SMS Authentication in your Hotspot

Today we released the SMS Authentication option.

When turned ON, users have to enter a phone number after they clicked on a package or entered a voucher code on the splash page. The system sends a 4 digit code which has to be entered back for verification. If verification was successful, the process continues as before (user can register an account or login in case of online payments OR activate the voucher). You can also restrict where the SMS can be sent (for example to italian phones only). That way only customers with a valid italian phone number can purchase access online by credit card or paypal for example.

The SMS authentication can be used for the following purposes:

- In some countries (f.e. Pisanu Law in Italy) user identification is necessary in public hotspots

- You can turn this option ON if you want to reduce the abuse of the system

- You can collect phone numbers and send information, advertisements, etc. to those phone numbers (especially useful in free hotspots). WARNING: You have to replace the NOTE text and tell users that they will get SMS messages if you want to use their phone numbers for this purpose.

You can turn this option ON in the Control Center > Manage > Locations > click on name > Modify Hotspot Data > Splash Page Settings.

COMING SOON: Voucher codes via SMS (You don't have to give the voucher code to the user personally, they can get a code via SMS)

NOTE: If you're using a custom Skin, the sms part may appear wrong. For this to be fixed you can create a new Skin (based on the same layout as your existing custom skin), copy the contents of sms.inc.html and paste it to your existing skin's sms.inc.html.

Special Ubiquiti AirOS Firmware with embedded Hotspot Portal

We have released a new firmware for Ubiquiti 802.11 access points which is one of the most stable solutions to date.

Now you can use your Ubiquiti AP as not just an AP which has to be connected to a Hotspotsystem supported device, you can use it as a real Hotspot AP! The best thing is that you can keep the original functionality of your APs as this firmware was built from the original AirOS, but we have added a very important functionality, the Hotspot Portal!

The installation is super simple, you just have to upgrade the firmware (for free as there are no license fees) and change your operator username, all other settings are built-in!

You can find a detailed guide here!

Currently the WDS functionality is in beta phase.

2 new skins released: Ski and Marina Skins

Click here to view all of our Skin design / Hotspot Splash themes .

Also, we have changed all skins a bit to include the new Adyen logos and updated credit card icons (AMEX with USD, EUR, GBP, DirectEBanking and iDEAL for EUR). If you are using custom skins you can see which file has been changed if you go to your skin, see the templates, if the name is displayed with green color you should revert it or update your skin template.

New Feature: Allowing simultaneous access from more than 1 device

In our system all accesses can only be used from 1 device simultaneously (sharing of account is not allowed), until now.

Now it is possible to create custom packages that can be used up to 5 devices simultaneously. This can be set in Customize > Packages menu.

Please note that this means that a user who buys this package will use up to 5 times more bandwidth AND up to 5 times more data traffic. However this option is not recommended with traffic limit packages, because it can be confusing for users. Let's see an example:

User buys a package for 1 hour valid for 2 devices with 100MB traffic limit. User logs in from the first devices, router will allow 100 MB of usage. After then the user logs in from the second device with the same account, the router will allow 100 MB, because there were no usage on the account yet. If the user stays logged in from both devices, he can use 100+100 MB. However, after downloaded 50 MB, the user logs out from the first device, then logs back in, all usage on the ACCOUNT will be summarized and deducted, so the sum of usage on BOTH DEVICES will be deducted from the original 100MB, so the user won't be able to use another 50MB, because the usage of the second device will also be deducted.

IF YOU ARE USING CUSTOM SKINS...

We are now using a 3-line display if a package is valid for more than 1 device. In this case 'index_package2_table.inc.html' template will be used instead of index_package_table.inc.html when displaying the package. Previous behavior was different, because 'index_package2_table.inc.html' was used if a package used other limits than the location's default limits.

Please revert your files according to that, if you modified those templates.

Under limits, "Valid for x devices" text will be visible. Currently this is displayed in english in every language, please help us with tranlations.

New Payout Schedule

Hope you'll like the next announcement :)

By changing our primary payment processor we are now able to pay you out earlier. From this month we will send payments to our operators after the 15th day of the end of the actual month, not later than the 30th day. This means that you will receive your earnings approximately 1 month earlier than before.

The same is true for Paypal payouts.

So for example your earnings from September will be paid out between 15th-30th of October.

You should have received your august PayPal earnings now. If you didn't, please contact us.

New Feature in the Control Center: Session Report with simultaneous users chart

We would like to introduce a new feature in the Control Center: Session Report.

With this you get a full featured list of the login-logout sessions in your hotspots (radius accounting information). It contains full details, including the NAS Id and the MAC address of the device where the user is connected, the internal IP address and port that the device gave to the user, etc.

All can be exported to a csv file, along with full user information.

You can also have a chart generated which shows the simultaneous sessions based on your criteria, with a comparison chart from a previous period.

Some notes:
- Historical data is available only from february, 2010
- If you filter to a specific device, the real usage on the device can be different as only those devices report usage which have the hotspot part enabled. So if the router or AP gets the internet connection from an other device and acts as a repeater, then the usage of the device is gathered on the parent device (which runs the hotspot service).
- Secondary operators can also access the report if you gave access to user information (but only for those location which they have access of course)

The new report can be accessed in the Control Center > Reports menu.

Let us know, what do you think of this new report, hope you will find it very useful.

New Features: Give a name to your device + device status history

You can now give a name to your devices. This is especially useful when you have lots of routers in one place, those were called WDS #1, WDS #2, etc. previously, but now you can give it a name so you can identify the device much easier.

This can be done from Manage > Locations, you can click on a WDS router in the list and you will reach the device's page. If you have only one router or would like to check out the main router, then click on the name of the location and click on the mac address from the device list.

Once you reach the device's page, you can also see the status history of the device with a nice chart so you will know immediately how many times your router was down and for how long within the previous month, and older downtimes are listed too as well. The history iof devices were recorded from march, 2010 so earlier notifications are not visible.