How vendors, visitors and the rural community benefit from a public WiFi Internet service in open air markets

Many countries around the world with less economic development have no or limited Internet infrastructure in rural areas. WiFi Internet can benefit the local community in areas where people gather such as open air markets that are found worldwide in rural areas? WiFi can significantly impact how open air markets work in several ways, improving vendors operations and enhancing the visitor experience.

In many locations enterprising individuals and businesses provide a WiFi Internet service in public places where people gather such as open air markets, farmer's market or the central area of a town. The local population can benefit much from a WiFi service as communities can get together to do commerce, connect to people and to potential consumers. It is an opportunity for vendors to do more business through contacts, respond to social media enquiries, provide product information, add new contacts, and expanding the reach of individuals.

How is a WiFi Internet service provided for an open air market?

An Internet connection is needed, such as a Starlink which works very well in any rural location. To provide a WiFi service for many people who share a Starlink connection, a Guest Internet controller is needed and depending on the size of the location area, one or more wireless access points provide the WiFi signal that users will connect to.

The Guest Internet controllers generate WiFi access codes and print onto vouchers. The person who is in charge of the WiFi service can determine who gets Internet access by handing out vouchers with codes, and can also charge for the WiFi access by selling a voucher with a WiFi code.

The voucher has information such as how long a person can stay connected and instructions on how to use the WiFi, which is printed on the voucher. Click on this link to check out the demo software that comes installed in the controllers.

The cost of setting up this type of WiFi service is low compared to other types of WiFi systems, making it an affordable option to provide a WiFi Internet service in remote areas.

The connection to the Internet depends on what is available. Maybe a retail store has a DSL connection to share. Maybe an individual has a geo-stationary satellite connection that is being shared. The HughesNet service was popular to provide public WiFi for six countries in Latin America

There has been a surge with the installation of public WiFi Internet in the rural areas of many countries due to the availability of the Starlink service around the world.

How to provide a WiFi service using Starlink and the Guest Internet controllers

There are a few ready to use products that work with a Starlink antenna such as Guest Internet controllers and the Guest Internet STAR kits to provide a public WiFi service that can be shared between a number of people. Starlink has a limit of data speed and so it is necessary to impose a few rules for public WiFi access.

The Guest Internet STAR-2 kit as shown below is a very popular choice for providing a WiFi service in open air markets

The Guest Internet controllers have essential features that share the Internet service:

• Set a time limit for Internet access.

• Set download and upload data speed limits.

• Set a data download and upload limit for each user.

• Although Starlink states that there is no data limit for the standard account it is wise to maintain data use of less then 1TB per month. Putting a data limit on each user of the public service can ensure that the data use is not excessive.

• Avoids network congestion which causes slow Internet speeds, can disconnect people and prevent people connecting to the WiFi service.

• Ensure that people without the WiFi access code cannot use the service. Only people with codes can have access to the WiFi connection.

An important issue when providing a public WiFi service is the prevention of anyone sharing copyrighted material. When Starlink receives a complaint from a copyright holder they will first send a warning message and then terminate the service. This is a requirement of a US law called DMCA (digital millennium copyright act). This surprises people in countries around the world, as copyright laws are not enforced in many countries. However Starlink is a US corporation and must enforce the copyright law.

A further parameter that is essential when using Starlink for public WiFi.

• Block the use of P2P software such as Torrent that is used to share copyrighted files.

Guest Internet controllers provide the requirements of a public WiFi service that will maintain the quality of the service:

• Guest Internet controllers print vouchers with access codes that can be sold to users through retail points. In addition Guest Internet controllers also have a point of sale system and can also accept payment through credit cards.

• Guest Internet controllers block user device viruses such as DDos that will degrade the performance of the WiFi service for all users.

• Guest Internet controllers block public access to the Starlink router and any computers connected to the Starlink router.

• Guest Internet controllers have failure monitoring to get an alert if there is a problem with devices connected to the WiFi network.

• Guest Internet Cloud monitoring and management permits the service to be managed remotely from anywhere, it is not necessary to go to the location of the WiFi to print vouchers or make other configurations.

• Guest Internet controllers provide reports showing the use of the network, and identify if network congestion might occur and make adjustments.

With the requirements outlined in the points above the Starlink service will not be abused and public users will be happy with the quality of the service.

Guest Internet controller products have all the requirements to provide a secure and reliable public WiFi service, plus many more features that can be beneficial for the community Internet service. Many Guest Internet controllers are installed everyday around the world to keep WiFi services in check.

How a WiFi Internet service looks like with a Guest Internet controller connected to a Starlink

All public connections to the Internet WiFi service go through the Guest Internet controller to check access codes, set the duration of the connection, set the maximum data speeds and maximum data used.

The Guest Internet controllers are managed by a cloud account, which is free to use with the purchase of the product. The access codes can be generated by the controller or by the cloud account. One cloud account can manage many Guest Internet controllers when the WiFi service has multiple locations.

Guest Internet makes it easy to manage, control, monitor and generate WiFi access codes in places where a WiFi service is needed. Contact us for more information on how to provide a WiFi service in your location so our team can give you the best recommendations on approach and products to use specifically for your needs.