[Help] Setting up "free wifi" in a restaurant

[juBa]

Hi all,

My friends Dad just bought a restaurant/bar in Pretoria and wants to offer free wifi to customers.

The main idea is to increase customers during the day. The restaurant is quite big with 4 different dining areas and is situated on a very busy road in PTA which is next to ;arge corporate buildings.

We were thinking about offering free wifi to all customers who place an order for anything on the menu, even if its just coffee. However, it would be ideal if we could structure it so that when somebody orders and requests the wifi password, then the waiter could print out a unique password which will have 1 or 2 hours free ''unlimited'' internet access attached to it. Also, if it could be throttled after say, 1gig usage per session, to a slower speed.

I also told them that having a separate internet account for this from their PoS and office internet would be much more ideal, however, I do not know which line speed and ISP offering would be best for this? Also, what routers and range extenders(Will prod need 2/3 of these) would be best?

Is this a hard project to take on and needs to be done by someone professional or would anybody with a bit of competence be able to do by themselves?

Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[PsyWulf]

Something like the Zyxel N4100 and the SP300e printer
http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/ZyXEL...0E-Service-Gateway-Printer-ap-B003T6M6H2.html

 

[Cool E]

name of the restaurant so that we can come for coffee

 

[Budza]

I reckon these setups aren't worth the hassle.

Change the WiFi password once a day, and just give it to anyone who asks...

Your data is all paid for, so the more it's used the merrier. It's a sunk cost.

Weigh up admin of printing new tickets all the time vs any potential abuse by miser customers (Cool E? ). There are likely routers that can limit individual speeds/usage which may be a better solution...

 

[guest2013-1]

IMO they should just go with a pre-made solution, like what McDonalds has, where if you have a ISP account that has free minutes you can use it, or you can get the 30 (or more) min free if you at McDonalds blablabla

Too much effort building/implementing your own infrastructure

 

[Budza]

IMO they should just go with a pre-made solution, like what McDonalds has, where if you have a ISP account that has free minutes you can use it, or you can get the 30 (or more) min free if you at McDonalds blablabla

Too much effort building/implementing your own infrastructure

AlwaysOn? Anyone know what that cost for a basic implementation? ~500MB per user I reckon.

I've seen 30MB :wtf:, 100MB, 500MB vouchers/virtual vouchers. 500MB min, IMO. What's the point otherwise? You might as well use 3G.

Also had an uncapped 10meg line at one place- time to update all apps!

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Take a shufty at CoovaChilli : http://coova.org/CoovaChilli

 

[juBa]

Something like the Zyxel N4100 and the SP300e printer
http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/ZyXEL...0E-Service-Gateway-Printer-ap-B003T6M6H2.html

Thanks man, that's exactly what we looking for. A bit pricey but i suppose one has to pay top dorar for the all-in-one, plug and play simplicity.

name of the restaurant so that we can come for coffee

Haha soon mate!

I reckon these setups aren't worth the hassle.

Change the WiFi password once a day, and just give it to anyone who asks...

Your data is all paid for, so the more it's used the merrier. It's a sunk cost.

Weigh up admin of printing new tickets all the time vs any potential abuse by miser customers (Cool E? ). There are likely routers that can limit individual speeds/usage which may be a better solution...

Yeah you're right, we still weighing out the advantages/cost. The thing is that during the day the restaurant is pretty quiet and having people in their even just drinking coffee and downloading linux distros would be better than having no one at all and basically wasting cash from the operating expenses of an "empty" restaurant.

IMO they should just go with a pre-made solution, like what McDonalds has, where if you have a ISP account that has free minutes you can use it, or you can get the 30 (or more) min free if you at McDonalds blablabla

Too much effort building/implementing your own infrastructure

Also correct. We are looking at this.

Take a shufty at CoovaChilli : http://coova.org/CoovaChilli

This looks pretty interesting, will def look into this over the weekend.

