Providing customer WiFi for restaurants

[timeshifter]

One of my favorite lunch spots doesn't have public WiFi. Since I'm a regular I've sort gotten to know the managers and have discussed a few things lately.

They asked me to provide a quote for adding WiFi that their customers can use. Their network is a mess. I don't want to take it all over. Just hoping to stick an access point up in the seating area and call it a day.

Of course I'd set it up in a way that isolated from the rest of their network. Thinking about a UniFi access point and connecting it to my cloud controller. I could run it isolated or guest mode.

If you were willing to touch this, without taking charge of their network, how would you go about it?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

First, I would not be responsible for wifi, without setting up the entire network from top to bottom.
Unifi would be my approach, Unifi switches and APs and an appropriate router..even a Unifi one. Can even captive portal it, we just did a group of gyms.
Easy enough to VLAN it, thus keep separate from the point of sale rigs and back office rigs. And setup user groups so that the guests don't hog the bandwidth and interfere with POS and credit card processing.

While a Ubiquiti AP can run by itself, you really want their at least switches to handle the whole network too. Guest mode on just the AP is "sorta a soft VLAN to make isolation mode"...but not as good as if done by the switch/router.

 

[timeshifter]

I never got back to them with any ideas, as I wasn't too enthused about it to begin with and based on the feedback here. Today I was in and the regional manager was there. Quick introduction and discussion. He asked if it was free. Then he indicated he wanted turn and burn - i.e. didn't want people sitting around for hours, they don't have a lot of seating area.

Another location of theirs has ZenReach. They ship free equipment to the restaurant. I don't fully understand their business model. I do know that whenever I'm at that location I can sign up for free secure WiFi (whatever that means). First time I saw it I made up a fake non-existent email address and provided it. Now when I return I just click away and use the regular WiFi.

Anyway, glad I didn't waste any more time on this.

 

[HCHTech]

Yeah - when their first question is "Is it free?", it's probably not a customer you want - haha.

 

[timeshifter]

Yeah, not something he wants to begin with on top of being conditioned that the stuff is free, a big no go.

Not sure what ZenReach’s business model is. I suppose there’s others out there pushing free WiFi equipment to businesses serving the public. All about the data collection I suppose.

 

[Markverhyden]

Never heard of ZenReach so checked it out. So their now called Adentro and it looks like they collect anything they literally can from a customer's device. Pricing starts at $40/month but I'd bet that is the barebones option. https://adentro.com/pricing/ I have a customer how decided to go all in on Internet marketing and Social Media. But they're a higher end home furnishings business. The company they use is socialwifi.com. Maybe give them a look see. At the time we provided the hardware, already existing Unifi AP's which they linked to their cloud controller to create customer login portal, etc.

But given the #1 objective of turning tables they probably don't want any wireless unless they want to setup ordering.

 

[Diggs]

Remember anytime you're setting up a public Wi-Fi you should investigate family friendly filtered DNS settings on the router.

 

[timeshifter]

Pricing starts at $40/month but I'd bet that is the barebones option. https://adentro.com/pricing/

Hmm, he made it sound like, or he seemed to think, it was free free. Nothing to buy, no monthly fees. Or I just assumed that's what he thought.

At their other location today. My WiFi Explorer app indicates that the equipment is Cisco Meraki.

 

[frase]

Ask for free food everytime you come in, seems fair.

 

[Markverhyden]

Hmm, he made it sound like, or he seemed to think, it was free free. Nothing to buy, no monthly fees. Or I just assumed that's what he thought.

At their other location today. My WiFi Explorer app indicates that the equipment is Cisco Meraki.

LOL!! I'm always amazed at the number of people who think stuff is free. Nothing is free. "If you aren't paying for something you are the product"

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yeah, not something he wants to begin with on top of being conditioned that the stuff is free, a big no go.

Not sure what ZenReach’s business model is. I suppose there’s others out there pushing free WiFi equipment to businesses serving the public. All about the data collection I suppose.

Look at their website...and scroll down....

Adentro - WiFi and Marketing Services

Learn how Adentro helps businesses enhance customer engagement and communication through innovative WiFi and marketing solutions.

adentro.com

....you'll see how they make their money. Heavy spamming! Crazy harvesting of data.

 

[timeshifter]

....you'll see how they make their money. Heavy spamming! Crazy harvesting of data.

Wow...

Adetnro also gives you access to "invisible" customers within our network who visited your location without signing in, offering you enhanced reach, visibility and performance.

Wonder how they do that? Are they scanning every device that comes through the store? I can see that if you connected to their WiFi they'd know your MAC address and could track you as you visited other locations and develop analytics based on that. But, unless you connect to their WiFi is there a mechanism to track you?

 

[Blues]

@timeshifter I think you can often set devices to join any open network, a dumb idea, and there "free" wifi services allow you to connect to the AP but you can't access anything until you agree to a terms disclaimer but even if you don't agree to that the device is connected and they can access your devices