What is a Hotspot?
A hotspot is an area providing wireless internet access for customers with a wireless-enabled notebook or PDA who want internet access. A NetComm Wireless HotSpot is a simple and cost-effective way of selling casual Internet access to your customers
If you own a café, restaurant, bar, have a shop in a foodcourt or even a car-wash, your customers can surf the Internet, send email or access their corporate network while having a drink, enjoying a meal, doing the shopping or sitting just about anywhere.
NetComm's Hotspot solutions are wireless gateways that come with built-in accounting, authentication and access (AAA). The hotspot connects to a modem and to your broadband connection, and will broadcast a wireless signal that provides Internet connection for up to 100 users at a time from a single location.
The NetComm hardware solution is purchased by you, so you own it and you can decide how much you want to charge your customers to access the internet and you keep all of the revenue.
How does a hotspot work
The hotspot is effectively a wires router. The device broadcasts a signal that laptops can find. To get a access a user would find the wireless network on their laptop and will be prompted for a user name and password
The NetComm hotspot comes with a printer which is used to generate user names and passwords and to print receipts. The
three buttons correlate to three time and price settings, these are flexible and you choose what you would like to charge and for how much time.
To ensure fast and efficient processing of sales you don't have to worry about calculating costs, just punch the buttons for the required amount of access time and out prints the receipt which includes user name, password, time purchased and price.
To get connected to the NetComm hotspot, you would issue your customer with a username and password using the three button printer. Your customer then find the wireless network and connects. On connection they will be presented with a username and password request screen in their web browser. They enter the username and password found on their docket and they are connected.
The NetComm hotspot also supports an external radius server, should you wish to have multiple units that authenticate to an external server rather than using the HS960 engine.
Benefits of a NetComm Hotspot
Earn Extra Revenue
Because you own the NetComm hotspot, all revenue generated is yours to keep. This is the revenue from customers paying you for internet access, as well as the revenue from that extra coffee your customer bought because they weren't quite finished yet, or the group who to your venue specifically because you had internet access.
If you are a hotel or motel, you may be surprised by the extra bookings that you get because you now have internet access. Many travelers now select properties to stay at because the have internet access, with leading search engines such as wotif.com.au now having broadband access as a search tool.
Advertise to customers when online
The NetComm Wireless HotSpot also allows you to list web-page advertisement links and have them appear as pop-ups on your customer's screen while they are online.
To maximise its full potential, you can advertise your specials or deals of the day, or even charge other businesses advertising fees for promoting their products online.
You can also allow users to see up to 10 websites without having to pay. This is a great way to advertise your own property or even to sell those spots to local businesses around you and to make additional money!
Simple to install and configure
You do not require any special IT training or IT skills to install the NetComm Wireless HotSpot. The web browser configuration is so simple to use that you could be up and running in as little as five minutes.
The hotspot can also be installed for you by one of NetComms network of reseller partners. Contact us for more details (link here to contacts page).
Built-in security for added protection
In-built security features prevent all users from seeing each other's traffic. The customer's unique username and password provides safe and secure authentication protection while surfing the Internet.
You can also enable WEP encryption (up to 256-bit) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to further protect users confidential information while online.
What is needed?
To get up and running with a netcomm hotspot you need
- A broadband connection from an ISP
- A Broadband modem with a spare port to connect the Hotspot or a switch to give you extra ports
- Power
- The NetComm wireless hotspot and printer
Now you are ready to be up and running as your own hotspot!
