1. Do I need to be aligned with a particular ISP to use the HS960 Wireless Gateway?

No. The settings of the HS960 allow you to choose any ISP and to update the settings as necessary.

2. Can I use the HS960 to advertise to my customers?

Yes. The HS960 allows you to define advertisements and have them appear as pop-ups on your customer’s screen; as long as they do not have pop-ups disabled on their web browser.

3. Can I measure and bill by bandwidth usage?

The HS960 bills by time usage. However, you can control bandwidth for users logged on to the HS960 via the Advanced Setup menu, ie you can ensure that every connection has the same up/downstream and limit each user to 256/256.

4. Can I use another printer instead of the thermal printer?

Although the HS960 comes with a thermal printer, it can be connected to another network printer, either wirelessly or via the LAN port at the back of the unit.

You can also use the web interface to create the ticket and print to a network printer.

5. Can my logo be printed on the receipt produced by the HS960 printer?

The HS960 thermal printer is designed to print text only. If you wish to have your logo on the receipt, we recommend that you use your own network printer.

6. Can users still use the internet if the thermal printer runs out of paper?

Yes. Accounts can be generated using a web browser.

To replace the paper, the HS960 takes the same paper as an EFTPOS or credit card machine and you can get these from any stationary store or newsagent.

7. What do I do if I am in the middle of printing a receipt when the paper runs out?

If you are in the middle of printing a receipt when the paper runs out, simply switch to generating accounts via your web browser.

8. Can I use the HS960 with a dial-up connection?

The HS960 can be used with a dial-up connection, however, we recommend using the HS960 with a broadband account as the speeds your customers would have would be very slow when shared across multiple users.

9. Can I issue a user name and password that can be used for more than one HS960 e.g. Hotspot Café A and Café B?

All user names and passwords are location specific and are not transferable. For a wider deployment of hotspots with multiple site access you would need to use the radius client aspect of the HS960 which does not allow you to collect money at point of sale, you would need to have a database of customers and another way to bill them (ie a monthly account)

10. Can users VPN into their office network with the HS800?

Yes, users can VPN into their office networks with the HS960 provided they already have VPN client (software) installed on their computer and their office network has a VPN server configured to allow remote users to access the network and that the modem connected behind the HS960 supports VPN passthough.

11. Can I schedule free time for my customers with the device, e.g. 5 minutes free on Monday morning at 9 am ?

The best way to achieve this is to set the pricing value for one button at X min/hours for zero dollars (where X is the number of minutes you wish to supply as free-time). In this way you would have one button that always issues free time and can be used at other times if necessary.

12. Can my users complete their download if their time runs out mid session ?

Once the session has ended, the downloading session is disconnected. However, the user can replenish their session time using the replenish button in the information window (http://1.1.1.1/info.html). The HS960 will warn the user before their time runs out and notify them when their time has expired.

13. Can I restrict bandwidth to users logged on to the HS960 ?

You can only restrict the users' bandwidth (22Mbps, 11Mbps, 5Mbps, 2Mbp, 1Mbps). You cannot limit connection-specific bandwidth (e.g. User A can connect at 22Mbps and User B can connect at 5Mbps). All users will have the same bandwidth allowance.

14. Can I daisy chain a number of HS960's together ?

The HS960 has not been designed to daisy chain, however, you can extend the range covered by the HS960 by connecting a Wireless Access Point (such as NetComm's NB730) to the LAN port on the rear of the HS960.

15. Can HS960 usage information (i.e. account generation, system reboot, billing, accounting, etc) be sent directly to an email address ?

The HS960 usage information can be sent directly to a specified email address, provided your network either has an SMTP server (mail server) or ISP has an SMTP server to process the email sent to you.

16. Can I remotely log in and administer the HS960, e.g. via the Internet from my home?

You can remotely log in and administer the HS960, as long as your ADSL modem has been set up to allow pass through to the HS960 (port forwarding) or you have registered a unique URL with a DNS service such as www.dyndns.org

17. How far can the HS960 be from the thermal printer ?

The HS960 can be up to 100 metres away from the thermal print when using an ethernet cable. 100 metres is the limit on Ethernet cables.

18. Can I have multiple printers with the HS960 ?

Yes you can, you can have many printers, either the hotspots thermal printer or a network printer as long as they are all connected on the same LAN.

19. How do I administer the HS960 from my office LAN via the WAN port ?

Firstly, identify the WAN IP address of the HS960 (via HS960 System Quick View). Secondly, use your web browser to connect to this address. Thirdly, log in to the administrator's page with your username and password when the dialogue box pops up.

20. Can I extend the range of my HS960 ?

Yes you can. The HS960 is a wireless router and can be extended using antennas, repeaters and access points just like an wireless network.

21. Can I connect a fixed PC to the HS960 and still need a user name and password ?

Yes you can. The four ports on the back on the hotspot are a switch that will keep the billing requirement. You can connect a fixed PC to the back of the HS960 and it will request a username and password before you can connect to the internet.

Yes you can. You would connect a switch into one of the 4 LAN ports on the back of the HS960 and you can have either 24 or 48 PC's connected (depending on the size of the switch).

23. Can I have my local PC's and laptops on the network and not need a username and password ?

Yes you can, there is a section in the HS960 where you can add MAC addresses that should never be prompted for a username and password

There are three log in levels to the HS960. The first username and password combination is admin/admin which allows you into the firmware and has full access. The second level is account/account this just lets you onto the internet without the need for a username or password. You can change this setting and give it to a group to use and all users can get on without being prompted for a username or password. (this is especially userful in hotel conference centres for delegate groups)

The third level is super/super and allows for billing details and logs to be viewed in the HS960

25. Can I connect a fixed PC to the HS960 and still need a user name and password ?

Yes, the HS960 has a credit card gateway with an Australian company called securepay www.securepay.com.au . You can have the HS960 ask for credit card details for payment. The HS960 uses the same billing amounts as the printer, however you do not need staff interaction for the transaction.

No you do not. The HS960 uses the 802.11g spectrum which is free and unlicensed spectrum.