FAQ hotspot operation

I want to run my own hotspot, what do I have to do?

1. Very simple: At first register at hotsplots like an ordinary user.
2. Get a compatible router. The easiest way is to buy one from our Webshop. Otherwise you can check if your router is compatible.
3. Register your HOTSPLOT at hotsplots. From now on you can make money with your hotspot.

How does the billing work for hotspot operators?

You can transfer your income to your bank account. The minimum amount for bank transfer is 10 EUR.

Alternatively you can use the money to pay for location tickets for reselling.

Do I have to pay for the usage of my own hotspot?

No, of course not. The operator can use his hotspots for free. Furthermore he can make a list of free users. This way, friends, girl friends or flat mates don't have to pay either - indepent of the chosen tariff.

How do I print tickets with my company's own logo?

As operator of a WLAN hotspot you can download location tickets (vouchers) as PDF files. You can print these yourself and give them to your local customers. You can choose between tickets to sell or tickets to give away for free to your esteemed customers or guests.

The PDF files are optimized for printing on card templates (85 x 55 mm) as they are offered by Sigel. No cutting is necessary. This way you can cost-saving way to produce valuable tickets. But the biggest advantage is that this way you can use the tickets as advertising material for your own company.

You can put your logo or company's information on the tickets: Upload an image file with your own design to our server. You can choose out of several precast layouts where this image will be automatically inserted. It must not be larger than 80 x 20 mm to fit into the ticket layouts.

If the positioning an the card templates fails, please check the properties of your printer driver first.

If the borders of your printouts don't fit the card templates, you can compensate this error buy setting correction values for the x- and y-direction on the page where you choose your ticket template. For further questions please consult your printer manual.

Data Retention: Do I have to write down names of ticket customers?

For Germany, the answer is clearly no.

The corresponding paragraph is §113a TKG. In that paragraph the only
requirement is the unambiguous identifier of the line over which the
internet is used. This is provided by the ticket number and the name of the hotspot. Both is recorded by HOTSPLOTS, as well as IP address and times of usage.

For criminal prosecution this information can be helpful, but they do not necessarily identify the offender. Therefore, in other countries more stricter directives might be effective. If you would like to address this question for other countries than Germany, please ask us so.

What information is stored at hotspot usage?

With every login or logout at a hotspot, time, name of the hotspot, MAC address of the hotspot router and client computer, public IP address of the hotspot, local IP address of the client, transfered amount of data and depending on the type of authorization username, ticket number or MAC address are stored.

HOTSPLOTS does not record content or visited URLs. These data are protected by the secrecy of telecommunications in german law.

During a session stored data are updated every ten minutes. The interim information of finished sessions is deleted daily.

After logout data that is not needed for billing purposes is temporarily stored for technical maintenance and support. In an effort to reach an optimum between privacy protection and quality of service we go clearly below the legal limit of seven days [July 2010]. At the moment [July 2010] we delete these data after three days.

All data that is needed for billing purposes is deleted monthly if it is older than five months and the bill is paid without objection.

Until these data are deleted the hotspot operator can view some usage data of his hotspots in the customer area. He has access to the data of his own sessions or those of the location tickets he created. Data of other sessions is shown anonymised, i.e. without username or even real name.

You find further information in the data protection policy of our website.

How can I check whether VPN routing is on?

Hotspot operators can check the functionality of VPN routing in three ways:

1. If you are connected to your own WLAN hotspot, you can open iptest.hotsplots.de with any web browser. On this page your public IP is shown and whether VPN routing is active or not.
2. The status of the VPN connection is shown under menu items Status and VPN-Routing in the hotspot routers's web interface.
3. In the customer area under menu item My hotspots in the row labeled "last pulse" date and time are given together with the IP address, the pulse signal was sent from. The row labeled "VPN-Routing" shows whether VPN routing is active or not. For active VPN connections date and time of the last VPN accounting entry is given as well as the IP adress of the VPN server.
   In special cases the hotspot router might be connected to the internet but VPN routing is not active although it should. Whether internet access is granted to hotspot users or not is determined by the hotspot router's settings. The pulse signal from the hotspot router is always sent.
   
   • In the first seconds after starting the hotspot router, the first pulse signal might be sent before the VPN tunnel is set up.
   • If the DSL provider disconnects DSL to assign a new IP address, the VPN connection is interrupted for about five seconds.
   • The hotspot router cannot connect to a VPN server, if a firewall router between the hotspot router and the internet blocks the VPN ports 1194 or 1195.

What information is stored at usage of VPN routing?

After connecting to or disconnecting from the VPN server timestamp, hotspot name, IP address of the VPN server, the hotspots' public IP and VPN IP address are saved together with the amount of transfered data.

After logout data that is not needed for billing purposes is temporarily stored for technical maintenance and support. In an effort to reach an optimum between privacy protection and quality of service we go clearly below the legal limit of seven days [July 2010]. At the moment [July 2010] we delete these data after three days.

All data that is needed for billing purposes is deleted monthly if it is older than five months and the bill is paid without objection.

Please notice the data protection policy of our website too.

Do I get a regular receipt?

At the moment everyone can download his invoices as PDFs. The implementation of a certified electronic signature is planned. At least for customers in germany we offer to send out hardcopies, that we have printed out ourselves, for free. Just send an email to info(at)hotsplots.de.

In order to pay off VAT in credits or write invoices without VAT for customers in the EU, we need the custeomer's VAT identification number in advance.

How can I abrogate the HOTSPLOTS service?

You can delete you customer account simply with a mouse click in the Customer area. If you have active contracts please cancel these contracts in written form.

We recommend to delete your hotspots before you delete your account. In the customer area under My hotspots you find a button at the bottom of the page, where prefererences of the hotspot, like tariff, are set, called "delete this hotspot".

Please consider that the income of a hotspot will be credited to your account on the 1st of the following month. You can withdraw you payable income under My account > Pay out.

To delete your account finally, please go to Personal data in the customer area and click on "Click here to delete your membership". Your account will be immediately deactivated after pressing the confirmation button "Yes, delete account".
Please consider, that remaining balance you might have on your account, will be lost.