Wireless Hotspots

There are two basic systems

Free-hotspot.com  (www.free-hotspot.com)

This is an advertising supported system otherwise it is free to the end user.

The owner of the location is responsible for the cost of Broadband connection and pay our installation charges, they are provided with a free of charge router by Free Hotspot.com and the system simply operates without the need for any major input from them.

They get promoted as a 'Free Hotspot' location and potentially income from a revenue share of the Ads

I would not sell this to anyone as a means to make money, it is a service to their customers that will hopefully encourage customers to come to them and increase loyalty and in that way will increase their trade.

Zonerider   (www.zonerider.net)

This is a paid for connection where the end user pays either by Card online or it can be set up for a payment to be made at the Hotspot, compared to other systems access charges are very reasonable - a basic £2/hour £5/24hours or £15 /month - Compared to BT Openzone at £6/hour or my Cloud similar .

This is a very flexible system the basic setup involves using a PC connected to virtually any wireless Router or Access point, and the PC issues out connections, the Operator is able to set 'free Connections' if wanted.

The operator receives 70% of any connections charged out - this is extremely generous - and is likely for many to generate real income, especially compared to other WiFi providers such as MyCloud or BT Openzone from whom we have received exactly nothing over two years!

We would recommend however that the HSO (Hotspot Operator) bite the bullet and purchase a Wireless Router  (we can supply Linksys Routers which are very suitable for this) The router can then be programmed using Firmware provided by Zonerider and it will handle all the connection issues and can be set to allow 'free access' to specific machines.

Costs / Issues

Free-hotspot.com seems the easiest , once setup it really needs no management, and if the operator does get problems we can support them, from their viewpoint however it does mean that they too get 'advertised at' and we suspect the actual income may not be much (if any). It offers a great benefit to their customers, but Zonerider would point out that a 'free service' is often not as valued as one you have paid something for

The Linksys Router used  (and this seems the common denominator) must be one of a specific type and these do not include a built in modem, so the operator needs to have either an existing Router/modem unit handling connection, or a broadband Ethernet modem (i.e. not the standard 'free with connection' USB junk!)

View local wireless hotspots near Chapel-en-le-Frith