...

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[Zertop]

There is a piece of software called Antamedia which runs on your PC and creates a wifi hotspot.

Ive used the trial and it works well. Just buy another LAN card and wireless router and you're up and running.

http://www.antamedia.com/download/hotspot/

Please note that it is not free

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Here's another option : Smoothwall with URL Filter.

URL Filter allow time-based quotas per IP : http://www.urlfilter.net/quickreference.html#qref20

It also will allow you to block certain sites (porn etc) should you want to do so.

There's no limits to the possibilities of open source.

 

[Budza]

Yeah you're right, we still weighing out the advantages/cost. The thing is that during the day the restaurant is pretty quiet and having people in their even just drinking coffee and downloading linux distros would be better than having no one at all and basically wasting cash from the operating expenses of an "empty" restaurant.

Maybe start with that, then change to tokens or whatever if needed.

Don't over think it to start off and then combat abuse as required.

 

[Griz]

If we quote "MYBB" on our slip = 50% discount.


Yes?

 

[Tim the Techxpert]

Hi There,
I spend a lot of time on the road and getting WiFi is a real bonus. I agree with Budza and change the password daily. I know that if I spend 2 hours in a restaurant that is good for at least 2 coffees and if it is over lunch then I am going to eat there as well. It is the extra trade you want. and the WiFi for free may do it.
I would certainly do it that way to start with and then look at the usage and make a decision for the future service. In marketing terms some would call it a "drug pusher" strategy. Hook them in with free internet and then start charging for it.
A simple way to charge would be to charge R10 for the password on the bill.

Regards

Tim

 

[juBa]

Gratitude for the advise guys. You'll never believe it but the previous owners and mangers were so useless and ran the place so badly that when we were looking around the restaurant and cleaning up we found all the hardware for wifi already installed. We asked them and they didn't even know it was there LOL. So yeah, we got a guy out to get it back up and running, cost R200 and that's that! . Right now its set per IP address, so if you connect it logs your IP and allocates you 100mb (just a trail basis) for 24hours and then it resets.

If we quote "MYBB" on our slip = 50% discount.


Yes?

Sure thing, as soon as I win one of these iPad or cool gadget competitions

 

[SYNERGY]

Fastnet is offering a Telekom Mobile solution, with the first 30 minutes free. Also included: free 10mb line and 1 year cellular modem for the card terminals...

 

[HApyM3al]

Radius Manager?

software where create users and passwords can set transfer limits and data limits and how long it has till expires...

use it at our work for some of our clients.

and then also get DigitalPro which is South-african company. the guy basically builds system up from scratch. for your needs etc. get landing page and then basically will enter voucher code and will work. integrates also with Micros as well so yeah.

hope this can help.

 

[koeksGHT]

name of the restaurant so that we can come for coffee

I do like the sound of that..

 

[louisek]

Get a Ubiquiti access point. Flawless operation and easy to set up. Even people parked in the street can access it...

 

[MR.C]

Gratitude for the advise guys. You'll never believe it but the previous owners and mangers were so useless and ran the place so badly that when we were looking around the restaurant and cleaning up we found all the hardware for wifi already installed. We asked them and they didn't even know it was there LOL. So yeah, we got a guy out to get it back up and running, cost R200 and that's that! . Right now its set per IP address, so if you connect it logs your IP and allocates you 100mb (just a trail basis) for 24hours and then it resets.



Sure thing, as soon as I win one of these iPad or cool gadget competitions

If I have a store next door, I will buy a coffee every morning and use your wifi

 

[purpleonlineadmin]

Drop the name OP, we def wouldn't mind supporting. I usually leave super early to meetings and then stop at a restaurant to prep, this way I'm never late and get some prep work done, if urs on the way to a client or potential client I'd def give it a go instead of McDonalds and the bigger franchises. I have free MWEB wifi minutes though so usually just enter the pass and I'm off.