Please tell us a little about the diner:

Offering a unique atmosphere, at the “La Prosciutteria” you find only the best Italian, and especially Tuscan, food and wine. High-quality homemade products are simply served on a wooden board or between two slices of bread.

Currently using Hotspot System’s pre-configured routers to provide wifi access at 4 out of 7 venues. The venues vary in size from 40 to 70 square meters (430 to 750 square feet).

Why did you need a managed internet service?

It was important for us to divide the traffic generated from the users from our main connection for a simple reason: since it’s a franchise network we all use the same music cloud service which needs a stable and dedicated connection. Now the customers have their network and the music service its own.

Were you able to use any of the extra features in addition to bandwidth shaping?

At the same time we can collect users mail to ask them for a tripadvisor review after a few days.
Another aspect, since everyone now owns a connected device, we can have an idea of the most crowded moment of the day or the week just studying the connection data.

Finally we discovered that users upload a lot of data (much more than the download): this means they share a lot, especially pictures which now we try to find and collect on the internet.

The restaurant is using our pre-configured TP Link router to provide the WiFi. This product is called Hotspot in a box and is used by those operators that don’t want to deal with technical details.

We offer various preconfigured routers, see the specifications page:  http://www.hotspotsystem.com/hotspot-in-a-box

Hotspotsystems support were amazing.

Gloria Jean’s Coffees Alice Springs is a busy little hub for people from all walks of life. Local, national or international visitors, they try to cater to the best needs of our customers. Whether popping in to grab a quick takeaway coffee before work with a quick email check as you wait, or visiting with the kids for a morning tea sweet, and a little bit of ‘Pinterest time out’. Maybe it’s a substantial lunch as you flick though the daily news, check your itinerary or book a tour online, or just hanging out after work to chill out with an iced chocolate and some ‘Facebook time’.The staff are friendly, the store is comfortable, their products are delicious and their wifi is free!! What more could you ask for in a cafe?

The installation of the Wi-Fi was initiated from numerous customer requests, and has definitely grown in popularity. There are not many places in Alice Springs that offer free internet access. Gloria Jeans Coffee Alice Springs approached me asking for a hot spot solution. After doing some research, and making a few wrong decisions, I discovered Hotspotsystem. I used the Ubiquity Picostation M2 due to its ability to handle extreme conditions, even though it is inside I wanted reliable hardware. Initially I had a few problems with getting the image onto it however Hotspotsystem support were amazing and in no time I had the system up and running. I started with the free product but pretty soon it was outgrown so have now gone with a paid option, which at $5.00/month is very affordable. The ability to create custom packages eases the administration of the internet access. Hotspotsystem has been incredibly reliable and easy to maintain. The AP is placed at the back of the shop with the power tuned down in an attempt to restrict coverage to just within the shops boundaries.

When I first brought this camp last year I opened up the wifi as a free essential and expected service for the guests. But just opening up the existing wifi was a mistake since here in NZ we have to purchase certain amount of GB from our ISP’s each month and if we go over it we get charged extra. I have a 60GB plan which over January was quickly depleted by some guests using up to 4GB per day despite their password vouchers advising them not to download movies, games or other high usage data. 

After searching for alternatives I quickly discovered that other wifi systems offered by national companies either did not allow for free wifi or else they were prohibitively expensive with their hardware and software contracts. Its then I came across Hotspot Systems which meet all my requirements: 

1. The system had to enable guests access free wifi (emails, skyping, route planning etc).

2. There must be some sort of limit on how much a guest can download in a 24hr period.

3. If the guest requires more then the set limit then they should have the option of purchasing it. 

4. I didn’t want to have to physically hand out vouchers to every user but I still wanted the ability of weeding out non-guest usage (i.e. neighbours free loading off the system) 

By using a combination of Free Basic and Hotspot Pro the above requirements have been fulfilled. I have set a limit of 200MB per 24hrs for the free wifi and offer paid packages of 250MB up to 1GB for the heavy users. They sign on via their browser and by requiring them to enter their name I can match this to who is in the camp and the dates they have signed on. This means I can pick up on unauthorised users and blacklist them. 

Apart from buying a $75USD router the total cost is only $30USD per year for 1500 extra free sessions. This is much cheaper to run then any other hot spot service available.

The hardware I use is very simple. The ADSL2 broadband enters the camps existing Netgearmodem/router which also provides internal & protected wifi to the office and home computers. This is connected via a LAN cable to a Linksys WRT54GL router with extended internal aerials attached and is mounted in a 2nd story window. I replaced the firmware of the Linksys router with Hotspot Systems DD-WRT which was very easily done. With the extended aerials the router covers at least the 100m needed and gives good reception inside the buildings, caravans and motor homes anywhere in the camp. 

The guests have found the system very easy to sign into and use and without having to give out passwords or vouchers there is very minimal workload required on my part.

If you want to make reservations: www.kawhiacampingground.co.nz

The company provides installation and monitoring services of hotspots in shopping centers. WiFi is provided to users as a value added service. They found the benefits of using Hotspotsystem to be its friendly interface, versatile billing support and its support of multiple languages. Teaming up with our solutions they are able to provide top notch customer services at competitive prices.

Initially our main focus was to introduce the hotspot system to our national restaurant franchises.  The system gained a valuable reputation among our local franchisees because of the simplicity and the friendly user interface, specificlly the Spur Franchise which is one of South Africa’s oldest and most reputable Franchises.

The same interface we have started to implement into larger projects we are currently busy with. We currently use the hotspot system for Public Access and Internal connectivity for shopping centres in the Western Cape. The reasoning behind this was to provide shopping centres with a value added service while they can earn monthly income, effectively turning this solution into a valuable asset for the owners. They can now offer their tenants and customers a connection method that is priced well below current market indicated prices. They can be assured of a fast reliable connection that will offer them the peace of mind that their core business functionalities are being closely monitored and will continue to run without any problems.

With boasting features such as free selective website roaming, international language and international payment support with the simplicity of the interface, this Hotspot system has become one of South Africa’s popular systems. Our Hotspot solutions are powered directly through our channel partners, Neotel. With their excellent service and vast differential packages they offer, every single need can be accommodated for, whether someone is looking for a small single hotspot zone or a large shopping centre, they will be able to provide the client with exceptional service and delivery.

Our current projects we are busy with, ranges from sizes 20 000m² to 85 00m². With this size of implementation, we are faced with obstacles at every venue, but with a highly skilled technical and cabling division early parameters have been set to overcome this. The Hardware we use also placed us in the leading front of the market, with the help of our Cloud Core Router board system, Mikrotik Routers and Ubiquiti Access points, we are able to cater for any venue or size and provide them with a network infrastructure that is suitable for any environment. Our network layout consists of a centralized break out point; from there on cabling will have to be laid to the strategically placed access points to provide network coverage for the designated areas. With the management tools provided from the Hotspot system, monitoring and managing these types of solutions have become a dream for our technicians. With live updates and status reports our clientele are just a phone call away to determine the exact problem.

For other hotspot they use Mikrotik, Picostation routers and Linksys antenna as seen on the photos: