Holiday home rental - how to offer a wireless hotspot to guests

[Alex_1]

I'm planning to holiday-let my home soon, possibly through sites like Stayz or Takeabreak.

In looking at comparable homes that are listed on the sites, most holiday home owners seem to offer free internet to guests, presumably using a similar sort of wireless hotspot arrangement to those used by hotels, motels, cafes, etc.

Do anyone know how these are set up, in terms of hardware, software, etc.?

It's usually free to guests, but has some type of logon procedure & password so your neighbours don't help themselves to your bandwidth.

One possibility might be to just use a wireless router and change the network login password between guests. However, there must be some good reasons most accommodation service providers, internet cafes, etc don't do this - they generally use a proper wireless hotspot arrangement, where the user is presented with a login screen when they sign on.

If anyone here is offering short-term holiday accommodation and providing wireless access to guests, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts/experiences/suggestions on how you're doing it...

 

[Aaron_C]

One way to do it would be to be, like you suggested, use a wireless router with a password attached. If you want to change the password remotely, you would need to attach a permanent computer to the router to access it remotely and change the settings.

 

[Ed Barton]

We're at the cusp of not needing it. any i phone is a wireless hotspot. it might be mildly demanded atm, but give it a year and providing wireless will be as necessary and valuable as providing a land line.

as Aaron said. but really how often do you need to reset the password?

 

[sydprop]

I agree that we are on the cusp of not needing it and I was going to turn it off but the tenants specifically asked about it. (advertised)

Previously we used ADSL with just a network name and password on the fridge. Now we use a NextG Telstra USB modem with a WIFI router as it was much cheaper (now $20/month for 4GB).

The important thing is to make sure that you are on a plan that doesn't have an excess data charge then it doesn't matter what the tenants (or anyone else) does. EDIT: Most plans do now days.

However, it does work really well.....

We're at the cusp of not needing it. any i phone is a wireless hotspot. it might be mildly demanded atm, but give it a year and providing wireless will be as necessary and valuable as providing a land line.

as Aaron said. but really how often do you need to reset the password?

 

[Alex_1]

We're at the cusp of not needing it. any i phone is a wireless hotspot. it might be mildly demanded atm, but give it a year and providing wireless will be as necessary and valuable as providing a land line.

This is true in some areas with good mobile coverage. However our property is in a rural area with poor mobile reception. Guests who are depending on their own iPhones/iPads for internet would often find they had no reception (depending on what carrier they're with), so we'll still need to provide a wireless service for them.

One concern I have with just giving guests access to my own Internet service (by giving them a password to the wireless network) is - what happens if they misuse the service, for example by downloading huge amounts of data, accessing illegal material (child porn, file sharing, etc) and so on?

To my knowledge, most standard ISP accounts don't let you control access on your own account very well, or set daily usage limits. What's to stop guests downloading large amounts of data and using up your full monthly usage allowance in a day or so?

Proper wireless hotspots, although more expensive, generally let you put restrictions on how the service is used, for example by setting a daily data allowance or blocking certain categories of sites.

I'm just not sure what the best hotspot providers are for accommodation businesses (including private home rentals) in Australia...

 

[Aaron_C]

I find it highly unlikely that a hotel guest would spend their whole time on a holiday using bittorrent...

 

[sydprop]

One concern I have with just giving guests access to my own Internet service (by giving them a password to the wireless network) is - what happens if they misuse the service, for example by downloading huge amounts of data, accessing illegal material (child porn, file sharing, etc) and so on?

Agreeing with Aaron - downloading lots of data is plan issue - able to be mitigated.

The other misuse isn't your problem - if you receive a complaint you forward to the tenant. e.g. Does Telstra have any responsibility over its customers? Do hotels who provide internet have responsibility for their customers? No. (yet)

 

[BMan]

This is true in some areas with good mobile coverage. However our property is in a rural area with poor mobile reception. Guests who are depending on their own iPhones/iPads for internet would often find they had no reception (depending on what carrier they're with), so we'll still need to provide a wireless service for them.

One concern I have with just giving guests access to my own Internet service (by giving them a password to the wireless network) is - what happens if they misuse the service, for example by downloading huge amounts of data, accessing illegal material (child porn, file sharing, etc) and so on?

they could also just plug into the ethernet port and then still use your internet without a password..

im unsure how this works as i havent even rented a holiday house out but
i guess you would have a contract of some sort..? just add that there liable for the internet usage during there stay there.

To my knowledge, most standard ISP accounts don't let you control access on your own account very well, or set daily usage limits. What's to stop guests downloading large amounts of data and using up your full monthly usage allowance in a day or so?

maybe add an in the contract about any excess usage of 1gb/day totaled after stay (depending on your plan i guess) costs extra

your best bet is to go here http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/82 and ask about what router could do that if there is one..

you can block per to peer traffic on some routers to stop them using that as a way to download heaps and blocking ports and applications can also help once again depends on your router

Proper wireless hotspots, although more expensive, generally let you put restrictions on how the service is used, for example by setting a daily data allowance or blocking certain categories of sites.

