A New Hotspot Management System

Hungary-based HotSpotSystem.com wants to power your hotspots, using just about any Wi-Fi hardware you’ve got.

The company’s Instant HotSpot service lets businesses with a broadband connection and compatible router (specifically, the Linksys WRT54GL and a few others supporting DD-WRT) become hotspot operators in a few minutes. The router must be updated with firmware supplied by HotSpotSystem.com, and then once connected to the Internet, it’s ready. End users are redirected to a multi-language home page to log in and start making the owner/operator money.

The company offers a “Pro” paid service, which requires end users to pay via a credit card or PayPal, or using pre-paid cards and codes from the owner. With the Pro version, the owner also gets some free promotional materials and full support. At the end of the month, HotSpotSystem.com takes a commission on the fees, but if you don’t make any money, neither do they.

A free access version still requires some user authentication (to prevent your neighbors from slowing it down). Access can be limited by time, traffic used, or overall bandwidth allowed -- and while it might be free to the users, HotSpotSystems.com still expects you to pay. It varies per month depending on the number of users who get access, from $10 for up to 50 users, to $30 for 300 users, up to $50 for 600 users in a month. You’ll pay a few cents more per user above that, depending on the package.

HotSpot Alert is a feature for monitoring the use of the hotspot 24 hours a day, sending alerts to the owner/operator if needed.

If you don’t have a router, HotSpotSystem.com will sell you its ALL-IN-1 BOX with router, prepaid card, 90-day installation support, and access to an account, for $199 US.

Being an international company, HotSpotSystem.com has instructions on its site to get people started in various languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German and Russian.

The company's Web page indicates plans to introduce a corporate Wi-Fi product sometime in the future.