Developing a Captive Portal for a Wi-Fi Network

Customer

Based in Germany, the customer is engaged in building Wi-Fi networks to provide high-speed Internet in airports, hospitals, cities, events of different scale, etc. free of charge. The company aims at delivering associated services—IPTV, digital libraries, online shopping—through hybrid high-speed networks, which robust performance relies on smart pre-storing of volume-intense data and secure data transmission via VPN.

Need

The customer has built a Wi-Fi network in a resort town of Bühl (Germany). So, the company turned to HQSoftware to deliver a captive portal that would allow both tourists and locals to connect to the Internet via an e-mail or Facebook.

The goal of the project was to create the portal. Upon entering an e-mail address, a user gets a letter with city news and information about the Internet provider. Thus, the login page helps the customer to build its client database. The home page is used to promote a variety of services provided by the company, as well as feature some basic information about the city itself.

Challenges

Under the project, the team at HQSoftware had to address the following challenges:

• the system should grant Internet access after a user gets a verification letter upon entering a valid e-mail;
• one of the primary customer requirements was to deliver an interface that is displayed consistently on laptops, tablets, and different mobile devices—iOS- and Android-based. QA testing imposed certain difficulties, as our engineers didn’t have a physical access to the network located in Germany.

Solution

Using the Mandril platform, our engineers enabled distribution of verification e-mails to the users, connecting to the Wi-Fi network. To ensure that the solution’s interface is correctly displayed on a variety of devices, experts at HQSoftware had to test each particular case. For that purpose, a remote connection to the Wi-Fi network in Bühl was established.

In addition, developers at HQSoftware delivered a widget for the home page that shows weather conditions in Bühl in real-time.

Integrating with Facebook API, our engineers made it possible to login via the social network.

Outcome

Collaborating with HQSoftware, the customer delivered a captive portal that grants Internet access to a Wi-Fi network in the town of Bühl. The login page allows for collecting e-mail of users, thus, contributing to the extension of the company’s client database. Using it, the customer is planning to build its marketing campaigns around such new services as IPTV or Internet radio. Moreover, the home page that features information about the provider is an additional promotional channel.