I have had about 400 customers. Keeping track of who has paid or not, entering checks, bounced checks and no checks is very time consuming. What I am looking for is a program that will let anyone attach to my network and get a welcome screen. On this welcome screen they can pick the speed (1,2,4 meg) or amount of bandwith (10,20 gig) and pay with a Echeck, debit card, Visa or Prepaid gift card, before they use it. I dont want a lot of data fields that the customer needs to fill out, just enough that it will work with the payment company. Once we have authorization they can get on for the 30 days or 20 gig of data transfer before they need another payment. I would like this to use the MAC to set all the info up. Is there anything out there that would work? I have heard that Wisp-Router has something called GateSpot, but have not seen a lot of info on it or a working demo of it.
Look up Hotspot and User Manager on the wiki.
Yes I have seen those and have tried to do some of it, but no luck. What I want is a pre-packaged solution. I just dont have time to spend on a new learning curve.
Hi, There are a few options to choose from,
- Open Source
Linux PC loaded with apache, mysql, php and free radius
Does the job, elbeit difficult to use.
- Open Source + Closed Source (Radius Manager Now in Ver3.7)
Linux PC loaded with apache, mysql, php and free radius, but uses a web based GUI that is not free.
DMA softlabs has this, it’s a good gui, and easy to use. I have used it for 4yrs, and it just works.
Sends clients emails with warning on nearing caps etc.
This is an all in one billing solution/radius server.
The downside is that it costs US$99
- Mikrotik Userman running scripts for Billing Solution
I have personally tried to get this working and failed. I ended up using option 2 here.
Overall Option 1 is free, Option 3 is basically free since you already should have userman on your router, but option 2 is what I chose, because of ease of use, and even the average Joe can manage the system now 
Seeing you asked about a pre-package solution, www.linktechs.net has a PowerSpot 400 based on RouterOS 400 series hardware with everything you need to get started for a automated Hotspot solution.
RadiusManager gets my vote.
Been using it for 2 years without problems. Easy to configure and maintain.
Worth every penny.
User manager with Auth.net works perfectly. http://www.linktechs.net and goto the billing solutions. You want a turn key solution, there ya go!
I use radius manager. A perfect solution low cost, free installation on your linux box, best support i have seen around. My vote too
Is Radius Manager better than Gatespot?
i would definately say yes
Hi,
Radius Manger is all you need, my few months experience with it is excellent.
Regards.
Faton.
No recurring billing! Kind of kills it for me. I think they will be adding it in the next release.
But other than that it looks great.
RadiusManager3 located at http://www.dmasoftlab.com is excellent for just our remote hotspot users.
-Sincerely,
DesertAdmin
when you say execellent for just you remote hotspot users what do you mean what of your local hotspot users? when something works and is perfect it should be all round. Maybe you meant you only use it for your remote hotspot users. otherwise your statement suggests that it is not good for your local hotspot users. For me the perfect product i cannot ask for anything else and it keeps getting better
Yes it is excellent for hotspot automated signups and the like. You can also use it for PPPOE auth and RADIUS authentication we currently are using this only for our hotspot users that are located in remote areas. This will even work great for pre programmed CPE gear that you just sell to the clients and have them point it to your AP. This will give them a splash login page that is authenticated to the RadiusManager3. This excepts all major CC authorize.net and PayPal, so the customer pays for access and all payments are delivered to your account. This helps with the trouble of non-payment (Shut them off with a pleasant login splash page) and secure payment (allow them to pay to get back online any time of the day)all in one. Our other billing software is currently not tied into the MTs as the RadiusManager 3 is. But we are running a mixed environment of Canopy, Ubiquiti, Senao, and Mikrotik. So we are working on combining all of the platforms together. Until then we will have two billing software programs. I hope that clarifies my statement more.
-Sincerely,
DesertAdmin
I’ll be installing radius manager next week. I can find a better solution for so little money.
Yeah - I wish someone had told me about them previously.
I’ll pop the $150 for 5000 unique users, 100 AP’s - no monthly billing - and they will even remote install it.
I requested a 30 day trial, but hopefully it will all work and I’ll be buying it - once - tomorrow.
RB750G with a Picostation2HP per location.
All my ap’s hitting the LAMP box running Radius Manager
Done
See, MT - you could have had that cash instead if you got behind User Manager and developed it properly.
I would have even found it in my heart to subscribe to an enhanced User Manager as a SaaS offering, or paid a nice chunk per router.
I just don’t think a lot of people understand the need for a simple way to allow self registration to a free access hotspot.
I use mt for all my routers indoor AP’s and hotspot gateways. But I had to go to ubnt for outdoor AP’s and cpe’s for now. I will go back to mt when the outdoor wireless is working the way I need it to.
I think usermanager is great and will sometime soon have every thing I need, but it’s just not where I need it to be right now.
I don’t control any radios using MT.
Our locations are all internal currently, and I don’t want to have to deal with dorky looking antennas coming out of my routers, getting caught/hung on stuff.
Makes more sense to me to use a freestanding AP connecting to the MT and receiving power via poe, and not have to deal with expensive LMR cable or line loss.
I’m not sure though if I’ll get radius accounting through the Picostation though.
It would seem that accounting would be sent by the MT rather than the AP anyway, since it really is acting as an AP and doesn’t do any dhcp or nat, wheras the MT does both and has conntrack tables.
I’m still anxiously awaiting my copy of Radius Manager.
Based on all the positive comments and the fact that it’s essentially made for MT, I went ahead and bought it rather than bother with a trial version.
I set up an Ubuntu LAMP box yesterday - it’s still essentially untouched except for assigning a static address.
I do want to lock it down a bit as it will be sitting on the public internet, but I’ll wait for the Radius Manager install first.
Can’t wait to try this out - but it looks like my copy will be unlikely to arrive in my Inbox before Monday.
Immediate gratification takes way too long.