Hotspot operation
Hotspot usage
Hotspot installation
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Do I have to pay for the usage of my own hotspot?
No, of course not. As hotspot operator you always access your hotspot for free. After all, we do not want to put operators at a disadvantage. Furthermore you can make a list of free users. This way, friends or flat mates don’t have to pay either — independent of the chosen tariff.
You can add selected Mac addresses and user names in the customer area under “My hotspots”. In the data field under “Add free MAC” enter the physical MAC address of the end device that you want to release and then click on [ Add ]. You can only enter and add one MAC address in the data field at a time. Unfortunately, it is not possible to enter several MAC addresses at the same time. The MAC addresses released on the hotspot are displayed in the “Free MACs” list.
How does the billing work for hotspot operators?
With each usage of a hotspot, that is not free of charge, the hotspot operator’s share is calculated. At the beginning of a new calendar month, the payable credit balance is updated.
You can transfer your income to your bank account. The minimum amount for bank transfer is EUR 10.00.
Alternatively you can use the money to pay for location tickets for reselling.
How do I print tickets with my company’s own logo?
As operator of a WLAN hotspot you can download location tickets (vouchers) as PDF files. You can print these yourself and give them to your local customers. You can choose between tickets to sell or tickets to give away for free to your esteemed customers or guests.
The PDF files are optimized for printing on card templates (85 x 55 mm) as they are offered by Sigel. No cutting is necessary. This is a cost-saving way to produce valuable tickets. But the biggest advantage is that this way you can use the tickets as advertising material for your own company.
You can put your logo or company’s information on the tickets: Upload an image file with your own design to our server. You can choose out of several precast layouts where this image will be automatically inserted. It must not be larger than 80 x 20 mm to fit into the ticket layouts.
If the positioning an the card templates fails, please check the properties of your printer driver first.
If the borders of your printouts don’t fit the card templates, you can compensate this error buy setting correction values for the x- and y‑direction on the page where you choose your ticket template. For further questions please consult your printer manual.
Can I return location tickets?
Yes. Go to the customer area and choose the menu item “Location tickets”. Click “Options” for the tickets you want to return.
In the top part of the following page you can change some properties, which have no influence on the price HOTSPLOTS charges for the tickets, which more often than not makes returning the tickets unnecessary. For the cases this is not sufficient you will find the button “Return tickets” at the bottom of the page.
Any amount already charged for returned or still unused tickets will be settled with the next invoice for location tickets or running contracts. The returned tickets of the sheet will then become invalid.
Do I have to write down names of ticket customers?
No. In the EU there ist no legal obligation to record personal data of ticket customers.
Are there service accounts with limited access for ticket management?
An existing customer account allows the creation of subaccounts with limited user rights. This may be useful in such cases when, for example, a hotel manager wants to enable employees or the service personnel to create location tickets without giving them complete access to all functions of the hotspot management.
At the bottom of the form under “Account” in the customer area you can find a button to register a “New service account”.
The new account is then linked to the “parent account”. After logging in to the service account all ticket functions of the “parent account”, such as printing or reordering tickets, can be used. Managing hotspots, changes to the settings or using hotspots are not possible with such an account.
How can I check whether VPN routing is on?
Hotspot operators can check the functionality of VPN routing in three ways:
- If you are connected to your own WLAN hotspot, you can open iptest.hotsplots.de with any web browser. On this page your public IP is shown and whether VPN routing is active or not.
- The status of the VPN connection is shown under menu items Status and VPN routing in the hotspot router’s web interface.
- In the customer area under menu item My hotspots in the row labeled “VPN-Routing” it is shown whether VPN routing is active or not. For active VPN connections date and time of the last VPN accounting entry is given as well as the IP adress of the VPN server.
What information is stored at usage of VPN routing?
After connecting to or disconnecting from the VPN server timestamp, hotspot name, IP address of the VPN server, the hotspot’s public IP and VPN IP address are saved together with the amount of transfered data.
After logout data that is not needed for billing purposes is temporarily stored for technical maintenance and support. In an effort to reach an optimum between privacy protection and quality of service we go clearly below the legal limit of seven days. At the moment we delete these data after three days.
All data that is needed for billing purposes is deleted monthly if it is older than five months and the bill is paid without objection.
Please notice the data protection policy of our website too.
Is HOTSPLOTS registered with the Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency)?
Of course. hotsplots GmbH was registered with the Bundesnetzagentur for its offer of commercial telecommunication services for the public in accordance with § 6 Telekommunikationsgesetz (TKG — Telecommunications Act) under the registration number 05/423 in 2005.
Equally naturally HOTSPLOTS complies with the obligation to create and maintain a security concept according to § 109 TKG.
Like any provider offering chargeable time-based tariffs according to § 45g TKG HOTSPLOTS is required to prove the correctness of the connection rate calculation. For this reason, HOTPLOTS has itself audited by a publicly appointed and sworn expert for telecommunication and connection rate calculation every year. Evaluation and audit report are then checked by the Bundesnetzagentur.
Do I get a regular receipt?
Yes. For the sake of the environment and because it’s simply convenient and inexpensive, we offer downloading as a PDF file as standard.
If you always want an invoice by post, we offer this for a surcharge of EUR 1.50 plus statutory VAT. VAT on. To do this, please contact buchhaltung(at)hotsplots.de, stating your customer number.
