webbyman
asked on
Hotspot Portal Page
I own a small ISP and web development company in Mobile, AL and we are providing free wireless hotspots near several parks and areas around downtown. i don't want to charge for the service, but I would like a splash screen or portal page to come up when users log into the hotspot so we can get some (albeit brief) name branding for our efforts. How can I direct people who login to such a page or graphic?
Ahh, what you're talking about here is called a "Captive Portal". This page will be where you put you AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) and where can advertise and thing yourself as a sponsor, etc.
This is fairly easy to accomplish. We did one of these for a coffee shop awhile back using ZoneCD and the NoCat Captive Portal. I think NoCat CP is built into the ZoneCD ISO now. The instructions on their sites are really quite good and administration is relatively a breeze. System requirements are small and you probably have a system that can run it with overkill laying around your office.
Two Great Providers: http://www.zonecd.com & http://nocat.net
Another great feature is built-in content filtering.
It will do everything you need it to do and more, but especially your splash page. I hope this helps you!
Joe Jenkins
This is fairly easy to accomplish. We did one of these for a coffee shop awhile back using ZoneCD and the NoCat Captive Portal. I think NoCat CP is built into the ZoneCD ISO now. The instructions on their sites are really quite good and administration is relatively a breeze. System requirements are small and you probably have a system that can run it with overkill laying around your office.
Two Great Providers: http://www.zonecd.com & http://nocat.net
Another great feature is built-in content filtering.
It will do everything you need it to do and more, but especially your splash page. I hope this helps you!
Joe Jenkins
Bah, correction, I have the wrong address for ZoneCD. ZoneCD is the product and the site is here: http://www.publicip.net/
Joe Jenkins
Joe Jenkins
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I would love to see resolutoin on this. The method I mentioned above is quite effective for what is being asked.
Joe Jenkins
Joe Jenkins
I wonder if the "Accepted Answer" could be changed to the answer with the ZoneCD information/website instead of just a follow up comment. This way the saved "correct answer" has some valid content.
Joe P
Joe P
Yeah, I agree. It should be that one. :)
Joe Jenkins
Joe Jenkins
Well, at my college they had a neat trick. First their wireless was not encrypted, so you got a connection fine. When you opened up the internet though, you would get redirected to a login page. You could not go to any other page until you logged in.
Your situation is very similiar, but just send them a greetings webpage, and if you want them to login that would be the spot, or just a button to allow them to search the internet.
How is this done? I am not sure, I suspect that they did not allow any webtraffic on port 80 (or whatever the web is on) until the person logged in. Maybe not even allowing internet on any ports. The trick then would be on the first connection, directing them to that webpage.
Joe P