Providing Free Wireless in a Pub

[brucemillar]

Folks

My friend owns a pub and wanted to offer free wi-fi to his customers. He told me that the costs to him from his provider (BT) made this a non-starter. He did not have the exact figure to hand but said it was not (as I thought) pennies per day. He said that BT had told him that because it was a business then the charges were high? This does not sound correct to me.

Does anybody know how much he should be paying to offer free wi-fi?
I though he could just open BT Openzone on his router?

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

I can't fully answer your question but creating a hotspot with BT openzone will only be of use to other BT customers, although this is a safe option. I don't know what it would cost to provide a free wifi service but would open him up to all kinds of legal issues over downloading.

Once armed with any passkeys, customers could sit in the carpark and download virtually anything. Those downloads would be traceable to the pub and not the individual.

I'd be interested to see what our more technical colleagues have to say.

 

[BaldGuy]

My worry is... you have friends!!!

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

My worry is... you have friends!!!

I'd happily be his friend. Anyone with a friend that owns a pub is definitely a friend of mine!

 

[flango]

Not sure if it is different for licensed premises but as a garage and MOT centre we provide free wifi for our customers as many members on here will tell you, we also do it via BT and as you correctly thought it's pennies. The router is split into 2 sides BT business hub (used for running the business) and BT Openzone used to provide guest access, we change the pass code weekly to stop the car park downloaders and guest IP addresses are logged just in case of anything dodgy coming back to us. So I guess this must be an issue with licensed premises much in the same way as Sky TV ?

 

[brucemillar]

Flanaia1

Thank you. What you describe is what I had in mind. Are there any difficulties in setting this up?

 

[redbaron]

I work in this industry... there are a number of things to be aware of before you offer out wifi... happy to chat via PM?

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

The router is split into 2 sides BT business hub (used for running the business) and BT Openzone used to provide guest access, we change the pass code weekly to stop the car park downloaders and guest IP addresses are logged just in case of anything dodgy coming back to us.

Changing the pass code weekly is a good idea. Not sure about the IP addresses though as they are temporarily assigned by the router and not therefore traceable to the user, I think?

 

[redbaron]

BT Openzone is not free wifi unless the business choose to subsidise it.

As the IP's are issued by he router logging them doesn't achieve a lot. It needs to be a login process ah la mcdonalds...

Lots of businesses take risks with WiFi but given it the the person who "owns" the connection who goes to prison / £5k fine for it being used for child porn or horrid stuff like that care must be taken.

 

[flango]

Changing the pass code weekly is a good idea. Not sure about the IP addresses though as they are temporarily assigned by the router and not therefore traceable to the user, I think?

Sorry should have said yes there is a log in procedure its not a simple enter the passcode to connect. BT set it up for us when they installed the line and it's run without fail for the last 3 years

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

Sorry should have said yes there is a log in procedure its not a simple enter the passcode to connect. BT set it up for us when they installed the line and it's run without fail for the last 3 years

Must be similar to what redbaron describes then. Such a shame that we have to guard against the minority in order to offer our customers a free service.

 

[janner]

Lots of businesses take risks with WiFi but given it the the person who "owns" the connection who goes to prison / £5k fine for it being used for child porn or horrid stuff like that care must be taken.

Listen carefully to this part of the thread.
I was told much the same thing when I enquired about WiFi a while ago.
If someone uses your connection for child porn you could find the police taking all your equipment and the local press covering the investigation. Even if you could prove it wasn't you the damage will be done.

 

[brucemillar]

Listen carefully to this part of the thread.
I was told much the same thing when I enquired about WiFi a while ago.
If someone uses your connection for child porn you could find the police taking all your equipment and the local press covering the investigation. Even if you could prove it wasn't you the damage will be done.

All very good points. Thank you.

How do hotels and other outlets manage this. I see signs around town offering free wi-fi etc. I know that some hotels charge (login key etc) but others do not.

 

[redbaron]

All very good points. Thank you.

How do hotels and other outlets manage this. I see signs around town offering free wi-fi etc. I know that some hotels charge (login key etc) but others do not.

They force you to register via a login page or issue you a unique key. At this point your mac address is recorded against your booking thus a traceable path is recorded.

 

[@MARK]

There are a number of ways to approach this.

You could just buy a broadband connection and stick an open wifi router on the end of it. This is cheap and you could add a password that you changed weekly etc and displayed behind the bar but many ISPs have limits around business use (but not all) plus you are effectively responsible for whatever is downloaded so this route may not be as straight forward as it seems (but a lot of places do just this)

There are companies like Cloud and BT Openzone who will provide the service on your behalf but often the cost to your customers can be quite high and in some cases the supplier may want money off you AND off your customers.

I see redbaron mentioned he works in this business (rather than working for an ISP or telco) so might be worth having a chat with him