I would like to get the Hotspot Gateway to take credit cards and via a credit card authorization service like Authorize.net.

This is quit simple to do on a hotspot product like Nomadix - but I would much rather just use Mikrotik products for my hotspots. Has anyone written a script for Mikrotik Hotspot Gateway that allows users to sign up online for service using a credit card?

I would love to see some sort of credit card/hotspot ability with mikrotik.

What do the rest of you think? I do have a line on some software development people interested in createing an application for the MT.

Is there interest?

j.

I think you should handle the CC payment outside of MT. A location
using CC billing is usually larger or at least there are multiple with
roaming like T-Mobile or other providers are doing it.

For these locations you usually have a RADIUS server for user
authentification and accounting. Your CC billings have to
"communicate" with that RADIUS server so why not doing this
central, too. Maybe on the same server, or the one that is hosting
the Login/Portal pages.

Apart from the "Usermanager" I see no reason to include this into
MT. And for larger installations (like 20 locations with 10-30 users/
location) a RADIUS server would be cheaper that buying 20 x L6
licenses. Do the "Usermanager" support roaming? Haven't used
it so far, we prefer RADIUS.

seandsl
--

Hi,

You mentioned doing radius and hotspot pages on centrally housed server....

Do you have an example of pages/scripting one would put on remote MT hotspots which would pull from central server? Would it be wise to put the HotSpot Login Pages on same server as Radius? Then again the question... what does the scripting look like on the remote HotSpot.

Our goal is to update one Web site for hotspot login pages and have it propogate to all HotSpots on our network.

Also I have been looking for the download for user manager. I am not finding it on MT site.

Thanks in advance!

j.

You can host your Portal/login pages on a central webserver.
If you keep the hotspot configuration of your MT routers identical
you will only need one login page. The "login.html" text in the
MT hotspot directory on the MT router has to be modified that
it redirects to the external central login page.

The central login page then does the CC billing (e.g. with PHP
scripting) with authorize.net. User/password has to be generated
dynamicly and be announced to the user and the RADIUS server.
after that the user has to be logged in via redirect of the user
details to MT. The MT then asks the RADIUS and loggs the user in.

you can put Login + RADIUS + CC scripting on one server or more,
as you like. If a larger installation think of doing redundant RADIUS
databases or RADIUS servers.

seandsl
--

You can host your Portal/login pages on a central webserver.
If you keep the hotspot configuration of your MT routers identical
you will only need one login page. The "login.html" text in the
MT hotspot directory on the MT router has to be modified that
it redirects to the external central login page.

The central login page then does the CC billing (e.g. with PHP
scripting) with authorize.net. User/password has to be generated
dynamicly and be announced to the user and the RADIUS server.
after that the user has to be logged in via redirect of the user
details to MT. The MT then asks the RADIUS and loggs the user in.

you can put Login + RADIUS + CC scripting on one server or more,
as you like. If a larger installation think of doing redundant RADIUS
databases or RADIUS servers.

seandsl
--

Is this something that you have already done and tested? I don't suppose you would mind sharing some additional details on setting this up if you don't think it should be integrated into MT. I've been asking for this feature for a long time.

Even if you want to do it centrally, Which I do agree has it's benefits of allowing the same user to authenticate at several locations, MT should still handle it. A basic authorize.net plugin would suffice.

:) I agree... I would love to know more.

I think that MT will somehow implement that CC billing. The
"Usermanager" is a first development towards a hotspot solution that
is working without RADIUS and is easy usable. I think that many
MT customers don't know how to do or don't want to use a RADIUS
server.

We have this central RADIUS and central Login page system running.
We have started this RADIUS development around 2 years ago. At
that time there where no "Usermanager" available. For us (and our
customers) is the aspect of roaming very important. Our customers
want an CI and CD for all their locations. They don't want an "island
solution". We are using linux and freeradius for the central servers.

We sell this as a hotspot solution with a selfmade HTML/PHP interface
for our customers to manage their hotspot accounts on the RADIUS
server. The customers generate their accounts on their own, print them
on small cards and sell them to their hotspot customers in their hotel,
cafe, ...

The CC implementation has only been done in theory so far, because
we haven't had any customer for that so far.
2nd: We havent found a CC billing company that offers CC billing but
_do not_ ask for the customer address details. We are looking for
a CC billing that only needs the name + CC number + expiration date +
CCV. We send no invoices or stuff like that, there is no need to know
the address. We think entering the full address keep the customers from
using the service.

If this is no point for you, a normal CC billing integration (with
authorize.com, ...) can be done via PHP scripts.

We have done a voucher printer integration (voucher printer connected
to windows pc, generating accounts on RADIUS server via HTTP/PHP
interface). The customer only has to press a button to get a new hotspot
ticket.
We would love to see more scripting and serial communication
possibilities in MT which would offer a way to connect the printer
directly to a serial port on the MT router.
The printer:
http://www.handlink.com.tw/eng/products ... 0small.gif

Regards,

seandsl
--

A bit of a 'late' post, I know ;-)

But thought I'd just add a link to this site that provides an application as discussed in this thread:

http://www.duxtel.net

Cheers!