Bitcoin Forum

A project I have been working on in my spare time is now complete!

BitcoinWiFi Hotspot

Introduction

1. User connect to “BitcoinWiFi” and by visiting a website, brings them to a captive portal where it displays. Pay (defined by the operator) Bitcoin for 24 hour, 5 days or 1 month access.

2. User can easily pay by pre-generated QR code or Bitcoin URI. Bitcoin connections on port 8333 is always open, and access are granted to the most popular hosted wallets.

3. To generate QR codes and Bitcoin URIs, the operator can define Invoice API key of their payment gateway in the settings of the BitcoinWiFi unit.

4. The unit features a captive portal, a small web server. By parsing the blockchain for payments the unit opens the internet connection for paying users in real-time.

5. The operator have the possibility of receiving the payment directly to their bank account in local currency via the payment processor or keep payments in Bitcoin.

http://BitcoinWiFi.me/

Customizable and Open source – The BitcoinWiFi unit can be converted and refurbished to an mini-PC by replacing BitcoinWiFi open source firmware with custom firmware.

Responsive web design - The Captive Portal is built with responsive web design, providing a seamless experience for mobile users as well.

Return on investment is not guaranteed, but if you set it up in a crowded place, one can only imagine?



If you think you can help with this project, please get in touch with me.

BitcoinWifi Prototype Video

http://bitcoinwifi.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/BitcoinWifi-prototype.png (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXsIANdYdOY)

Will it work in India?

It will work everywhere, just plug in internet in one of the LAN ports, and turn it on.

Super!

This is cool, but I don't see a reason why it cannot be done with a regular wifi router (e.g. Asus RT-N66U) with customer firmware, which will be quite a bit cheaper.

It most likely could, however I don't have any experience with consumer routers, and the firmware used in these, (sadly)
Still BitcoinWifi is probably like 10x times more powerful than a consumer router anyway, and optimized for many concurrent users. You will probably not run our of STATES in your State Table with this hardware.

Great idea!

Well, the general idea is that it is possible to install fairly normal Linux distro on the most of such devices, some people even managed to run Debian.

I.e. you aren't restricted to the version vendor provides if open source drivers exist, you can use whatever you want.


Yes, they have less memory and significantly slower CPU...

However, there are high-end models with 256 MIB of RAM, that should be enough for all networking-related things. And then you just need to avoid bloated software...

There are also business-class devices which are more powerful, e.g. D-Link DSR-250N has 1 GiB RAM on board, costs $200: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AT0FS2746

I think Atom-based wifi spot makes sense if operator wants to host some additional services on it. Otherwise installation on COTS routers makes more sense.

Hi Kris,

I live in NYC and would like to know what the signal strength/range (feet, meters, miles, etc.) is for this device. 

I don't see my neighbors (who don't even know what BTC is) using the service, however if the signal strength is sufficiently strong enough, I could see the potential for reaching a wider market in my area.

Please forgive me if it's already known what the signal strength is. I'm not too savvy when is comes to this stuff.

Thanks in advance.

The problem is with the drivers for those specific consumer routers, I agree, they are most likely not open source, hence one would have no chance to make them work in UNIX.


There is the possibility for adding snort, Dansguardian or even squid3 via precompiled packages to BitcoinWifi as asked on Reddit

No it's a very good question.

BitcoinWifi supports 802.11b/g/n, and with N you will have speeds of up to 300mbit/s and a range of twice the range of 802.11b/g which is quite much, don't know exact numbers.

However you can detach the included antenna and switch it to an outdoor antenna for instance.

http://image.made-in-china.com/4f0j00WBIQgzocgibM/WiFi-Antenna-GKZS-WiFi-002-.jpghttp://www.gnswireless.com/images/14SideBg.jpg

The thing with 802.11n is that the further away you are the better it works. Don't ask me the technical aspects of it, as I don't know them.

There is even antennas capable of reaching 8 miles or more. They are called Cantenna and are what is called Directional antennas. However directional antenna will only "work" where you point them, in a small area of that direction.


