Bitcoin Forum

Has anyone seen any software for creating a wifi hotspot that accepts bitcoin payments?

Don't know of any, offhand.

Googling I see a number of possibilities where an open source solution could be built, depending on what your requirements are.

 - http://aacable.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/mikrotik-dmasoftlab-rm-squid-zph-linux-bridgecomplete-guide
 - http://aacable.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/a-network-design-glass-line-pvt-ltd-june-2011

 - http://sourceforge.net/projects/hotcakes/
 - http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/hotcakes/wiki/yfi_faq

 - http://daloradius.com/?q=node/3
 - http://freeside.biz/freeside


Or if proprietary vendors were solicited to incorporate Bitcoin as a payment method, their options could be considered:

 - http://www.hotspotsystem.com ( e.g., could use their prepaid voucher system, but they charge 30% fee  http://www.hotspotsystem.com/deskpro/kb_article.php?ref=4604-RSLZ-0194 )
 - http://www.smarttimer.com/wireless-hotspots.php
 - http://easyhotspot-nano.com/category/features_and_benefits
 - http://www.antamedia.com/free-hotspot
 - http://www.wifigator.com/Features
 - http://powercode.com
 - http://www.dmasoftlab.com
 - http://aplusbill.com
 - http://visp.net
 - http://www.iconsole.net/features/payment-gateways.html
 - http://www.sputnik.com
 - http://www.truecafe.es

Sounds like a good idea. Could even be a peer-to-peer network with a subscription fee, with some part being awarded to hotspots the users connect to.

That would be awesome! Monetising your wifi...  ;D

It will be offers for goods and services like these that will be needed for bitcoin to thrive without having to go through the banking system.

This would be a good match for a coffee shop, hostel, hotel, and other places whose customer base consists of travelers.  When bitcoiners congregate at these places they might start to trade, person-to-person, as well.  So these bitcoin-powered hotspots could end up being the first true P2P markets where bitcoins are used.

A standard way for mobile clients to discover other LAN peers would be nice, or at least have their bitcoin protocol packets relayed by the gateway to a connected bitcoin node without providing them full internet access. I think a BIP (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoin_Improvement_Proposals) would do the job in no time.

I'm going to see if I can't make one this summer.

The topic of this thread continues here:

 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7998.0

I love this idea.  If anyone gets this working PM me and I'll buy a license for the software (if its reasonably priced).

Excellent Idea, I would love to see something like this happen.