Easily readable on Wi-Fi phones
- Works perfectly with IE, Firefox, Safari

IMPORTANT: We will change the Skin automatically at the end of the week for ALL OPERATORS who are using the default skin now. If you wish to stay with the old design, please send us a Help Desk ticket.

For those who are using a customized skin, there will be no changes (you can change to the new design manually).

You can change the Skin in the Control Center if you Modify Hotspot Location / Splash Page Settings.

We're planning more Skin releases in the future, more color options will be coming for the Generic Skin, and we will release type-specific Skins too for hotels, campgrounds, etc.

Check out how the new Skin looks like here!

The new Skin release is the second step of a 3 steps process of our entire site redesign.

Control Center has been released

We released the Control Center today which replaces our current Operator Area.

Control Center is part of a full redesign process which we will release in 3 stages.

The first one is the Control Center, then we will replace our main information pages, and there will also be a new page for Wi-Fi users with the same layout.

In the new Control Center, there is a well-structured menu in the top so you can now find functions more easily.

We have also added support for Google Maps, so you can now view your locations on a map.

Personal and Payout info menu is now called 'Profile'.

Please log in and try out the New Control Center, get familiar with it. If you need help, you can download the Control Center Guide which has also updated.

Hope you will like the new layout, more changes coming soon...