Just for fun I've made a few Cantannas out of Pringles cans.

http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/images/pringlesonstandbig.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#Protocol
according to wiki,
70m indoors and up to 250m outdoors, if I am reading this correctly :)
//DeaDTerra

Nice find!

Wat?

There is a plenty of routers which work with OpenWRT, it really isn't a problem to buy one, and they cost about $100.


Routers supported by OpenWRT: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start

Interesting. Someone should have told me before I started this custom solution.

None the less BitcoinWifi (http://bitcoinwifi.me/) is completed, it works beautifully, and I hope people will develop further on the idea.


Someone suggested a hotel tv box?, which is a nice idea!

Great application Kris!

Only one concern (sorry to rain on your party here):
What about illegal activity by anonymous users of your open wifi, e.g. pirated movie downloads, Child porn, etc.?

I guess for the operator of your application this would be no different to lets say Star Bucks or any other open Wifi providers around, I just wonder how one can tke precautions that such an abuse doesnt bust you for good or have you heavily fined.

Anyone knows?

Could this be run on a standard router?

Just noticed killerstorm asked the same question. That would be a cool application for your software. Earn coins with your wifi. :)

Build it with an ALIN board to cut costs. pfSense runs beautifully on there and form factor is much smaller.

I could included the possibility for adding snort, Dansguardian or even squid3 via precompiled packages ?

There was also one suggesting to run a VPN on the BitcoinWifi, so that people connecting and doing shady things, could not be traced to them as easily.

Hmm the first thing I found when searching for ALIN board was pills.. however I was interested in finding out if it has enough juice to run proper as a multi user router.

Shit sorry, LOL, ALIX boards are what I meant. They sell all boards/cases/CF's separate or you can buy already built ones.

Netgate is a provider but ALIX sells direct too.

I can see the regulators swarming anyone who tries to make a living selling wifi to people, shutting them down, and saying "You are running an unlicensed internet service provider."

Not all governemnts have such draconian regulation agencies. And how would these regulators find the owner of the address the BTC gets sent to in any case? Might be a poor investment if it gets confiscated before it pays for itself, but that depends on how it's advertised  8)

Numerous, inexpensive, lower capacity BitcoinWiFi Hotspots will have greater survivability than fewer, expensive, high capacity BitcoinWiFi Hotspots.

Exactly, the trick is to have AP's that are completely cheap and disposable, that do a good enough job.

This is very brilliant, and possibly the second killer app for Bitcoin. Thanks so much Kris, you're a visionary.

Let's say you don't run into the regulation problem. Why pay for wifi access when there will probably be free wifi around somewhere? Many businesses are offering free wifi as a way to bring in customers. Why spend bitcoins on this when you could run over to the nearest Starbucks/hostel/etc.? I think this is a really cool idea. I heard Amir Taaki talking about it in an interview. I'm just thinking of what its best-use cases are.

Irony - video not enabled for mobile.

I am unsure what you mean ?, I am not a youtube expert ?

Thank you very much!

if you try viewing the video from a cell phone such as iPhone or Android it gives an error saying the "uploader has not made this video available to mobile devices"-or similar wording. I think there is a check box somewhere to enable mobile viewing but I'm not sure where

UPDATE, UPDATE

I have found and contacted another provider of the parts I need to built the BitcoinWiFi Hotspot, and can now get the parts much cheaper!

The current price is now only $350 and everyone with an order on the old price, has been refunded the price difference!
I hope to lower this even more to around $250 or less, however this require that BitcoinWiFi receives 10 orders at a time, so I can make bulk purchasing of the parts for even lower cost.

Also I've had quite a few interested parties interested in sponsoring BitcoinWiFi, this should bring for some interesting modifications!

Great work ... of course there are lots of ways one can talk about to do this but getting a product on the market is the only way to actually DO IT.

Well done Kris, wish you the best in your ventures. As to spurious concerns about 'regulation' at this early stage (whoTF  are these people that go around tinkering with computers always wondering "what will my government think if I write this s/ware?" whilst wetting their pants in fear) ... you could always encrypt all through traffic by default and use plausible deniability protections ... way off in the future besides.

cant wait to get money together to get one of these very cool!

Awesome project. Even more awesome(er) that it accepts Bitcoin.