I'm just not sure what the best hotspot providers are for accommodation businesses (including private home rentals) in Australia...

depending on your router depends on what u can and cant do
my router is flashed with dd-wrt firmware and has hotspot options (maybe similar to hotels but without looking into it i wouldnt know how to use it and it may also cost money

I find it highly unlikely that a hotel guest would spend their whole time on a holiday using bittorrent...

maybe not but to cover yourself it wouldnt hurt to have something in place.
whats to stop me setting 50gb of downloads then going off and enjoying my holiday... you dont need to sit at the computer to use data

One way to do it would be to be, like you suggested, use a wireless router with a password attached. If you want to change the password remotely, you would need to attach a permanent computer to the router to access it remotely and change the settings.

you could also setup your router to be accessed remotely if it has that option or by setting up a free http://dyn.com/dns/dyndns-free/ account and putting it into the router in the dyndns settings if it has that
and check there usage if it gets too high disconnect it (but then u cant connect it again remotely or block there mac address etc)

 

[shuggy]

What's to stop guests downloading large amounts of data and using up your full monthly usage allowance in a day or so?

A mate told me australia caught up with the 21st century 6 mths ago and don't cap usage anymore, he said all plans are now unlimited like the rest of the civilized world.. he's with bigpond or optus, forget now.

 

[BMan]

This is true in some areas with good mobile coverage. However our property is in a rural area with poor mobile reception. Guests who are depending on their own iPhones/iPads for internet would often find they had no reception (depending on what carrier they're with), so we'll still need to provide a wireless service for them.

build 2 yagi's for them one for optus one for next g
http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/homemade_yagi

also as if Australia has caught up
we pay heaps still dont get unlimited with most companies and out max adsl2+ speed is 24mbit and being not even 2km from exchange i get 10mbit and thats if you can even get adsl2+

 

[shuggy]

Is that 24mbit or 24Mbit for adsl2+ ? Shame to hear most australian companies still cap internet usage. I recently changed providers and now get 10Mbit through fibre optic for AU$40 a mth no limits. I share the access point with 60 others but speed tests confirm i get close to the advertised speed. I could pay an extra $20 a mth for a dedicated line but happy with current speeds.

 

[BMan]

Mbit and mbit is the same as mb/s which is megabits
MB/s is mega bytes
1 megabyte is 8 megabits
my parents get 17mbit/s 200m from exchange
i get 10mbit/s about 2km from exchange
i pay $88 for 200gb

 

[wobbycarly]

I think liability (WRT appropriate usage as mentioned earlier) would be the biggest challenge. I recall an article in API about student accommodation that analysed the "providing broadband internet" issue in quite a bit of depth, and the expert(s) they consulted for the article suggested this is a real risk.

 

[livewildcard]

106mb/s on fibre
94mb/s wireless router hooked to fibre

Depends on what/how you want to do it.

Could always set up a Guest user log on.

Then either with internet explorer or with programs like net nanny or trend security or any other program block access to certain sites or restrictions will generally stop people doing silly things. Also you may be able to track where/what sites people are going to and block in the future etc.

Also like suggested put a clause in for site usage. Every ISP will allow you to log in online usually and check your usage. So you get xx amount for free every xx after it will be $xx.

Or go all out with things like http://www.itware.com.au/handlink_iss-6000.php or http://www.netcomm.com.au/solutions/hsia/hotel/solutions

 

[Gregstar]

Simply use a wireless router with a password attached, you will be able to control the amount of download limit also

 

[geoffw]

Alex

Sorry, I haven'y commented because I can't answer your question.

However my wife works for Takeabreak. While it's just a listing service and can't give advice, there's a few suggestions for you:

1. Internet- yes
2. You may as well list. It's free unless you get a rental from them
3. Make sure your insurnace is updated to allow for it being a holiday rental. And charge a bond which would cover an insurance excess.

Stayz and Takeabreak are both now under the same umbrella (Fairfax bought out Takebreak) but they cater for different profiles.

 

[Alex_1]

I think liability (WRT appropriate usage as mentioned earlier) would be the biggest challenge. I recall an article in API about student accommodation that analysed the "providing broadband internet" issue in quite a bit of depth, and the expert(s) they consulted for the article suggested this is a real risk.

I agree - the legal implications of giving complete strangers access to my internet account is one of my main concerns.

As the legal issues are a bit of a different topic to the technical aspects of providing a wireless hotspot (modems, routers, hardware etc) I've created another thread in the Legal Issues forum for that question.

Regarding the technical issues of wireless hotspots, thanks for the suggestions so far. I'm still looking into some hardware solutions including:

Netcomm

Jimojo

Easy Web Kiosk

Esperto

 

[Alex_1]

Stayz and Takeabreak are both now under the same umbrella (Fairfax bought out Takebreak) but they cater for different profiles.

Thanks Geoff - what do you mean by different profiles? They both seem to have a wide range of accommodation in various price ranges. Are the two companies targeting different types of guests?

 

[Yerfdog]

Have you thought of prepaid? http://www.vividwireless.com.au/home

 

[petalop]

The other misuse isn't your problem - if you receive a complaint you forward to the tenant. e.g. Does Telstra have any responsibility over its customers? Do hotels who provide internet have responsibility for their customers? No. (yet)

You might find that you ARE responsible for what someone downloads through your connection. You are responsible for keepingyour connection secure, and if you give away the password, then you aren't upholding your responsibility. Might be worth checking this out by reading your internet contract very thoroughly.