WiFi for bus fleet

K

Kdes

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Good Day

We have a fleet in the travel industry and we looking at allowing Wifi Access to our guests.
The tricky part is we also need to limit the amount of data they use.

The simply solution may just to buy MiFi devices and put them in, but then may need to some sort of VPN network to force them to a Captive portal to limit the data per person.

Does anyone have any thoughts of what we can look at doing, or has done something before?

Thanks.
 
We've done this kind of thing for some KFCs in Durban.

Branded portal with a mix of time and bandwidth restrictions. We charge a monthly fee for the use of the tech , and you keep all the revenue derived from it.

For a bus , depending on the number of people using it , a low cost option could be :

Nexx3020 Wireless Router - http://bit.ly/2fFwPR9

1.Flash it with OpenWRT and hook up to radius server
2. Connect a compatible USB modem (with antenna port)
3. Connect an antenna to help with coverage - (example http://bit.ly/2wtnYbS)
4. Connect it via USB to this http://www.getampy.com/ampy-move.html . This is a kinetic energy charger. Its supposed to work by charging your phone by running or walking. In reality , it doesn't really generate enough electricity to be useful by doing this.
However , hook it up to the most rattly part of a bus and it charges really quickly. Then , you dont need to wire the solution to the bus. You can just stick everything to the window with strong double sided tape. The generator has a battery so you can turn it off at the end of a trip and on again at the start of a trip , and the battery takes care of short stops etc.
5. Get a high usage 3G account. You could even load balance 2 or more for a more stable service this way.
6 Profit.
 
retromodcoza said:
We've done this kind of thing for some KFCs in Durban.

Branded portal with a mix of time and bandwidth restrictions. We charge a monthly fee for the use of the tech , and you keep all the revenue derived from it.

For a bus , depending on the number of people using it , a low cost option could be :

Nexx3020 Wireless Router - http://bit.ly/2fFwPR9

1.Flash it with OpenWRT and hook up to radius server
2. Connect a compatible USB modem (with antenna port)
3. Connect an antenna to help with coverage - (example http://bit.ly/2wtnYbS)
4. Connect it via USB to this http://www.getampy.com/ampy-move.html . This is a kinetic energy charger. Its supposed to work by charging your phone by running or walking. In reality , it doesn't really generate enough electricity to be useful by doing this.
However , hook it up to the most rattly part of a bus and it charges really quickly. Then , you dont need to wire the solution to the bus. You can just stick everything to the window with strong double sided tape. The generator has a battery so you can turn it off at the end of a trip and on again at the start of a trip , and the battery takes care of short stops etc.
5. Get a high usage 3G account. You could even load balance 2 or more for a more stable service this way.
6 Profit.
Click to expand...

nice
 
retromodcoza said:
We've done this kind of thing for some KFCs in Durban.

Branded portal with a mix of time and bandwidth restrictions. We charge a monthly fee for the use of the tech , and you keep all the revenue derived from it.

For a bus , depending on the number of people using it , a low cost option could be :

Nexx3020 Wireless Router - http://bit.ly/2fFwPR9

1.Flash it with OpenWRT and hook up to radius server
2. Connect a compatible USB modem (with antenna port)
3. Connect an antenna to help with coverage - (example http://bit.ly/2wtnYbS)
4. Connect it via USB to this http://www.getampy.com/ampy-move.html . This is a kinetic energy charger. Its supposed to work by charging your phone by running or walking. In reality , it doesn't really generate enough electricity to be useful by doing this.
However , hook it up to the most rattly part of a bus and it charges really quickly. Then , you dont need to wire the solution to the bus. You can just stick everything to the window with strong double sided tape. The generator has a battery so you can turn it off at the end of a trip and on again at the start of a trip , and the battery takes care of short stops etc.
5. Get a high usage 3G account. You could even load balance 2 or more for a more stable service this way.
6 Profit.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this, will look into it.
How did you do the data restrictions? Did you do this on the radius server. Im guessing its freeradius.
Where did you buy the Nexx3020 Wireless Router in South Africa?
 
retromodcoza said:
We've done this kind of thing for some KFCs in Durban.

Branded portal with a mix of time and bandwidth restrictions. We charge a monthly fee for the use of the tech , and you keep all the revenue derived from it.

For a bus , depending on the number of people using it , a low cost option could be :

Nexx3020 Wireless Router - http://bit.ly/2fFwPR9

1.Flash it with OpenWRT and hook up to radius server
2. Connect a compatible USB modem (with antenna port)
3. Connect an antenna to help with coverage - (example http://bit.ly/2wtnYbS)
4. Connect it via USB to this http://www.getampy.com/ampy-move.html . This is a kinetic energy charger. Its supposed to work by charging your phone by running or walking. In reality , it doesn't really generate enough electricity to be useful by doing this.
However , hook it up to the most rattly part of a bus and it charges really quickly. Then , you dont need to wire the solution to the bus. You can just stick everything to the window with strong double sided tape. The generator has a battery so you can turn it off at the end of a trip and on again at the start of a trip , and the battery takes care of short stops etc.
5. Get a high usage 3G account. You could even load balance 2 or more for a more stable service this way.
6 Profit.
Click to expand...
Any idea what sort of revenue they'd make each month?
 
Kdes said:
Thank you for this, will look into it.
How did you do the data restrictions? Did you do this on the radius server. Im guessing its freeradius.
Where did you buy the Nexx3020 Wireless Router in South Africa?
Click to expand...

Yep. FreeRadius. Hooked up to our own control panel.
I have a spare Nexx3020 router I can sell you. Usually , I buy them from a chinese supplier , have them shipped to Hong Kong in 2 days and the courier forward from there. They are light and are shipped without packaging , so it doesn't take too long for them to get here and usually pass through customs without fees. Shipping is usually R200 for 2 or 3 together
 
Last edited:
Charly said:
Any idea what sort of revenue they'd make each month?
Click to expand...


I'm not sure if you're referring to the buses or KFC. However , typically this is a service you want to be giving to your customers for free in this type of setup. Selling Wi-Fi in places where not a lot of usage happens (1-2hrs max) is a real hard sell.
 
WireFree said:
rCell 500 Router supports 12-48V DC power and up to 128 WiFi connections
+
Hotspotsystem.com Captive Portal
+
DeviceHQ to remotely monitor, manage, upgrade and configure the router.
Click to expand...

This is a nice option - and has less moving parts. Its also more physically robust and will require less config.

However , its expensive and you do have to wire this sucker to the bus. Which for us was an absolute pain in the ass.

If wiring aint a problem for some reason and your budget isn't as big of a concern - go with this option
 
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