How do I register a new hotspot?

If you don't have a HOTSPLOTS account yet, you'll have to register with us first. Under "My hotspots" in the registered users section you will find the following form which lets you register a new hotspot under your account:

Screenshot of the form for registering a new hotspot

Here's an explanation of the different fields:

  1. Name of the Hotspot: The name identifies the hotspot in our database and should be as clear as possible. This name must not contain special characters or spaces.
  2. Passphrase: It identifies your hotspot for our billing system. The key that you enter here also has to be left at the hotspot's firmware. Try choosing a random sequence of characters.
    This key is a password that you can choose yourself. It has nothing to do with the "Wireless LAN key" for encryption with openVPN.
  3. Public name: This name will be seen on the registration page by everybody who accesses the internet via your hotspot. On our map this name is also used (except for hotspots with rate "V.I.P. / Nur Tickets").
  4. Rate: Here you choose the (online) rate for your hotspot. This defines the conditions for users who registered online at the HOTSPLOTS website. This is completely independent of the optional offering of location tickets and an also optional FreeRate contract.
    The choice of "Biz kostenlos" implies the conclusion of a HOTSPLOTS FreeRate contract. If you choose"Biz kostenlos" for the first time, you are directed to the online forms to close the FreeRate contract. It starts immediately. Since you can change the online tariff any time we suggest to leave the standard rate at first and close the FreeRate contract after the installation of the hotspot router.
    "V.I.P. / nur Tickets" means, that the hotspot usage is prohibited for all registered users except of the hotspot owner and the Free users (see point B below).
  5. FlexiFlat-Option: If the "FlexiFlat-Option" is selected, the given amount is the maximum a user will pay per month for the use of all hotspots that have activated this option. If "Fun 1,50Cent/MB" was chosen, the FlexiFlat is automatically set active.
  6. LocationFlat:The LocationFlat ist an alternative to the FlexiFlat. In contrast to the FlexiFlat the hotspot operator can choose the amount for the LocationFlat limit but users do not benefit from a roaming feature as it is provided by sites with FlexiFlat.
  7. Default language: Select your default language. At the moment (July 2010) you have the choice between German, English, French, Polish, Dutch and Greek. This setting is used as default for the login page of this hotspot.
  8. Address, ZIP and City: Put in your hotspot's location here. The default setting will be the address you registered with. This information helps other users to find your Wi-Fi hotspot in our database. The area code will be used in a first step to geographically locate your hotspot and show it on our map. You can correctly adjust the location on the map afterwards.
  9. Publish: We can automatically enter your hotspot into other Wi-Fi hotspot directories. If you select this option we will publish your WLAN hotspot in all major hotspot directories on the internet. That way it can be more easily located by users.
  10. Description: Here you can enter a description of your hotspot that users will see in our database.
  11. Website: For each of your hotspots you can enter a URL that's displayed on our map. This way you can publish your hotel's homepage, for example.
  12. Publish E-Mail: If you publish your email address, it will be shown as contact information for your hotspot. This can be helpful if surfers have questions about your offer. That happens for example if regular users suddenly miss the Wi-Fi signal because you turn the antenna or unplugged the router accidentally.

Then click on the green button to register new hotspot. You can delete or change its details at any time by clicking on its name in your hotspot list:

Screenshot of the form for changing the hotspot's settings
  1. In addition to the fields explained above you can register "free users" for your hotspot. For you the hotspot is free, of course. In the example above, the HOTSPLOTS users "JohnDoe", "linus" and "maxi" can use your hotspot for free. Naturally you don't earn any money off these users.
  2. As Admin contact several email address can be entered, seperated by spaces. To those addresses our monitoring system sends notification emails, e.g. if the hotspot is offline and Downtime notification is acivated.
  3. You can also adjust the login page of your hotspot, for example to show a picture of your hotel or a personalised welcome message.