Q. What kind of computers can access my GCS-Hotspot? A. Unlike some other systems CheckBox works with all wireless and most wired computers - Windows, Macintosh, Linux, even Palm Pilots and wireless PDA's.

Q. Do my customers have to load special software to access the GCS-HotSpot? A. Absolutely not. CheckBox works with your customer's web browser and does not use special proprietary software.

Q. How do I set up the system? I am not at all technical. Do I need to hire someone to do this?  A. The system was designed to be very simple to set up. All of the configuration will be done by us before we ship the unit to you, although you can make changes to all settings yourself if you wish. For most locations users will do the following to set up the system:

Unpack the unit.

Mount it in it's new location.

Plug into an electrical outlet.

Connect the Check Box to either your dedicated internet connection (Cable, DSL, satellite or T1) or plug the unit into your phone line.

Set up is done!

Q. What is the difference between wired and wireless clients? What is a client?  A. A client is any device that can connect to the internet, a PC (desktop, laptop or tablet) a personal digital assistant or any other device. Wireless clients connect using one of several wireless standards, sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi. Wired clients plug into a wired connection, called ethernet, with a connector that looks like a fat telephone plug.

Q. Can I have both wired and wireless clients? Why would I want to?  A. Yes, you can use a mix of wired and wireless clients. Most locations will have at least one wired client PC to create tickets, usually the existing office PC. In most cases this will not interfere with the PC's regular duties. You may also choose to have one or more wired PC's in a public area where guests who do not have laptops can access the internet and their email. And of course any guest with their own wireless devices can access the network. (If for some reason you do not wish to allow wireless access it can be easily turned off)

Q. How do I create tickets? A. After the system has been set up, using a laptop or desktop PC that is connected to the system (wirelessly or wired) open the admin panel. When prompted for a user name and password, leave the user name blank and enter the password that we sent to you. From there you will see a link to click on to generate new tickets. Select the type of ticket you wish and the system will display a page of those tickets with unique access numbers. Simply print the page from your browser, separate the tickets and you are ready to distribute them.

Q. How do I use the optional credit card software module? A. You can allow your users to pay for their access with a credit card, in addition to tickets. The credit card access module is software that is loaded into your master unit when you purchase it, or can be added later. It works in conjunction with the popular Paypal service and still allows you to determine the pricing and duration of the usage. Paypal charges a small per transaction fee, and you will need to establish a merchant account with Paypal. 

Q. What is the difference between Cable/DSL, Satellite and T1 vs. Dialup?  A. Cable, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), Satelitte and T1 are dedicated higher speed internet connections, offered through the telephone company, a cable TV provider or an independent internet service provider. In addition to being faster than a dial up connection (anywhere from 5 to 50 times faster) they are always on and do not tie up a telephone line.

Dialup connections are slower and tie up your telephone line, often resulting in the need for a dedicated phone line. Usually, when comparing the cost of dialup and DSL or cable, by the time you add in the cost of the phone line and monthly fee to the internet service provider the costs are almost the same.

However some areas just can not get Cable or DSL, and T1 (a dedicated digital circuit from the telephone company) is usually just too expensive. FOr most of these locations Satellite is the best route to go using a proivder such as DirecWay. In the event sateliite is not possible dialup is sometimes the only choice. While the download speeds will be slower with dialup, GCS-Hotspot can still support multiple users at the same time using just one phone line.

Q. What are the different wireless standards? Which one should I have? How do I update the system?  A. Currently there are three wireless systems in use, all based on what is called the 802.11 standard.

802.11b is the oldest and most common standard. It is widely used, and the most common standard for wireless hotspots.

802.11g is a newer standard, providing faster connections and is backwards compatible with 802.11b. 802.11g can also yield slightly longer range under most circumstances. Many hotspots can also support 802.11g, and all 802.11g clients can use 802.11a. 

802.11a is the newest standard (yes, we realize "a" usually comes before "b", but we didn't name these things, really). It operates on a different frequency than the other two standards, and has the shortest range of all. Almost all 802.11a clients can use the other two standards. Your hotspot can be ordered with 802.11a support for about $100 extra.

So which one should you use? Our systems "speak" both 802.11b and 802.11g simultaneously. We recommend using both b & g standards.

Q. Why don't you charge large monthly support fees like other Hotspot providers? A. In the majority of hotspot systems most of the monthly fees the vendors charge to the site owners or collect from the tickets sales goes towards end user support costs. To provide good support desk help can cost between $5 to $8 per call, or $1 to $2 if you use an off shore based service. However the vast majority of hotspot users do not need support, GCS-HotSpot just works for them. So with typical hotspot business models if you are selling service to the site owner they end up paying hundreds of dollars per month to support a small minority of their users. If the hotspot business model involves selling tickets to the owner for resale, then those support costs get passed on to all users, when only a few ever use the support.

Now when you begin to track the reasons users have problems with accessing the wireless services it almost always comes down to three issues:

   1. User equipment (laptops) that were not properly configured or user equipment purposely configured not to connect to public networks (corporate laptops belonging to companies that do not want them connected to public networks for security purposes)

We do provide a cheat sheet for GCS-HotSpot owners to hand out to users if they do have problems. This 8.5 x11 laminated card has step by step instructions for PC's and Macs, and includes pictures and simple steps to follow if the user has problems.