What is WiFi Portal?

We often hear the term WiFi Portal in some network related products, mainly in application scenarios about Wifi, or routers, AP products, or inside some articles.

What exactly is WiFi Portal? What does it do?

We’ve all had the experience that when you want to connect to a Wifi network, it jumps to a page with advertisements or specific information, possibly merchant information, recharge information, etc. This page is the Wifi Portal. This page is Wifi Portal.

WiFi Portal, also known as “WiFi Portal” or “Hotspot Portal”, refers to an intermediate page when a user connects to a public WiFi network. Generally, when a user connects to a free WiFi network, he/she will be redirected to a login page or a welcome page, which is the WiFi Portal, and this page usually requires the user to perform certain actions, such as entering information, accepting terms and conditions, filling out questionnaires or viewing adverts, etc., before he/she can access the Internet using this Wifi.

Then we can know that WiFi Portal is useful for the following purposes

1. Ensure only authorised users can use WIFI

WiFi Portal is a tool used by network administrators to control which users can access the wifi. By allowing users to log in or enter specific credentials, it ensures that only authorised users can use the Wifi.This protects the network security and also prevents unauthorised users from misusing the network bandwidth and resources.

Comply with laws and regulations

Many countries and regions have laws that require companies that provide public WiFi services to record the online behaviour of their users so that they can trace back the users in the event of a cybersecurity incident. These countries or laws usually require WiFi providers to record the user’s login time, accessed IP address and other information. And our WiFi Portal can collect this necessary information through the process of user login or agreeing to the terms and conditions, so as to help businesses providing Wifi to comply with the relevant regulations.

Implanting advertisements for marketing

WiFi Portal can also be used as an effective advertising medium. When a user connects to WiFi and is redirected to a Portal page, advertisements, promotional messages or content from a specific brand can be displayed. This approach can help companies deliver marketing messages and increase brand exposure while users are waiting to log in or authenticate.

Data collection and user behaviour analysis

Through WiFi Portal, enterprises can collect basic information of users, such as name, email address and mobile phone number. This information can be used for subsequent market analysis and user behaviour analysis, which can help enterprises better understand user needs, complete user profiles, and optimize products and services.The Portal page can also record users’ online habits and preferences, which is important for some enterprises to formulate marketing strategies.

Enhance user experience

WiFi Portal can provide detailed information about the WiFi network, such as connection time, traffic limit, etc. The Portal page can also provide some help and support information to help users solve connection problems and improve the overall user experience.

So how is WiFi Portal implemented?

Generally speaking, implementing WiFi Portal usually requires the following steps:

• Network device configuration:you need to configure the router or wireless access point.
• Development of Portal page:Design and develop the user login page to ensure that the page is compatible with various devices and browsers.
• User authentication system: Integrate a user authentication system, either a simple login page or a third-party authentication service such as OAuth.
• Data collection and analysis tools: Integrate data collection tools such as Google Analytics in order to analyse user behaviour and collect the necessary data.
• Content Management:Regularly update the content on the Portal page, such as advertisements, promotional updates, etc. to ensure that users have a new experience every time they log in.

The InHand Networks ER805 edge router also supports two types of WiFi portals. Internal WiFi Portal and External WiFi Portal respectively.

These two provide different ways to manage user access to the Wi-Fi network

The first type is the internal Wi-Fi Portal

The Internal Wi-Fi Portal, as the name suggests, can be hosted directly on the ER Series routers. It provides a built-in solution that enables users to authenticate and access the Wi-Fi network without the need for an external server. The main features are:

• Easy setup: the portal is hosted inside the device, with simple configuration requirements and no additional hardware needed.
• User authentication: supports multiple authentication methods such as username/password, credentials or simple click-through protocol approaches.
• Customisation: Allows customisation of the basic login page, including the addition of a logo, welcome message and terms of service.
• Local Management: All user management and authentication logs are stored locally on the ER805 router, simplifying management.

Suitable for scenarios with small to medium sized deployments

Focus on ease of setup and management.

The advantages of this approach are easy setup, no additional hardware required, and local management. However, customisation and scalability are limited.

The second type is an external Wi-Fi portal

External Wi-Fi portals utilise an external server to host the WIFI PORTAL page. This setup provides greater flexibility and advanced functionality by integrating third-party authentication and management systems. Key Features:

• Supports advanced customisation features: it is able to provide a wide range of login page customisations, including some advanced branding, user interface design and multi-language switching.
• Can be integrated with external systems: e.g. RADIUS, LDAP or social media logins (e.g. Facebook, Google).
• Higher scalability: for scenarios and large-scale deployments that require centralised management and a high degree of scalability.
• Enhanced Analytics: Provides detailed analytics and reporting capabilities via an external server, providing analysis of user behaviour and network usage.
• Applicable scenarios are generally enterprises, large public venues and service providers that require advanced functionality and scalability. Deployment that requires integration with existing authentication systems and detailed analysis.
• The advantages of this approach are: highly customisable, integration with external systems, scalable, with advanced analytics. However, it requires external servers and is more complex to set up.

WiFi Portal is not only a simple WIFI login page, but also an important tool for user management, advertising and marketing, and data collection. Through proper configuration and optimisation of WiFi Portal, enterprises can enhance user experience, increase brand exposure, and ensure network security and compliance. Therefore, whether in large shopping malls, airports or cafes or on transport, more and more venues are beginning to pay attention to and apply WiFi Portal to provide better WiFi services and user experience.