Retail
Supermarket chains
One box per store, the same portal in every store. Store staff never touch it; you watch every location from a single screen.
- One box per store
- Same portal everywhere
- One screen for all stores
- Staff never touch it
Dozens of stores, one standard
Guest Wi-Fi in a supermarket chain usually grows store by store, on different modems with different settings. One store has an open network, another has a password the cashier knows, a third has nothing at all. A customer who wants to compare prices or open your loyalty app meets a different experience in every location.
The real burden lands on head office. Which stores have working Wi-Fi, which ones keep records, who is responsible: nobody knows. Store staff are there for the tills and the shelves, not for network gear. When an audit or a request arrives, driving to the store to hunt for logs is wasted time.
Shopping sessions are short. A customer spends half an hour in the store, opens the app, checks a price and leaves. Sign-in should take less time than walking one aisle.
Law 5651 and supermarket chains
Every store that opens internet access to its customers is a collective-use provider under Law 5651. The law expects internal IP assignment records to be kept, protected with a timestamp and retained for 2 years. In a chain that duty multiplies by the number of stores; each box keeps its own store's records on site, so whichever store receives a request has its archive ready. Whether the duty sits with the legal entity or with each store may depend on how the chain is structured; take legal advice. Either way the box produces signed records per store.
This page is not legal advice; confirm your obligations with your legal adviser.
Installing in a store
- 1
The box sits between the store's existing modem and switch; modems and access points stay, with no extra licences.
- 2
A separate VLAN and a single SSID name such as 'Market-Guest' are defined for guests; tills, scales, handheld terminals and cameras stay outside the guest VLAN.
- 3
The portal design (logo, colours, privacy notice) is prepared once and the same template is loaded onto every new store's box.
- 4
No static IP is needed; the box works even when the store line is on 4.5G backup or behind CGNAT.
- 5
All boxes appear in one list in the customer portal: an offline store, a filling disk or low SMS credit reaches you by e-mail or Telegram.
Sign-in method
Sign-in method
- SMS code
- Remembered device
Shopping is quick; an SMS code gets a customer online in under a minute and produces enough information to identify the user. Weekly regulars are not asked for a new code thanks to device remembering (you set the period; phones with MAC randomisation on may be asked again). Recommended plan: the standard template, 10/5 Mbps, 2-hour session, 15-minute idle timeout, 2 devices, 1 GB per day.
Ready-made plan templates
Speed, session and device count are set per plan on the box, independent of the access point brand. The values below are our own lab recommendations and can be changed in the panel.
- Recommended for this sector
Standard
Cafés, restaurants, shops, bakeries, salons, gyms
- Speed (down / up)
- 10 / 5 Mbps
- Session
- 2 hours
- Idle timeout
- 15 min
- Devices
- 2
- Daily quota
- 1 GB
- Remembered device
- Off
Keeps tables turning; a guest who wants more gets a coupon from the till.
Conference
Events, fairs, waiting lounges, cinemas, bank branches
- Speed (down / up)
- 5 / 2 Mbps
- Session
- 4 hours
- Idle timeout
- 10 min
- Devices
- 1
- Daily quota
- 500 MB
- Remembered device
- Off
Low speed and one device for many simultaneous users; capacity 250 concurrent devices.
Staff-guest
Offices, factories, office towers, logistics, tutoring centres
- Speed (down / up)
- 20 / 10 Mbps
- Session
- 10 hours
- Idle timeout
- 30 min
- Devices
- 3
- Daily quota
- None
- Remembered device
- 30 days
Registered users or coupon groups; separate groups for suppliers and subcontractors.
Extended stay
Hotels, serviced apartments, dormitories, hospitals, residential complexes
- Speed (down / up)
- 15 / 5 Mbps
- Session
- 24 hours
- Idle timeout
- 30 min
- Devices
- 3
- Daily quota
- 5 GB
- Remembered device
- 7 days
No new code every day; in dormitories the remembered window can span the whole term.
What is recorded
- The verified phone number (stored encrypted, masked in the panel)
- The device MAC address and the internal IP the box assigned
- Session start and end times
- NAT (address translation) details where applicable
- The daily SHA-256 hash chain and RFC 3161 timestamp
What is not recorded
- Websites and addresses visited
- In-app actions or basket contents
- Message or call content
- The customer's position inside the store
Example scenario
Example scenario: a regional chain with 30 stores
- Problem
- The chain's stores ran three different Wi-Fi arrangements. Some were open, some had a password, none kept proper records. IT was a two-person team that could not keep up with the stores.
- Solution
- A box was shipped to every store and the store electrician plugged it in between the modem and the switch. The portal template was prepared once at head office. The standard plan was applied to all boxes; tills and handheld terminals were kept outside the guest VLAN.
- Outcome
- IT now sees every store on one screen. When a store goes offline an alert lands in Telegram; when SMS credit runs low it is topped up centrally. The only thing store staff do with Wi-Fi is tell customers the network name.
An illustrative example; no real business is named.
Frequently asked
Do we really need a box in every store? Can't one box at head office cover them all?
Records have to be kept where guest traffic leaves for the internet, and each store goes out through its own modem. So each store needs its own box. What is centralised is monitoring, not the records: the health and credits of every box appear in one list in the customer portal.
Will store staff have any duties related to the box?
No. After installation, settings, portal and plans are handled by IT. The only thing staff need to know is the name of the guest network. The box is fanless and needs no attention.
Do we buy SMS credit store by store?
Credit packs (1,000, 2,000 or 10,000 SMS) are bought on your customer account and allocated to the boxes. You can see how much each store uses, and you get a warning when a box drops below 100 credits. You can also connect your own SMS provider account instead.
Do customers have to sign in before they can open our app?
You can add your own app's servers to the walled garden, the list of addresses reachable before sign-in. The loyalty app and price checks then work without a code; customers only request a code for general internet. Alternatively, set the post-login redirect to your campaign page so customers land straight on it.
How much preparation does a new store opening need?
When the box is installed you pair it with the store's licence in the customer portal and load the portal template and plan used by your other stores. The record chain starts on the day the box goes live; the first timestamp is taken on opening day.
A 20-minute demo for your own venue
Let's work out your device count and sign-in method together.
Request a demo