[PLUG] Internet Gateway for Hotel

[Aaron Burt]

On Sat, Jul 30, 2005 at 06:45:47PM -0700, Holger Stephan wrote:
> Funseekers,
> 
> To provide controlled and metered Internet connectivity at a hotel (up 
> to 200 people), does any of you have a pointer where to find either a 
> reasonably priced, programmable router or a Linux router package for a 
> DIY box? It should somehow work together with DHCP: if a guest pays for 
> Internet (s)he should receive an IP address and timed access to the 
> Internet.

NoCat was the first thing that came to mind.  It's what's known as a
"Captive Portal", redirecting users to a webpage until they authenticate.  
http://nocat.net/

A Freshmeat search for "nocat" turned up a couple of systems for doing
roughly what you want:
http://freshmeat.net/projects/icam/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/zonecd/

As an aside, charging for access is typically more trouble than it's
worth.  Like cable TV and other "free" stuff, it's all about drawing
customers from your competitors, even though your room rate's a couple
bucks higher.  It's just promotional overhead.

But hey, if they can make back the cost of the billing system before
the place down the block puts "Free Wi-Fi" on their sign, that's cool.

Waiting to see "Free VoIP long-distance" next,
  Aaron