Please note: If you need the sales tax shown in the credit note, you must first have provided us with proof of your sales tax liability. You have the following options for this:
- Enter your company’s VAT identification number online in the customer area under “Account” in the “Edit account” section (scroll down).
- Send us a confirmation from your tax office using the USt 1 TN form.
- Send us a letter of confirmation from your tax office that your company is registered there under the specified tax number. is managed and is not exempt from VAT.
- Send us a letter from your accountant confirming that your company is listed under the tax number provided and is not exempt from VAT.
Not sufficient are:
- own business papers
- Copies of business registration and register entries,
- Tax statements older than one year.
Does HOTSPLOTS also offer Internet connections?
Yes. In the context of so-called hotspot provisioning contracts HOTSPLOTS acts as the operator of the local hotspot network and activates Internet connections in its own name to operate the hotspot. This works stationary with DSL connections, fibre optic or coaxial cable as well as SIM cards for mobile phone networks.
I have several hotspots. How can I add different billing addresses?
If you have various billing addresses you need one user account for each billing address. Therefore, you should create different user accounts before setting up the hotspots and link them to the respective account.
For questions and moving a hotspot to a different user account please contact our contract management team.
How can I abrogate the HOTSPLOTS service?
You can delete you customer account simply with a mouse click in the Customer area. If you have active contracts please cancel these contracts in written form.
We recommend to delete your hotspots before you delete your account. In the customer area under My hotspots you find a button at the bottom of the page, where prefererences of the hotspot, like tarif, are set, called “delete this hotspot”. Please consider that the income of a hotspot will be credited to your account on the 1st of the following month. You can withdraw you payable income under My account > Pay out. The hotspot can currently be deleted in the old customer area (as of June 2022)
You can delete your user account in the customer area under customer data after you have clicked on “delete account” under “Account”.
You can have your earnings transferred to you under “My hotspots” > “Credit payout”.
To permanently delete your user account, please click on “Delete account” under “Customer data” in the customer area — and on the subsequent button to confirm.
Your account will be deactivated with immediate effect. Please note that any remaining credit will be lost for you.
How do I find the MAC address of my device (Android, iOS)?
You can find the MAC address in the settings of your mobile device. You can download a short instruction for various Android and iOS versions here: Quick Guide MAC address
What shall I do with a defective device?
Please call our support team. You can contact us at +49 30 29 77 348–0 (weekdays Monday-Friday, 08:00 — 20:00).
Please have the serial number of the device and/or the delivery bill ready. If the device has to be sent in for technical inspection, a return bill will be sent to you. This must be completed and enclosed with the hardware shipment. Please coordinate each return shipment in advance by telephone in order to obtain the mandatory process number.
Shipments which cannot be assigned, e.g. because of missing transaction number or insufficiently filled out return bill, will be sent back with costs (39,00 € net expense fee).
Or alternatively use our contact here.
Is it possible for users to log in with multiple devices at the same time?
Yes.
There is no limitation on the number of users logged in at the same time using Direct-Login.
For location tickets, the maximum number of simultaneous users can be selected. Tickets that can be used with several devices, i.e. by several people at the same time, are called “group tickets”. For hotspots with a time-based daily tariff, the option can be activated that a maximum of three devices can log in at the same time. Please contact our support for this option.
Is it possible that users do not have to log in to the hotspot each time again?
Yes. We can activate the “Auto-Login” feature in the hotspot settings. Under the “My hotspots” tab, we select the hotspot we want to configure by clicking on the sprocket that is in the field for the respective hotspot. We can now activate the “Auto-Login” feature under “Name and address”. Devices with a known MAC address are then automatically logged in. The MAC addresses are saved after a login for a certain period of time. Currently, the following time periods can be defined:
- 0 days limited
- 1 day limited
- 2 days limited or continuous
- 3 days limited or continuous
- 4 days limited or continuous
- 5 days limited or continuous
- 6 days limited or continuous
- 7 days limited or continuous
- 30 days limited or continuous
- 42 days limited or continuous
If the time period is “limited”, it expires independently of automatic logins. If the period is “continuous”, it starts anew with each automatic login.
For periods exceeding 7 days, the user’s consent must be obtained by ticking a box.
The Auto-Login feature can be combined with the Direct-Login tariffs, daily tariffs, with Location Tickets and also with FlexiFlat and LocationFlats.
The function is not available with time tariffs, which are billed by minute, and volume tariffs, which are billed by the megabyte, as the user would otherwise lose control of the costs if he does not actively log out.
The “Auto-Login” functionality is available at no additional cost. Please contact our support for this option.
How do I add free MAC addresses?
How do I delete free MAC addresses?
How do I add free users?
How do I delete free users?
How do I configure opening hours for my hotspot?
From the drop-down menu, choose one of the following settings for the chosen one weekday off:
• Always open (open all day) weekday color green
• Partly open (concrete opening and closing times), weekday color orange
• Closed (closed all day) weekday color red
If you select “Partially open”, 2 input fields will open. Enter the opening time in the first input field and the closing time in the second.
By clicking on the plus sign button you add further opening and closing times, with the minus sign button you remove them again. To delete the entered time, click on the cross symbol. To change the entered time, click in the hour or minute input field so that the numbers appear with a blue background and then enter the desired numbers. Finally, to save the opening times, click on “Apply opening times”. If you leave the page without confirming that you have accepted the opening hours, all the data you have entered will be lost.