We’ve been rolling out a lot of incremental feature enhancements to SputnikNet, and recently updated our change log to reflect that. Some highlights:

• A new content management system for dealing with captive portal images, CSS, JavaScript, HTML and text snippets that make them easy to reuse across multiple portals

• An improved captive portal design subsystem

• Improved device, PayPal and user authentication systems

• Block private nets enabled by default in all new authentication systems, for enhanced security

• Wi-Fi site survey now available as a router command, enabling rogue AP detection from the cloud

And lots more!

Please visit our change log for more information. And stay tuned, there’s lots more coming.

Posted via email from Sputnik, Inc. Blog

To enhance the security of your Wi-Fi routers, Sputnik-Powered firmware (available free from our download site) requires a password change upon setup.

However for customers running stock DD-WRT firmware, or who are concerned about the security of Wi-Fi routers in the field, here’s how to change your router’s web admin password from the cloud, using SputnikNet.

Posted via email from Sputnik, Inc. Blog

Busy Wi-Fi hotspots need a sufficient number of DHCP leases for guests who connect to the network. However the growth of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices has dramatically increased the number of “ambient” Wi-Fi connections that also request DHCP leases – even though they might never actually authenticate onto the network. In SputnikNet, these ambient requests show up as unauthenticated sessions.

It is important to ensure that routers in busy hotspots are set up with large, frequently refreshed DHCP lease pools to keep up with this demand.

Here’s how to configure your Sputnik-powered router for high-demand sites, from the cloud.

Posted via email from Sputnik, Inc. Blog

Many busy Wi-Fi sites attract lots of visitors or passersby with smartphones in their pockets or purses who never actually log in. These ambient Wi-Fi sessions can create load on your router as it attempts to display your media-rich captive portal to each client as they grab DHCP leases.

The Pre-Login Portal is a slimmed-down captive portal that acts as a basic “CAPTCHA” or Turing test – it only displays your captive portal to users who request it, utilizing a minimum of router resources and bandwidth. This can reduce load on your Wi-Fi router in busy locations with lots of ambient Wi-Fi connections.

Here’s how to enable a pre-login portal to reduce the load on your router at busy Wi-Fi hotspots.

Posted via email from Sputnik, Inc. Blog

Captive portals are (usually) how people log into Wi-Fi networks using SputnikNet. And they’re a vital way to convey your brand, deliver messages to your customers, run seasonal promotions and welcome customers to your Wi-Fi network.

SputnikNet enables you to create unlimited captive portals. Once created, you simply apply portals to one or many Sputnik-Powered Wi-Fi access points. Then add one or many authentication systems (ways to log in) to each portal. Each Wi-Fi hotspot on your network can be different, or they can all be the same. This gives you tremendous flexibility to create the kind of experience you want to offer your customers.

In short, there are no limits. 2012 is a great year to use Wi-Fi to connect with your customers and communicate your brand.

Here’s how to create new captive portals in SputnikNet.

Posted via email from Sputnik, Inc. Blog