Turn on WiFi billing
Your router is connected. This is the step that makes it actually sell WiFi.
Open the router in Click. On the Overview tab there is a checklist and a button.
The checklist
The button stays greyed out until every line is ticked, and the page tells you which one is stopping it. In full:
Router is switched on and online Click has heard from it recently. If this is not ticked, the router has lost power or internet. Setup stays saved and picks up where it left off once it is back.
Router is running current Click software Older routers set up before a Click update need their management software refreshed. If this is not ticked there is a Show me the script link; paste that into the router's terminal once. It takes a minute and resets nothing.
This router model can sell WiFi Some very small MikroTik models cannot. Click only blocks this when the router has actually told us it cannot; while the facts are still unknown, setup is allowed to start and will stop with a clear reason if the router turns out to be unsuitable.
The router's software includes the hotspot
There is room to install the billing software Storage space on the router itself. Very full routers need something cleared off first.
You have WiFi bundles to sell At least one package, on sale. See Packages.
You have a WiFi login page At least one saved template. See Your login page.
Customers can reach you for help A customer support number on your profile. It is printed on your login page, so a customer whose payment fails has somebody to call. Set it under Profile & Security.
Press the button
Setup takes a few minutes. The router is doing real work: installing the billing software, building the customer network, installing your login page, wiring up payment.
The page tracks it as it goes. You can close the tab; it carries on.
What "Live" means
When it finishes, the Overview says Your WiFi is open for business. From that moment a customer can connect, see your login page, buy a bundle and get online.
Test it yourself
Do this before you tell anyone the WiFi is open.
- Connect a phone to the WiFi: a real phone, not the laptop you set it up on.
- Wait for the login page to appear.
- Buy the cheapest bundle with real money.
- Check the text arrives.
- Check you are actually online.
Five minutes and a few hundred shillings. It catches, in the right order, every one of the things that otherwise show up as a queue of complaining customers.
"Nothing is plugged into your customer network yet"
If you see this warning after setup, the hotspot is built and running but no cable or access point is connected to any of the customer ports.
If the router has its own WiFi, customers can connect to that directly and you can ignore it. If it does not, plug an access point into any port except the internet one, and set that access point to bridge mode, with its own DHCP and NAT switched off. Otherwise every customer behind it looks like one customer to the hotspot, and they will all share a single login.